"Think out, feel out", says J. Krishnamurti

If there is one book by J. Krishnamurti which all can understand, it must be "The World Within", published by The Krishnamurti Foundation of India, and available in Indian bookstores. It seems that during the second World War, Krishnamurti did not make public speeches in the United States but continued advising people who would visit him in Ojai, California. The book is a collection of essays based on discussions Krishnamurti had with people from all walks of life during those days, and the essays seem to contain a clear and consistent advice across the dozens of essays. In a nutshell, Krishnamurti seems to be advising each of the questioners to "think out, feel out" each thought in the most expansive way possible, gain invaluable self-knowledge about the thinker in this way (including his less obvious motives, desires and confusions) and thereby enable the mind to get into deeper levels of silence and finally into truly "choiceless awareness" of all motions of the mind. Constant choiceless awareness of all aspects of the mind would finally bring clarity, integration of different layers of the conscious and unconscious mind, and would resolve conflicts and other problems of human life in a more fundamental way. 

While no summary given here should be expected to be a full substitute for the book, the present author hopes that this article will prove to be a fair summary of and a good pointer to the unparalleled wisdom in this book. Towards this end, a few of the essays have been selected and summarized below. Each essay is based on a conversation with a particular person who visited Krishhnamurti in those days to get his advice on a particular matter. The summaries are in my own language, but I hope that the message of Krishnamurti is still intact  - even where my words differ a bit from his. For example, the title "think out, feel out" may give the impression that thought is central to Krishnamurti's teachings in this book. That is true, but it should be also be kept in mind that deep thinking has been promoted in these essays as a means to arrive at that "choiceless awareness" of all activities of the mind, which is closer to the yogic idea of "thoughtless meditation" or "nirvikalpa samadhi", which has been upheld by teachers of all generations as "the" gateway to superconscious knowledge. Choosing these words for the title (and the words have been used by Krishnamurti himself in some of the essays) should not, therefore, be misunderstood as an attempt to downplay the place that "thoughtless awareness" has in yoga, or in the pursuit of  super-conscious knowledge in general.  

Chapter 1: Anger and Intolerance 

This is a 1-page chapter in which Krishnamurti points out to the quesioner that his anger towards a colleague was a result of his own attempts to make the colleage conform to a particular pattern, and therefore, the problem would persist even if he took up another job. Such patters breed thoughtlessness and prevent understanding of the circumstances. According to Krishnamurti, the  questioner would benefit much more by trying to understand the deeper reasons behind his own thoughtlessness rather than by being a slave to the environment and expecting the environment to change in his favor all the time. 

Chapter 2: The Voice of Reality? 

A lady who had now started meditating more regularly wanted to discuss whether the voice she heard was her intuition (and therefore enlightened) or merely the voice of tradition or thought playing in her head. Although the voice had been guiding her into more noble thoughts (like those of service to others), she had started doubting it too. Krishnamurti writes that meditation does not lead to enlightenment without understanding the course of desire. Deeper awareness of the "me" and the "mine", and of the process by which desire arises (via contact and habitual thinking patterns) and how it manifests itself in thought and action, would provide the right kind of self-knowledge which could then lead to right thinking. That right thinking would then be the beginning of right meditation. Meditation must not be based merely on mental formulations, even if noble. Right thinking based on self-knowledge is important.  

Chapter 3: The Joyous and Aching Problem of Birth and Death

A lady who had lost her son in the war came to discuss reincarnation and existence beyond the bodily life. Krishnamurti pointed out that a mind almost paralyzed with sorrow could not be expected to consider the problem of death adequately. If her loss was her main concern, then no theories and beliefs about the hereafter would really fill that void. He explained to her that hatred towards those who caused her son's death would only prevent the development of the state of mind which can experience reality. On the contrary, in transcending hate, anger and grief, the mind may become more compassionate and compassion could purify the mind and help it grow to the state where it would be ready to comprehend the timeless. Evil means do not produce good ends and violent means do not result in peace. Mothers on both sides were crying for their sons, and hating the mother on the other side was no solution to her own sorrow. With this introduction, Krishnamurti led her into her initial question about life after death, and the lady said that she would come back another time to discuss that. 

Chapter 5: Psychological Dependence 

A lady wanted to go over with Krishnamurti her psychological dependence on her husband and her environment. Although this dependence was not financial, it had yet resulted in nervousness and exhaustion and had made her a bit more quick-tempered. 

Krishnamurti advised her to be aware of the process of attachment and detachment that this dependence caused in her (i.e. the movement between aloofness and attachment which was set in motion by the dependence), but to do that without condemnation and judgement. This way, if she could guide her conscious mind into understanding all the reasons for her psychological dependence, then her unconscious mind would also slowly start projecting itself into the conscious mind. By pursuing this "method" again and again, the conscious and unconscious mind would start getting integrated and would work together to find the solution. The resuling integration of the mind, coupled with good diet and general health, would bring the needed fullness to her life.

Chapter 7: Lust is in the Mind

A man came to discuss how to overcome his all-powerful sexual appetite, to which he said he was a slave. He had tried joining different cults to transform the habit, and had also been seeking help from an analyst, on whom he was becoming more and more dependent. What was the way out? 

Krishnamurti reminded him that love was not just a sensation - it was a quality felt when there was no awareness of the petty self. It is a great creative force and without understanding and releasing this creativity, sexual release would inevitably become a burden and a problem. To release this creative energy requires understanding and transforming desire and craving. Each desire further deepens the grooves of habits in the mind, and many such desires, when not understood and transformed, add up to create lust. To be free of this gigantic momentum of lust, the man would do well to practice awareness of each desire at the deepest possible level. Each time he chooses awareness over dark habitual patterns, the light of self-knowledge will deepen and ultimately dispel the darkness of the earlier habitual thought patterns. When this process is followed with regard to all thoughts and feelings, the awareness and self-knowledge will lead to right thinking, which will liberate thought from the sense of the "me" and "mine" and bring forth the realization of that love which is of the highest. 

