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On Loneliness

krishnamurti-teachings.info

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Re: On Loneliness

#71

Post by pramalin »

I have read many of his books and listened to his video talks with his followers while I was in Chennai. The "Commentaries on Living" series are easy to read and my favorites. http://www.jiddu-krishnamurti.net/en http://www.jiddu-krishnamurti.net/en/commentaries-on-living-...

His teachings are just the opposite of Gita (and other Hindu scriptures), which prescribes caste based society as the act of God.

I moved on from his abstract teachings to practical life changing works of Osho, Ambedhkar and finally to E.V.Ramasamy (Periyar).

Re: On Loneliness

#72

Post by tech_browser »

xd360 wrote: post #61
tech_browser wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most religions claim that God is a person and maintain that God created the universe, thereby making God and the universe two separate entities. Further, religion and philosophy are also mixed up. "God in heaven", "Good actions give heaven and bad ones yield hell" etc. are some statements that we often hear. The distinguishing teaching about the Upanishads is that 1. God is not a person 2. The universe, as we perceiv…

THIS. Everything that you have said here, I completely believe in that too. If one observes the world and tries to find a pattern in it, the findings will align with this theory. Would you please share in which teachings exactly did you read about this. I mean specifically about the one where they state that God is the universe itself and not a person who is different from it. Was it the Upanishads? Is there some spe…

There's not a specific book where this information is laid out. I'll write what I know and can refer to source if you have questions. At the outset, I'd like to mention that there are dualistic (dvaita), non-dualistic(advaita) and qualified non-dualistic (vishishta-advaita) interpretations of the Upanishads. As a follower of advaita, I clearly see from texts that non-duality is what these scriptures teach.

The Mandukya Upanishad talks about "ajata-vada", ie the argument that nothing is ever born. Its teaching is very close to buddhist philosophy.

The Mundaka Upanishad talks about the creation being God itself. A famous mantra quotes an example of a spider which is not only the efficient but also the material cause of the webs that it spins.

Chandogya Upanishad chapter 6 has the "maha-vakya" i.e. great statement "tat-tvam-asi" - thou art that.

Of course, reading a translation will not be sufficient to understand the depth of this text. These texts are usually expounded by scholars who are steeped in the tradition of studying and understanding them. For advaita (non-dualistic) philosphy, the master-commentator Shankaracharya has written brief commentaries on all the Upanishads. Their translations are available in English, but like I said earlier, a mere reading of them may not bring about the desired affect of "oh my god this is so awesome".

Re: On Loneliness

#73

Post by equalarrow »

quakeguy wrote: post #67
dean wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So...everything you do, no matter how selfless, is actually selfish if you look closely enough?

All you touch, and all you see is all your life will ever be. -Pink Floyd, TdSotM

So beautiful and true on multiple levels.

1. What it says 2. The prose and length of how it is said

I will be thinking of this for the rest of the day, thank you.

Re: On Loneliness

#74

Post by forestriver »

Reminds me in an oblique way of some of Hanshan's poetry:

  I usually live in seclusion  
  but sometimes I go to Kuoching  
  to call on the Venerable Feng-kan (pickup)  
  or to visit master Shih-te (big stick)  
  but I go back to Cold Cliff alone  
  observing an unspoken agreement  
  I follow a stream that has no spring  
  the spring is dry but not the stream
- Hanshan, #44, The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain by Red Pine

Re: On Loneliness

#75

Post by tech_browser »

dominotw wrote: post #53
tech_browser wrote: post #43

Krishnamurti's teachings are based on scriptures such as Upanishads and Gita. He was averse to the notion of having a Guru (or teacher) because the teachers he had seen in his time were very steeped in orthodoxy, despite their learning. He was also against quoting verses from scriptures because he wanted to break away from the traditional teacher-student model. His teachings are appealing to many people who do not ha…

>Krishnamurti's teachings are based on scriptures such as Upanishads and Gita. I am curious why you say this?

Some of his teachings are indeed present in the Upanishads. Especially, his statements about the Self, happiness etc. all do exist in Indian Scriptures. He was a maverick philosopher that shunned the traditional system of teaching.

