Jiddhu Krishnamurti (1895 - 1986)

EARLY WRITINGS - 1927 1928 1929

OJAI CAMP 1929

Ojai, California, 1929

You have come here to find out how to live, to know in what manner you should conduct your lives so that you may find that Truth which is continuous. Before you can discover that, you will have to go through the process of rejection, and that very few people are willing to do... because they already have very precise, definite ideas of what I am going to say, they are finding it very difficult to understand what I am saying; it is difficult because you have it in your minds very clearly defined who I am. You have been told who I am and you have been told what the manner of my teaching will be: in what way I shall work, who are my particular disciples, what movements shall be foremost. Now you have all these barriers to the understanding of Truth...

Intelligence, pure intelligence, is the balance, the poise of reason and affection. I want first of all to establish in your minds that poise, so that you will for yourselves discover, instead of being told by others what I mean. I want you to understand for yourselves what I say. And here let me add: I say exactly what I mean. Every word I have carefully thought out; and it was a foolish thing to say: "He does not mean what he says". Many of my friends are beginning to say: "We know him better elsewhere. It is only a part of his consciousness that is functioning." How very childish these things are! They neither know Krishnamurti nor the Teacher, but they give opinions concerning both. Now, if you are going to accept one or the other, you will do foolishly. Accept neither. Neither what I say nor what another says; but reason with yourselves, so that out of that reason the flower of understanding is born.

Now, I say I am whole -entirely unconditioned. I say this not that I may have followers. I do not want anything from anyone: neither following, nor money, nor praise, nor flattery -I have only the desire to urge all others to right conduct of life. I say that I am whole, and any man who says otherwise is talking foolishly, because he does not know. I am not saying this to convince you, because that is not my desire. I want to establish in your minds and awaken in your hearts a desire for the Truth; and when you have the desire you will find the media, the technique, the way of attainment. So, please, as I said, use your critical analysis of what I say. Do not let anybody, including myself, convince you of something which you do not understand. It does not matter how old or seasoned in tradition, or how new or modern it may be. Don't you see, friends? You have all come here believing or not believing that I have something to give, to show. How can you find out, if your minds are already prejudiced, if you are already thinking: "Oh, now this is Krishnamurti speaking, and now someone else is speaking"? You will say Krishnamurti is speaking when that is convenient to you; you will say it is someone else speaking when it satisfies you.

I have been through the world now, from India to Europe and America, and it is everywhere the same. Everybody knows better than I do about myself -I am glad you see the humour of it, but your mere having humour is not of value. We can all laugh. I have laughed so much at the foolish things people say -but that again is of little value. What is of value that you should live, because you understand? That is the only thing of importance: not words, words, words. Not what you believe or what you do not believe. To what societies you belong or to what societies you do not belong. That is all childishly ridiculous.

But you have come here as members of the Star believing that Krishnamurti is the World-Teacher. At least, you have subscribed to that belief. It is a most unfortunate thing, because you do not know. Some of you know, but the vast majority that have subscribed their names do not know. If they knew, they would have been different, and you are in nowise different from the ordinary average man; that is where the sorrow of it lies.

It is like this: If you saw a great painting and desired to become a painter yourself, you would be enthusiastic to discover the master who painted the picture and pursue him and learn from him in all eagerness. But you are not interested in that. You are interested at this present moment to discover who is speaking, whether it is so-and-so or someone else -but not whether what I am speaking is the truth. Don't you see what you are missing with all these childish wrangles over unessential things? I am not talking harshly, or from lack of affection. On the contrary. I say I have found that flower which is the consummation of all life, that perfume which is the understanding of all life, that Truth which is continuous, to which every human being must pass. And to do this you must give up everything to find that, because Truth is whole, complete, and continuous.

You want that Truth translated to you in particular, in your own narrowness; you want it brought down to you, given to you in a particular sign. You will not accept truth in its entirety. The Christian will say: "I want truth through Christianity". The Hindu will say the same for Hinduism. But you do not get Truth that way. No religion, sect or society holds the Truth. You must go out of the shadows and into the clear sunshine. I hope you are thinking and I hope you are going to do something about it...