Chapter 10: A Different Standard of Living

A doctor approached Krishnamurti with his dissatisfaction with his own medical practice. He said he was earning lots of money and prescribing pills and medicines, but felt that medicines were only a temporary relief and that true healing of patients required a very different approach. To try that, however, would mean that he may have to give up his present standard of living and that might bring forth resistance from the near and dear as well. 

Krishnamurti explained that in giving in to various pressures to maintain a high standard of living, we would be helping create a mechanical and cruel world of competition and pride. The doctor agreed to that. Krishnamurti went into whether the doctor was himself ready to change and lead a simple life, if that is where deep reflection and understanding led him. The doctor asked how that could be made possible, and Krishnamurti explained to him the need to practice choiceless awareness of each thought, motive and feeling, whether conscious or unconscious, because without the "right thinking" explained in other chapters, there could be no peace and no love. Krishnmurti ends the chapter by saying that he explained to the doctor what is really involved in this arduous task of developing right thinking and self-knowledge.   

Chapter 21: Not by Bread Alone

A man said that "socialism was his religion" and that "bread for all" was the highest goal for which even liquidation of people who stood in the way of this socialism was acceptable. The means may be violent but the ends justified it, said the man. 

Krishnamurti says the man was surprised when Krishnamurti started off by asking him if bread held first place in his own life. The man replied that that was not so. Krishnamurti explained that by giving primary importance to matters which were secondary would not solve the confusion of the world. While  man could not survive without bread, giving bread (or, baser human tendencies) the primary role in life had itself created a world of sensate values, of authority, ruthlessness and bloodshed. The end of these baser tendencies did not lie in violent changes or revolts which give in to the opposite. Opposites create their own opposites, says Krishnamurti, and there is no solution in the opposites. In giving in to violent anger against the system, man would not be going beyond the lust (or, craving) for power or personal immortality. The solution to these opposites was in using the right means - love and peace - to transcend the problem of opposites. 

Chapter 34: Prayer, A Complex Affair

A man aggressively demanded of Krishnamurti why prayer was not part of his prescribed methods and why Krishnamurti focused only on meditation and did not concern himself with prayer. He insisted that prayer was an integral part of the pursuit of the divine and prayer according to some traditionally well-respected processes had been known to produce results. 

Krishnamurti starts by writing that prayer is a complex affair and is offered for a variety of different ends. There is prayer for worldly ends but there is also prayer to experience "reality" or God. While many of these prayers often bring forth particular results, the subtle process of "demanding and supplicating", "begging and offering" continues and it needs to be considered whether these mental processes themselves bring forth an understanding of ultimate reality. The dualism inherent in us, which divides the prayerful and the prayed to, needs to be carefully understood as a mental process guided by conscious or unconscious motives. By constant choiceless awareness, when craving in all its forms is deeply understood without condemnation or judgement, then the processes of dualism start withering away. The distinctions between the one praying and the one being prayed to, start falling away and it is this understanding which can make the mind ready for perceiving reality. The delusions of craving - even if noble - are not, by themselves, the road to happiness. 

Chapter 42: The Dull and the Sensitive Areas

A man mentioned to Krishnamurti his increasing dullness and lack of interest in most matters, whether business and politics or his personal interests. There were still a select few areas which were not yet in the same category, but for the most part, things were becoming dull and routine and nothing seemed to interest him much. There was no real need to earn much anymore, because he had savings, etc., and needs were therefore taken care of.

Krishnamurti writes that it is unproductive to fight the areas of the mind which are already dull. The more we work on the dull areas, the more confusion it leads to. Rather, the man should work on those areas of his mind which are still lively and in deepening these areas, through an oblique approach, one could hope to reviviffy the other dull areas of the mind too. Starting with these areas, persistent awareness of all thought-feeling could slowly start spreading the light of self-awareness to other areas as well. Entering a gardenn only through our chosen door amounts to being obstinate and obstinacy leads to dullness, not to expanding awareness. The oblique way of working further on areas of the mind which were still lively could give hope. 

Chapter 76: In Seeking the Real, Bread will be Supplied

Here, Krishnamurti deals with the question of distant spiritual goals and whether they are a help or a hindrance in discovering reality. He starts out by asserting that there is no beginning and end - rather, greed of achievement creates these. The "distant goals" inspire us mainly when the present is not fully understood. In that situation, the lure of a distant goal, and the feeling that we may achieve it some day, create their own comfort of a distant but possible improvement. Yet, if the present is not understood in its full significance, there is little hope of improvement in the future because what is not understood, persists, and the confused reality of the present creates a confused future. Ignorance is to be understood and transformed now - as it arises. As a tree dies when its branches are repeatedly cut as soon as they arise, so also does ignorance get transformed into wisdom if it is understood and transformed every moment, as it arises. That which is understood, ceases to be, while that which has not been dealt with adequately, continues into the future. Reality is always new and patterns of confused memory coupled with the desire for security, are not the means to understand it. The questioner of course asks that if all reality is truly new and therefore uncertain, then how can we even expect to earn our daily bread? Krishnamurti replies that in seeking the real, bread will be supplied, but if we seek only bread, then even that will be destroyed. Bread is not of ultimate value to man, but making it of primary value leads to a society of murder and starvation. The advice, then, is to seek the eternal through the transient. As Krishnamurti puts it, "there is no path to it because it is the ever-present".   