Re: On Loneliness

#76

Post by tech_browser »

virtualwhys wrote: post #51
tech_browser wrote: post #43

Krishnamurti's teachings are based on scriptures such as Upanishads and Gita. He was averse to the notion of having a Guru (or teacher) because the teachers he had seen in his time were very steeped in orthodoxy, despite their learning. He was also against quoting verses from scriptures because he wanted to break away from the traditional teacher-student model. His teachings are appealing to many people who do not ha…

> Krishnamurti's teachings are based on scriptures such as Upanishads and Gita. "the truth is a pathless land", what place does sacred scripture hold in JK's teaching? From everything I've read by him, none. Similarly for meditation practices, which he usually described as one of many ways to avoid the truth, there was a rejection of all (non)traditional means to awakening. If anything JK's teaching is that of the Bu…

Mooji's teachings very much follow Ramana Maharshi's method of self-inquiry. That he has a cult-like following is an unfortunate side-effect. I have seen his videos and noticed that some of his "followers" worship him. This phenomena is not surprising. Teachers of philosophy, devotion etc. are often surrounded by parasite-like followers who pay very little attention to teaching and practicing it in their lives. Their focus is mostly to hang around the teacher and hope for a miracle to happen.

Re: On Loneliness

#77

Post by crooked-v »

tech_browser wrote: post #50
acqq wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only he decided to be against the "gurus", he was explicitly against every religion too. http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/about-krishnamurti/dissolution-... "I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. That is my point of view, and I adhere to that absolutely and unconditionally. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any…

Most religions claim that God is a person and maintain that God created the universe, thereby making God and the universe two separate entities. Further, religion and philosophy are also mixed up. "God in heaven", "Good actions give heaven and bad ones yield hell" etc. are some statements that we often hear. The distinguishing teaching about the Upanishads is that 1. God is not a person 2. The universe, as we perceiv…

You may find the extended lore of the Elder Scrolls games, of all things, to be interesting in relation to this subject. There's a lot of philosophical prodding at the idea of "world and identity as illusion", and at the nature of characters in fiction, and the ways those two concepts interrelate.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:CHIM

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:The_Monomyth

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Spirit_of_Nirn,_God_of_Mortals

It's ultimately not all that deep, but I'm fairly sure it's the only top-selling mass-market video game series to touch on the concept in even that much depth.

Re: On Loneliness

#78

Post by [deleted] »

nabla9 wrote: post #10

As with all enlightened superstar spiritual teachers, just don't look his life too closely or you will be disappointed. Even people who start good and their feet on the ground (like Krishnamurti) end up full of shit when they get too much wrong kind of attention. https://tricycle.org/magazine/the-shadow-side-krishnamurti/ “If you want to lose your religion, make friends with the priest.” As someone who's second caree…

[deleted]

Re: On Loneliness

#79

Post by tech_browser »

pramalin wrote: post #71

I have read many of his books and listened to his video talks with his followers while I was in Chennai. The "Commentaries on Living" series are easy to read and my favorites. http://www.jiddu-krishnamurti.net/en http://www.jiddu-krishnamurti.net/en/commentaries-on-living-... His teachings are just the opposite of Gita (and other Hindu scriptures), which prescribes caste based society as the act of God. I moved on fr…

Gita doesn't say that God created the caste system. The four "varnas" are loosely translated as "castes" but that is not quite so. A varna is defined by an individual's occupation. Those who teach are brahmanas, those engaged in ruling the kingdom and protecting people are kshatriyas, those involved in business are vaishyas and those performing jobs like construction, farming etc. are shudras.

It is unfortunate that many consider a "varna" to be the same as "caste". The latter is a degeneration found aplenty in the Indian society whereas the former is simply a way of classifying people based on their occupation.

There is no parallel to the teachings of Gita. In 18 chapters, it covers all aspects of God, universe and individual and also the means of attaining liberation.

Re: On Loneliness

#80

Post by naravara »

pramalin wrote: post #71

I have read many of his books and listened to his video talks with his followers while I was in Chennai. The "Commentaries on Living" series are easy to read and my favorites. http://www.jiddu-krishnamurti.net/en http://www.jiddu-krishnamurti.net/en/commentaries-on-living-... His teachings are just the opposite of Gita (and other Hindu scriptures), which prescribes caste based society as the act of God. I moved on fr…

>His teachings are just the opposite of Gita (and other Hindu scriptures), which prescribes caste based society as the act of God.

Huh? That's not really what's in the Gita. If anything it's usually read as an argument against that.

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