The Book of Life by Jiddu Krishnamurti!

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One thing that each of us desires at least once in their life is to find serenity in life, quiet and still moment, or the meaning of life itself. We’ve been constantly asking the questions over our existence, our purpose here on earth, our origin, our ending, and everything looming around it since the dawn of our existence. The answers to these questions are still unclear, vague, exaggeratedly philosophical, and without any concrete evidence to back up. Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, Mohammed, or any other prophet who has spread their holy words, which they had painstakingly understood through years of constant meditation, is speaking his/her personal experiences only. Our own quest in life must be to learn ourselves: because, what we read is stale knowledge and it can’t give us what we desire.

Jiddu Krishnamurti, a widely respected philosopher, has written dozens of books over his life, spoke to thousands of people, and written his personal thoughts in his journals. And whatever juice we could extract out of those vast resources can be termed as this book. It has been written as the daily meditation prayer, and contains 365 short essays over wide ranges of topic. On my personal experience, I found the book interesting, incomprehensible at first, and rich with the knowledge of life.

The meditation need not be in a secluded place in some jungle or Himalaya; it is living life by being fully aware to our thoughts, their origin, their root causes, and meticulously being free of all thoughts, knowledge, experiences, and traumas. When we are burdened by our past knowledge, it is impossible to gain new knowledge; hence, it is imperative that we free ourselves from all the past experiences, and knowledge. The ultimate freedom is to have the humility to say “I don’t know”; and that comes through daily meditation.

…..the story of mankind is in you, the vast experience, the deep-rooted fears, anxieties, sorrow, pleasure and all the beliefs that man has accumulated throughout the millennia. You are that book…..

…..have you ever sat very silently, not with your attention fixed on anything, not making an effort to concentrate, but with the mind very quiet, really still? Then you hear everything, don’t you? You hear the far off noises as well as those that are nearer and those that are very close by, the immediate sounds – which mean really that you are listening to everything……

……wisdom is something that has to be discovered by each one, and it is not the result of knowledge. Knowledge and wisdom do not go together. Wisdom comes when there is the maturity of self-knowing. Without knowing oneself, order is not possible, and therefore there is no virtue….

…we listen with hope and fear; we seek the light of another but are not alertly passive to be able to understand. If the liberated seems to fulfill our desires we accept him; if not, we continue our search for the one who will; what most of us desire is gratification at different levels…..

....the division is not between the real and yourself; it is in yourself…..

……a man rich with worldly riches, or a man rich in knowledge and belief, will never know anything but darkness, and will be the center of all mischief and misery….

......after all, a cup is useful only when it is empty….

…….the idea is the result of the thought process, the thought process is the response of memory, and memory is always conditioned…..

…..when there is complete attention, that is, when the mind is totally aware, alert, watchful, there is no such thing as evil or good; there is only an awakened state….

…..every form of resistance breeds dependence. And a mind that is dependent can never be free….

……relationship is a mirror in which I see myself as I am; but as most of us do not like what we are, we begin to discipline, either positively or negatively, what we perceive in the mirror of relationship….

…..the function of relationship is to reveal the state of one’s whole being. Relationship is a process of self-revelation, of self-knowledge. This self-revelation is painful, demanding constant adjustment, pliability of thought-emotion. It is a painful struggle, with periods of enlightened peace….

….without relationship, there is no existence: to be is to be related…. Most of us do not seem to realize this—that the world is my relationship with others, whether one or many….

….when we seek fulfillment in any form, whether through painting, through music, through relationship, or what you will, there is always fear….

….love is something which the mind cannot possibly conceive. Love is something which cannot be formulated. And without love, you become related; without love, you marry. Then, in that marriage, you “adjust yourselves” to each other….

…..it is the image, the symbol of “my wife” or “my husband” that we love, or think we love, not the living individual. I don’t know my wife or my husband at all; and I can never know that person as long as knowing means recognition…..

…..one must have strong feelings, because it is only the feelings that make the mind highly sensitive…..

….that the moment you really want to do something, you have the energy to do it…. That very energy becomes the means of controlling itself, so you don’t need outside discipline….

…..what is deeply and thoroughly understood will not repeat itself…

….suffering is closely related to fear, and without comprehension of these two major factors in life, we shall never comprehend what it is to be compassionate, to love…..

……I do not know if it is clear to each one of us that we live in a state of contradiction. We talk about peace, and prepare for war. We talk about nonviolence, and are fundamentally violent. We talk about being good, and we are not. We talk about love, and we are full of ambition, competitiveness, and ruthless efficiency. So there is contradiction. The action that springs from that contradiction only brings about frustration and further contradiction….

….what is happening is that through pressure, through stress, through strain, our minds are being crowded, drowned by influence, by sorrow, consciously or unconsciously…. We are wearing down the mind, not using it….

…..we must be capable of living the four seasons in a day; to be keenly aware, to experience, to understand and be free of the gatherings of each day…..

….the mind that dies every day to the memories of yesterday, to all the joys and sorrows of the past—such a mind is fresh, innocent, it has no age; and without that innocence, whether you are ten or sixty, you will not find God…

…..as long as I feel hurt, as long as there is fear, as long as I help you hoping that you may help me—which is called service—there is no love……

…..the religious man is he who does not belong to any religion, to any nation, to any race, who is inwardly completely alone, in a state of not knowing, and for him the blessing of the sacred comes into being……

Anyone looking for higher realm of philosophy with the blender of life, love, religion, god, sex, and nature itself; the book is the right place for such a person to dive in. Shallow thinkers are advised not to go through the book, but rather prepare a base for understanding the concept by indulging on few other similar books first. The book has been prepared as a combined journal of Krishnamurti’s life work; and thus can be surmised as his best work.

Rating: 5/5