As an end-note, the author of this article would like to make another note on the title's suggestion to "think out, feel out" in the deepest and most expansive way possible. Is this to be taken to an extreme and called the only method which can be of help in any and every circumstance? While Krishnamurti recommends it, and while the present author has no claims to any similar spiritual experiences, it seems clear that there could be a few situations where an aspirant finds it easier to calm his/her mind by a distracting thought. Technically, that may be different from 'thinking out, feeling out" in the most expansive way, but let us note that the same book says that working on the dull areas of the mind is often unproductive. Therefore, it would perhaps be easy enough for readers to accept that even the method given here - that of thinking and feeling out in the deepest possible way - may need to be combined judiciously with other "techniques" and "methods" in a few peculiar situations. When the problem of excessive craving comes up as a large enemy battalion on the horizon, all tools should be kept handy. That does not, in any way, mean that there is no place for the longer-term and time-tested strategy in a war. 

Sadanand Tutakne 

Buddhyaa Dhriti Griheetayaa (or, Hold your mind, Sadhu!)

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon and looking at the newspapers earlier in the morning had  brought a great sense of peace. So much so, that the daily breathing exercise was given up in favour of tea and breakfast. It seems that brought some guilt with it, or maybe all things are transient anyway, so the great peace which came via a look at the newspapers was lost and the present author was just a bit sad at noticing that. Then it was time to try some time tested tactics and tricks on the mind because, believe  me, they do work many times. Most of the times, I think. So the mental tricks were attempted - for example, trying to tell the mind not to crave an experience as J Krishnamurti has said. Of course, so have others. Some time later, it seemed clear that the problem today was perhaps more biological than mental. So after some partial success with the mental method, one great biological device was put to use - looking out the window at the calm Sunday noon sunlight!  It was clear to me that the trick would work, and I am not surprised it actually did. Half of the peace felt in the morning was back instantaneously.

A few months ago, a copy of the Ashtaavakra Gita was graciously gifted to me by the grace of the elders in the family. Actually,  it is a lecture series given in the early nineties by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Since the Ashtaavakra gitaa is a pure non-dualistic text, it often goes into the deepest Advaitic ideas which are not easy to verbalize.  To those who have not been reading such texts, it can give the impression that the world is being called meaningless  and that it is therefore only for the monks. Sri Sri provides very detailed comments on some selected points and makes sure that we don't go back with misconceptions like the idea that non-dualism means favoring laziness or un-creativeness or being unenthusiastic.  So the book is more a lecture by Sri Sri and I will here refrain from saying anything much about the Ashtaavakra text itself. Of course it is a text in the loftiest of the Advaitic traditions and surely we need all the help we can get to apply these ideas in life.
I found three points very illuminating in the book, and perhaps there would have been many more had I not read Advaitic texts many times before. In other words, being exposed to these ideas for many years now, I did not find many of the ideas "new" and so the ideas I have selected below are simply the ones which appealed the most to me. Each of us might find many other ideas and explanations in the book very illuminating and so all are invited to read the lectures for themselves.

1. The first is a sentence somewhere in the book where Sri Sri says that when we get agitated, we can see that the unconscious mind has started to chatter. Conscious awareness of someone's behaviour does not cause much agony,  but when unconscious chatter starts, the mental problems multiply. Later authors like Eckhart Tolle have of course brought home the importance of conscious awareness extremely clearly, and so do other texts on yoga allude to this point, but somehow, something clicked when I read this sentence in  the Sri Sri lectures too.

2. The second idea is in a chapter named "Honoring the secret", and that is the idea itself. Being used to thinking of open sharing of knowledge as the best thing, this idea was a bit different from my usual ones, but upon reading the chapter, all my doubts were put to rest. Honoring the secret does not mean that spreading knowledge is bad. All it means is that the true understanding of these matters is revealed when heart and soul is put into serious efforts and Sadhanaa to realize the truth of what is  being said. The secret is that it has to be discovered,  and to practice the methods requires some inner respect for the ideas. By constantly falling prey to contrary ideas, the practitioner will prevent those very actions from being undertaken which can help him understand what is being said. So putting some effort into correctly understanding is better than constantly allowing opposite thought patterns to take over. Speaking without understanding may be another such behaviour pattern, although the book is mostly talking about contrary thought patterns which need to be dropped in favor of right understanding.  To that extent, occassionally not speaking, at least before understanding,  might also be helpful, and so, honoring the secret is far from preventing the spread of knowledge - it is rather exhorting people to understand better instead of falling prey to contrary impulses. It is common knowledgebin India that gurus give to disciples what is right for them and that can be different for different disciples. That is another reason to honor the secret, but the recommendation here is a positive one, not a negative one. It helps create the right psychological framework to put the ideas into practice. This is no negative rule to prevent the spread of knowledge.

3. The third idea which appears in some other lectures of Sri Sri too, is that words coming from the Guru are not special in themselves and need not be uncommon. Rather, it is the blessings which come along with the words which are important and which are supposed to help the practitioner in different subtle ways. How one person receives those can differ from another. Whether it will be a dream for one or a wave of bliss in meditation for another  is difficult to predict, but the words have power and that then makes the words special. Hence, the practitioner  is advised not to think of how simple or complex is the mantra given to him or  her, but rather honestly get involved with the practice so that he (or she) may understand.

Sadanand Tutakne

On Desire

This article is just late in the sense that it was planned weeks ago and was "wisely" postponed so that the author could "reflect" some more on it. However, those noble plans never materialized, so here is what the plan was to write a few weeks ago.

This topic becomes interesting because of some common questions people have about it. Perhaps the most important question is whether all desires are bad. To answer this question, I would first refer the reader to Paramahansa Yoganandaji's article called "The Desire that Satisfies All Desires", where he says that desires can be classified in to those that help us find God and those that obstruct our finding him. Retaliation and anger are of the second kind and forgiveness and love (kindness) are of the first kind. Desires are shaped by our environment and the worldly environment indeed takes peoples' attention away from God, unless they remind themselves that God is the only way to perfect peace and happiness and seek Him out in their daily lives. Let me remind the reader that Maharshi Patanjali's Yoga Darshan also mentions that vrittis (tendencies of the mind) are of two kinds - klishta (those rooted in separative consciousness) and aklishta (less/not rooted in separative consciousness). The second kind of tendencies are not obstructive in the path of Yoga. The control or elimination which Yoga seeks is of the first kind of vrittis.

This does not, however, mean that there is no scope for confusion here. The Yoga Darshan itself talks of "Dharma-megha samaadhi", which is attained when even the interest in retaining the higher knowledge (prasankhyaan) obtained in states of samaadhi is given up. Of course, when the place of prasankhyaan in Yoga is understood, this follows more naturally. According to Shrimat Swaami Hariharaananda Aaranya, the gross forms of the kleshas (separative tendencies born out of Ignorance of the underlying Unity consciousness) are to be made subtle by kriya yoga or concentration, the subtle forms are to be further reduced to the form of burnt seeds (which can't flower anymore) by using the contrasting higher knowledge gained in samaadhi (prasankhyaan) and there is a final state of complete dissolution of the "chitta" (heart or mind) too, wherein there is no more any need to keep the prasankhyaan consciously active in the mind. Work is then (always) performed out of the highest discrimination - which never then diminishes - and therefore there is no longer a need to use the prasankhyaan knowledge to further reduce the kleshas. When understood this way, the message becomes clearer, but such references in texts and other places can sometimes confuse common people who have not had the opportunity to "learn it all". There is a very common saying amongst people that "even the desire for emancipation is a desire" and these kinds of statements can confuse those who have not had the time to seek out the details.

And that is not all. Daily life also brings out situations where people have to rebel against desire. Think of a student constantly dreaming of his goal in life to the point where his days and nights are spent mainly "wanting" and not executing on the intermediate steps that he has been told will help him gain that particular knowledge. Or a person with a big project in mind who can never begin. On the other hand is the person who has "torn himself away" from the want of success for a few weeks and has settled down to executing the intermediate steps. Haven't we seen in our own lives that this kind of "mere acceptance of fate"  often leads to success whereas the constant and painful "want" for success just acts as a distraction until it is given up? The same is the state of a beginner in meditation (perhaps any exercise which needs some conscious effort). The "want" may be acute, but until the conscious mind forces the first step, inertia never allows success to come near in that particular exercise.

So these kinds of daily lessons also point to the fact that there are situations where desire needs to be put under conscious control even to achieve what one desires! This adds to the feeling that all desire needs to be controlled or won over - including the desire for God. This, then, can be a source of confusion in the seeker's mind too and pose questions like whether even the desire for emancipation is "bad". For such seekers, the words of experts like Paramahansa Yogananda and Maharshi Patanjali can help clarify - at least to an extent.

One of our Upanishads also says that the Self reveals itself not because of any particular exercise routine or discipline, but because of the act of seeking itself, so this again points to the idea that all desire is not be given up by beginners. The beginner is perhaps better advised to follow the distinction between "good" and "bad" desires, until that other understanding arises in which the questions and the related confusions are eliminated and replaced by wisdom. What happens in that state can be left for some other day. It is difficult to say whether desire never arises in that state, but casual reading of lives of saints suggests that even if they do arise, they are dealt with with wisdom, because of which it is said that the response is always "perfect".

A second question related to desire is what happens when the beginner starts actioning upon the desire to achieve the goal. I believe this is where the yogic discussion of gross versus subtle kleshas comes in again. Once we action upon a desire, we convert it from a mere distraction to an actionable inspiration or in some cases into a "need". Desire in its "need" form is very actionable and helpful in bringing peace and stability to the mind too, because the actions then start following the need, creating lesser conflict. Over time, though, it is possible that some subtle distractions (desires in their disturbing form) still remain in some form in the mind, and it is these that Yoga advises to further reduce to a "burnt-seed" form by keeping the higher knowledge in one's mind (consciously). In an even more advanced stage, no such contrasting knowledge might be needed, because there seems to be a state where the kleshas just go back to where they arose from, never to arise again. This, it seems, is the "prati-prasava" (opposite of creation) of the seeker in Patanjali. So the actioning in the present might not be the complete end of the story, but according to the Yoga teachers, it at least takes us part of the way.

A final question is whether all wants except those for God are "bad". Here again, the advice from various sources seems to be to be practical and make progress starting where we are, rather than doing violence to ourselves due to our conceptions about the highest possible state of consciousness. Some modern teachers have said that we should let the practice do it for us, rather than forcing ourselves to do what we are not really prepared for. Some have said that there is no need to go to the jungles. Others have said that all good human emotions can be retained as long as one turns them towards God, so there is no need to give up our emotions altogether. So maybe energy is frittered away in conflicting desires and emotions, but the advice seems to be "to seek God first", and not to crush all emotions first. When wisdom comes, it is said that the rightful place of all these will be clear to the seeker through an unfailing intuition or understanding of the Supreme or some other similar source.  

Sadanand Tutakne

On Anger

Like desire, anger is probably a favourite topic of discussion for the philosophically oriented. In the Bhagwad Gita, it has been said that anger leads to a sort of hypnosis, which destroys memory and thereby intelligence. Even in common discussions, educated people mostly do not disagree that this kind of deep and/or persistent anger is to be avoided. That brings us to the question of whether anger is fine in smaller bits - especially where it can help you keep healthy (or, preserve your sanity).

Here, at least a few situations come to mind where the answer might still be "no". Firstly, say this smaller anger was a cause of hurt to some people, maybe on a recurring basis. Kind-hearted people would naturally want to reduce instances like these. Another situation is where the "small" anger has become a habit. Once a tendency to get angry everywhere is developed, the angry person is likely to feel depleted of energy every now and then, simply because of the frequency and the intensity of the emotion. Even if the anger is not always expressed, the fatigue is likely to show up because the "energies" are being depleted anyway. A third is a situation where the person feels that the anger is always justified by his/her logic. This might not deplete as much energy, but even here, the person could be creating more isolation for himself/herself, so it might be better to be cautious even in these cases.

In a few situations, where both parties ensure that the anger does not drain so much energy and actually try to clear the atmosphere, we might end up with a great solution to the particular situation even after getting angry. However, simply because of such experiences, we might further strengthen our general tendency to get angry, or, we might be strengthening the bonds of maya (seperate egoistical consciousness), and who knows what the final effect might be?

Now let's make the jump I want to make here and accept for now that we want to avoid anger. The few scriptures we read don't clearly define the situations where anger is good or the extent to which it should be encouraged, so we go with an overall feeling that it is better to avoid it than indulge in it. Even when teaching small children how to behave in day-to-day situations, it is not clear that deep anger helps - what they need is some clear direction, and not our deep resentment towards their mischief or their laziness on that day. 

So for now, let's assume that the scriptures do ask us to overcome anger because it is in the interests of higher spiritual development. Is there a method that works? Of course, no method works without our will, and if the will is very strong, maybe no method will be needed. Yet, some of us, I'm sure, would have felt that techniques and methods also help where the will is strong but not perfect yet. It is mainly for this group that I would like to share a set of two ideas which I gathered from some articles written by someone who is highly revered in my family. I am not giving the name here - let's just call him Swamiji for now. However, his revered status in my eyes is important because that further helped me pay attention to the words.

In one article, Swamiji says that while the total cessation of "prapanch" (worldly life, or the "street-smart" activities we have to sometimes pursue to lead a worldly life, or to elaborate, the delusional activities done under the influence of "maya") is not possible (probably said for the practitioner, not for the self-realized), it is still important (for the practitioner) to control its "saamraajya bhaav" (i.e., aggressive or overwhelming role in daily life). In a different article, he says that while the ego (ahankaara) is multi-faceted, it has four main "branches" or manifestations. Since that essay was written in Hindi, let me mention the four manifestations in Hindi itself. They are:

(a) cheezon ke milne se hone waalaa sukh (the pleasure of getting things),
(b) na milne se hone waalaa dukkh (the displeasure at not getting them),
(c) apamaan (insult), aur (and)
(d) apayash (infamy).

Now let us put these 2 together. If anger is our problem, the first idea tells us that even if it is impossible for an ordinary practitioner to completely eliminate it, we would do well to bring its overwhelming influence under control.

The second idea then tells us that the insult or displeasure we feel is one of the four main manifestations of an over-sized ego (over-sized for the spiritual aspirant at least), and hence is good to control and down-size it. Together, they make a super recipe for controlling anger and other toxic emotions which can all too often sway us, if we choose to stay that way. 

I am sure there would be many other such sayings and teachings in all the well-known scriptures, but today, I do not have a ready compilation of such teachings from those well-known sources. Needless to say, whatever we respect a lot, we can pick and try to emulate. In that sense, the power lies in our own mind and not in the words. Then again, from a different point of view, the words really need to carry that power too!

Sadanand Tutakne

The Place of Knowledge in Transformation (as per J. Krishnamurti)

As per J. Krishnamurti (in conversation with Dr. Alan W. Anderson), the place of knowledge in human transformation is, quite simply, that of an inhibitor - although the word "inhibitor" is just my one-word summary and not a word used by Krishnamurti. 

This kind of summary would shock many of us at some level, but no hurt is intended here. With a little explanation, the shock will disappear and be replaced by a simple and serious understanding of what Krishnamurti is asking "responsible" people to look into. Some of these themes recur in Krishnamurti's discussions and books, but let's accept that repetition has an important role in self-improvement. Repetition is required for the forgetful, isn't it? The Hindu father is far from "wrong" in asking his child to repeat the Gayatri mantra 108 times in a day. Mantras need to be repeated by the forgetful! Otherwise, knowledge will not be available for use when the need arises. That was the curse Karna carried, because his guru (as the story goes) got angry with him for a lie he told. That is also the curse mankind normally carries on itself - to forget the knowledge when the need arises. Jokes apart, repetition is helpful at times.

J Krishnamurti's dialoge with Dr. Alan W Anderson is in a set of 18 video-recorded conversations, and it seems all 18 are available on YouTube. The link to the first dialogue is - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RPAJ6Sp1VA and this essay is based only on the first four. I need to watch the others again before I can write about them.

When listening to J. Krishnamurti, we should remember that he always accepted the place of "technological memory" (like how to drive a car, how to get to one place from the other, etc.) as being essential for people to function in daily life. In these videos too, he dismisses that kind of memory as being "essential" and makes it clear that that kind of memory is not being talked about here. Apart from that kind of technological memory, which creates no sorrow or misery in life, there is another "psychological memory", which makes for the continuation of the past in human life and is the topic of many of Krishnamurti's dialogues and conversations. Once again, before going into the relationship of this memory with human problems, he emphasises more than once that knowledge has a role to play. Perhaps what he means is that the right place for that knowledge needs to be found by each person in the context of the surroundings he/she is situated in.

This "psychological memory" is the content of the individual observer (who feels separate from the observed), who carries the impressions of the past with him and views the present mainly through the colored glasses of those impressions. This heavily colored glass prevents people from meeting the present "as it is" and makes it impossible for people to react adequately to the "challenge of the present". The present is forever new, but viewed through the knowledge of the past, it is viewed as a continuation of the past and by constant repetition  of the same pattern, the past carries on, even if sometimes in a slightly modified way. Ultimately, there is no relationship to the actual, images battle with other images, the past clashes with the present and the result has to be a continuation of the misery of the past. This burden of psychological memory is called knowledge here. Its content is the impressions gathered from experience. These
memories and the related desires and emotions are the essence of the observer who feels separate from the observed and has no relationship to the observed. 

Radical change will not happen by modified continuity of the past. The observer must realize that he is not separate from the observed, but very much an integral part of it. In actuality, as Krishnamurti says, the observer is the observed. As long as the observer is an outsider with no actual relationship to the observed,
he will continue with the same mischief of pursuing his own continuity - even if in a modified way sometimes - and thereby allow misery to repeat itself. This does not mean that there is place for dogma in Krishnamurti's style of discussing. Krishnamurti asks responsible people to look into the matter for themselves, so that they can themlselves understand the complex created by this kind of memory, this kind of observer and this kind of experiential knowledge in life. When danger is clearly seen as danger, transformation is instantaneous. For
example, if there is fire near us, we put it out immediately - no time is involved in that kind of simple "seeing". If man could truly see the ruthlessness of "success", he would not need to slowly modify his behaviour and painfully work towards a cherished end. The seeing is the doing. The recognition of the dangers of some of these human behaviors is the end of those behaviors. However, the past, the observer and the knowledge inhibit this seeing and even seeking a way out of this mess can be merely a modified continuity of the past, because the seeking might be more verbal, and not actual. Truly seeking means truly knowing the problem created by the past, and it is the ending of the past - to use Krishnamurti's kind of language.

There is clearly a whole lot common to Krishnamurti and Patanjali, to Krishnamurti and the Vedas, etc. For example, his idea of the observer being the observed is what Patanjali defines as the state of "sabeeja samaadhi" (samaadhi with a seed of thought, idea, object etc. being present, but the observer being as though absent). However, perhaps even more important is the emphasis of both Krishnamurti and the ancient teachers on learning by doing, on implementing and testing out in one's life each of these ideas, lest they remain as merely ideas in our mind with no substance behind them. This "nididhyaasana" in daily life is
the cure for forgetful mankind which keeps answers conveniently classified in large libraries, so it would become easier to forget them in daily life. 

Nididhyaasana is not dogmatic following, though. Recall that no less than Shankara has said in his commentaries that "mere action" is not enough because action is not directly opposed to ignorance. (Ignorance is the forgetfulness of the essential unity in Spirit.) Only knowledge is directly opposed to ignorance. So nididhyaasana also does not mean dogmatic following of words not understood, but rather implies an understanding based on both intellectual and experiential testing. It is a way to understand what Krishnamurti means by saying that the word is not the thing, the description is not the described. The hungry man needs to go beyond descriptions of food and the man in conflict and misery needs to end the cause of the suffering. Only that in these cases, the seeing is the doing and so the revolution is instantaneous in that sense.

Sadanand Tutakne

The Life Divine, Chapters 11-15

Ch.11: Delight of Existence: The Problem
Ch.12: Delight of Existence: The Solution

In chapters 11 and 12, Sri Aurobindo deals with a very common question mankind has - namely, if the Universal One created this world without any need or want, purely for the delight of finding Himself through the play of multitudes, then how can we ever explain the presence of pain and sorrow, injustice and insensitivity, etc., in the world which the Perfect One created for only for delight (Ananda)?

In one chapter, he elaborates on the problem in some detail and begins answering the paradox, and in the next, he elaborates further on the explanation. Part of the answer is that the concepts of justice and morality which we hold (typically) are themselves limited and rooted rather too deeply in the body/mind experiences of the individual. Therefore, if the world seems unjust, it is also because the individual's concept of justice is limited. Another equally important part of the answer is that our understanding of the words "delight of existence" is often incorrect. Delight of existence refers to the "background of all backgrounds", something like the normal satisfaction of being alive and conscious - not to the waves of ecstasy we sometimes feel when the ego or some other individual desire is fulfilled. This normal satisfaction of existence is the background on which all our mental waves of pleasure and pain are superimposed and the background is
very much present even when these crests and troughs are being experienced. So, delight of existence is not contradicted by the presence of pain or sorrow - rather, these are but positive and negative currents of the same delight of existence. Through training in neutrality and equanimity, says Sri Aurobindo, it is possible to slowly transform even painful experiences into neutral sensations first and later into the "equal delight" of existence. In fact, he adds, it is also possible, though much more difficult for human beings, to directly
(immediately) transform painful sensations into the equal delight of existence (Ananda) - and here, we are not talking of drug-induced sleep or external hypnosis. The possibilities seen under hypnosis point to the fact that these capabilities lie dormant in the human body, and for Sri Aurobindo, these possibilities are not conjectures but a reality.

Ch.13: The Divine Maya

Even then, if all existence were to be of the same nature as Brahman (Universal Consciousness), then no suffering could be felt. So to even feel limitation, something lesser than Brahman must have been created. Obviously, this is the role of Maya, the power of veiling and projection, which ultimately makes the individual forget his/her divine origin, omnipresence and omniscience, and cling to separate existence which serves only the limited body and ego. Maya is the power by which the Universal "hides" Himself into seemingly separate parts.

However, as Sri Aurobindo points out in many places, we are fortunate that the One and the seeming many are not poles of existence without any link. Rather, creation is very much a continuum, with intermediate states like the Supermind, which has created the world of multiplicity by unequal distribution of consciousness (which leads to division between the knower and the known, etc.), but retains the understanding that it is actually one and the same everywhere. In fact, in Supermind, one can realize that Consciousness is not just involved or hidden within matter, but is rather the creator of the material world and "holds" the multiplicity of forces within itself in an overall harmony, which is not seen by the ordinary individual who has not risen above Maya.

Even human knowledge, which is all about division between the knower and the known and the will of the knower at a practical level, suggests the idea that there is something beyond these seeming divisions - that these are all ultimately one. However, says Sri Aurobindo, it is only when we delve deep into ourselves, into "that secrecy where the activity of the mind is stilled", that this universal consciousness becomes manifest to us.

In the essay, Sri Aurobindo makes some other points too, for example, that the philosophies which accept mind as the creator can be divided into the purely noumenal and the idealistic. The purely noumenal philosophies see the world as purely an interplay of mind forces, which have no relation to the essential principle which created them in the first place. These philosophies, therefore, lead to Nihilistic or Chaotic views of the world. The idealistic philosophies, on the other hand, postulate that mental forces (which play in the world) do retain some relationship with the essential Truth underlying them - and the relationship is not merely that of opposition. The Integral Vedantic view goes even farther along this idealistic path, in which the world is not just an imaginary idea in the universal Mind, but a birth of something beyond mind into forms of itself.

While all these details in the essay are helpful, I would here like to especially point out the quotations given from the Rig-Veda by Sri Aurobindo at the beginning of this chapter on Maya. There are two - (i) from Mandala 3, verse 38, 7th mantra and (ii) Mandala 9, 83rd verse, 3rd mantra.

The literal meaning of the first is something like "by milking this bull (Indra) along with his Kamadhenu and other cows, the lords of Maya found Him (Indra) in newer and newer (several different) forms." According to the 1930s translation by Pt. Jayadev Sharma, there could be one materialistic interpretation, that the intelligent and knowledgeable people could create several new and useful things by working with different forces of nature. However, even Pt. Sharma adds that as soon as we interpret Indra as the Universal One (Indra being the king of the Gods and the most revered of Vedic gods), the interpretation is that the lords of Maya created several different forces by working with the One original force in different ways. In fact, another mantra in the same verse advises people to rather ask the great rishis who had the power to create worlds about this Indra (i.e., Indra is no mere ordinary power which can be comprehended by people
simplistically). Now, see the clarity in Sri Aurobindo's translation:

"By the Names of the Lord and hers they shaped and measured the force of the Mother of Light; wearing might after might of that Force as a robe, the lords of Maya shaped out Form in this Being".

Similarly, the second quotation from the 9th Mandala can be more materialistically translated as "This Soma Himself creates the entire world by His own power. By His powers did the great ones who teach others get the true knowledge and accept their disciples like children in their womb." Or, as another translator puts it "By His orders did the great ones establish the womb in the medicinal herbs and plants". Upon reading Sri Aurobindo's translation, we can see that both these translations are trying hard to arrive at a material interpretation where a slightly more subtle interpretation seems more suited.

"The Masters of Maya shaped all by His Maya; the Fathers who have divine vision set Him within as a child that is to be born."

The point here is that the idea of the universal One is not just found in the Upanishads but also in the Samhitas, which are often discarded by people as being merely mantras for collective ritualistic worship, in which people pray for their more basic needs and desires like for food and protection. This mantra is only one example. Sri Aurobindo has a whole large book called "The Secret of the Vedas" in which he explains how these slightly hidden meanings are indeed more important and more in line with the overall message of the Vedas.

Ch.14: The Supermind as Creator

The main theme of this chapter is that at the level of the Supermind, all is One and the Supermind retains that knowledge even when it starts concentrating itself in an unequal way to create diverse forces, including knower, known and the will of the known. So in the Supermind, the division of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss (or Will) is known, but these 3 aspects of the divine are still integrated, despite the recognition that they are different aspects of the One. As a result, the Supermind does not carry the limitations of the individual who is subject to the Great Ignorance (Avidyaa), although the Supermind knows the process by which it has created the individual forms from itself (or, from the universal One). The Supermind is the level where consciousness "holds" nature in a higher, overall harmony. So at this level, consciousness is not merely involved within matter, and not merely subject to all the limitations of separative existence. A few more steps down the line, the same individualized concentrations of consciousness which the Supermind creates lose their knowledge of the universal harmony, and at that level, the division is more real than the unity. As a result, there is a "paralyzing" self division of knowledge into the Will, the Knower, the Known, etc. This is the world of the Great Ignorance, or Maya. The reality of the Supermind which creates these forms out of itself but retains the knowledge of the true underlying Unity is the "justification of the current religious notions of the omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence of the Divine Being".

Ch.15: The Supreme Truth-Consciousness

This "God" or Supermind is indeed the creator of the worlds just like in religious ideas but religions sometimes try to create too human a picture of this Universal One. We should not exclude the personal aspect of God - it is equally true, but the Supermind is both personal and impersonal. We are concerned in this Chapter with the Supermind, and not just with its personal aspect.

The Supermind views all of space and time as a whole, not as a succession of events or objects. However, the same Supermind concentrates itself unequally into individual forms, thereby creating the basis for the play of the multiplicities and moreover, also repeats this divisive play in all its creations. At the material end of this spectrum lies the separated ego which is born within duality, but at the level of Supermind, there is a stage prior to this complete loss of knowledge of the Unity - a stage which forms the basis of our individual minds but retains the knowledge of the essential unity. There are separate forms here due to the unequal concentration of consciousness, but the knowledge of the Unity and equal presence of Brahman everywhere is not lost either. This "apprehending Truth-Consciousnes", says Sri Aurobindo, is much easier for the individual mind to grasp because of its nearness to us (relative to the even deeper realizations of complete unity). Therefore, the "barrier that has to be crossed is less formidable."

Sadanand Tutakne

Satyameva Jayate Naanritam (Truth alone wins, not untruth)

There is the lower truth and there is the higher truth. The lower truth is that the following of disciplines prescribed in the scriptures with the right desire (for true knowledge) produces pleasant results like heaven after earth, but getting deluded by such temporary good results and thinking of these results as the highest leads to further bondage via attachment to the fruits of actions. The higher truth is that of the Imperishable One - the formless, all-knowing source of all, which cannot be grasped or perceived the way we can grasp and perceive the objects of the senses. To know that Highest, the taintless (the unerring, those who follow the right disciplines with the right attitudes) should make the Pranava (Omkar) a bow and the (individual) soul an arrow sharpened by meditation, hit the target (the eternal One) and stay merged with it the way an arrow does after hitting its target. The universe itself (including its pleasant and unpleasant things) is but like a web woven by a spider, which the spider (God) projects out of Himself and later withdraws back into himself every now and then. The lower truth of the individual soul working its way in this universe is very much a creation of the Higher Truth, and merges back into the Higher when it truly sees (realizes) the Higher. The Higher One, while being omnipresent and farther than the farthest for the individual, nevertheless remains closer than the closest too (by being seated in the very heart of the individual). This bright self, the reflection of the One Above, is attainable through truth, concentration, and purification of the intellect through the right austerities and the right knowledge. In fact, truth alone wins, not untruth. Truth opens for the seeker "the path of the Gods" so to speak. This is the path by which the desireless seers (rishis) ascend to that highest abode where lies the greatest treasure attainable through truth (the Supreme Reality, God).

Such is the purport of the various sections of the Mundaka Upanishad, which very much talks of the supreme search of man, i.e., the search for the Eternal. Indeed it is my objective here to bring out this first meaning of "satyameva jayate", which seems evident upon going through the translations of the mantras of the upanishad. Truthfully following practices learned from the enlightened teachers is required for realization of the Higher Truth. However, what many people might not know (as I did not until recently) is that in interpreting these verses, no less a teacher than the great Adi Shankaracharya says that "it is a familiar fact in the practical world that the untruthful man is defeated by a truthful one" and therefore, the way truth is a higher power in practical life, so is it here, on the path to true spiritual progress. This remark by the great teacher should be enough for us to get away from the nagging thought that truth is perhaps "only" for the spiritual path and not for practical life.

As a prescription for life, fine, but isn't "satyameva jayate" also supposed to be a "fact" of life too? The upanishad says clearly that it is a fact of spiritual life, but who can attest to the same for practical life? Could not the lifestyle of a liar (untruthful person) be sometimes better that that of an honest person and in that sense, could not the liar be said to have "won"? Could not a liar have "won" a court case by producing false evidence?

Well, yes and no. No, because a slightly wider definition of "winning" would make it clear that the statement is almost impossible to test and verify in the world. If winning in life includes peace of mind, health, respect from the learned, etc., then there is no surety that the untruthful winner of the court case has truly won in life. Yet, if we insist on focusing purely on that one "game" - that particular court case where the untruthful got away with false evidence - then yes, under that very specific definition of winning, the untruthful would be called the winner of the battle.

In his essay on the nature of "karma", Shrimat Swami Hariharaananda Aaranya has conceded this point openly, and has in fact clearly stated that when a seemingly innocent person gets robbed, etc., we cannot automatically put the blame on a past life where the innocent man had committed an equivalent crime. In fact, he says, the main reason behind losing that particular battle is the huge effort made by the robber in developing the power and proficiency to steal, in planning and executing the same, etc., relative to the somewhat smaller effort made by this innocent person in taking preventive steps. Even an alert person cannot be expected to make efforts in all such directions, and therefore, a "loss" on some such dimensions should in fact be expected by the innocent, who organize their efforts based on their own priorities and understanding as of that time.

Yet, says the Swami, the moment we realize that the simple meaning of "winning" or "losing" is to win or lose what we "really want", it is clear that in this very simple sense, the truthful really never lose - even in the face of such events as the robbery mentioned above. When we speak of the righteous, he says, we are speaking of people whose true desires are to live a life of truth, knowledge, renunciation, dedication to higher spiritual endeavors, etc. Despite the outward loss - the successful robbery, etc. - these righteous people continue to lead their lives in pursuit of their true desires. The robber fails to win what the righteous person really wants and is not a winner of the game in this simplest sense. The righteous therefore, simply never lose, says the Swami, and "dharma" always wins.

Extolling spirituality is not a step in downgrading the importance of the political system or the police. Rather, it is a tribute to all these forces that so many of our farmers want to focus on farming and teachers on teaching. Policing is about protecting ourselves, not about giving in to frenzy created by a wild imagination.

Therefore, in closing, consider this “game”:

Pranavo dhanuh, sharo hyaatma (The Om is the bow and the individual soul is the arrow),

brahma tallakshyam-uchchyate (the Supreme (Brahman) is the target),

Apramattena veddhavyam" (It is to be hit (should be hit) by an unerring man - i.e., by the taintless one who follows the right disciplines with the right attitude),

sharavat tanmayo bhavet" (hitting it, the taintless seeker should stay merged with it just like an arrow does after hitting its target). (Mundaka II.ii.4)

Sadanand Tutakne