Just for the moment imagine, for yourselves, as I have often done. Suppose that I had been in the world at the time when the Buddha was in India, and had realised to myself that there was a great human being who understood life, who was the consummation of life, who was the beauty of life; in whom there was the whole and not the part. Knowing all that and having a burning desire to understand him, do you think I would turn to him and then say that I had some other work to do in the world, that I wanted to stay in the shadow of a religion, or that I wanted to function through a particular channel, when he himself held the whole of life?

In the same manner, I say now, I say without conceit, with proper understanding, with fullness of mind and heart, that I am that full flower which is the glory of life, to which all human beings, individuals as well as the whole world, must come.

Some of you may realise what others will doubt, and others still for their convenience will discover phrases that will stick in their minds and so they will lose the perfume. I am not saying this as a threat, or any such thing; either you want the loveliness, the perfection of life, or you do not want it. If you do not want it, leave it. If you want it, have it so burningly that you sacrifice everything for this one thing. It is not narrowness -when a drowning man asks for air it is not narrowness. He wants air so that he can breathe and live and be happy, rejoicing. This is not narrowness; this is not limitation. So you have to make up your minds what you are going to do: either belong to the congregation of the dead or, breaking down all the barriers, throwing aside your side issues, intimate unessential things, come out into the clear sunshine. Please, do understand me that you can never attain Truth through any one particular channel; because Truth is continuous and cannot be divided... For, after all, what is Truth? It is life, and the understanding and possession of that fullness of life that is happiness, that is perfection. So, in order to have that, you must give up all the little parts and go after the full tress with burning anxiety.

When the sunshine comes, you do not need to read by your candlelight. You put out your candle, however soft that light may be. So, if you want that which I say is the absolute, unconditioned Truth, the whole -if you want that, then you must give up all these childish things. If you want the unessential, you are perfectly welcome; only realise it. Do not play with both.

Either you want that perfection which is the Truth, that incorruptibility which is life itself, or you want comfort -comfort which breeds authority which in its turn breeds fear. The majority of you are so much afraid of what I am saying, that you are uncertain. Quite right, but out of your uncertainty you are not anxious to find what is certain. You want to be told what is true, what is false, by another, by your pet authorities, by your traditions of yesterday.

So, I hope you realize that the time comes when you must leave your nurses, your childhood state, and come out and seek. What is the difference between you and the ordinary man? Not much, I am afraid, except that you say: "We have left all the old forms of truth".

You have left all the old ideas of truth to discover the new, but you have not discovered the new because you are establishing new forms, new theories, new dogmas, new creeds, new worships, new rites, new gods. That is not the way to find Truth. To find that Truth which is absolute, unconditioned, free, you yourselves must be unconditioned, free and absolute; that is, you must push aside everything around you that places a limitation on your minds, on your hearts, and seek that freedom which is Truth itself. You hear me every year and read what I say often, but you are all the time translating what I say to suit your convenience. I have heard people say, "Oh, he does not mean entirely all that, he has got a complex over this, he has not the whole, but we know the entirety and will tell you what is the whole. This is necessary and that is unnecessary. This is right and that is wrong. Surely you are no longer children to be told what to do, what to think, in what manner to conduct yourselves, what you shall worship and what you shall not worship!

Sirs, what are you seeking? Shadows, which obstruct the light, comfort which does not exist, instead of Truth, which gives that understanding which surpasses comfort.

What is it that you are seeking? If you want comfort, you will have innumerable gods, new shrines, new rites, new literature that will choke the very life out of your hearts and minds...

What is it which, as an individual, suffering, rejoicing, thinking, feeling, struggling, caught in the passions, uncertain, unsteady -what is it that you want?

The butterfly burns itself in the light and happy is the butterfly. And if you are willing to burn yourself in that Truth of which I speak, you will be happy. But you must be willing, you must be anxious, you must have that great desire which urges you on to discover that Truth which is eternal. So, what is it, as an individual who is thoughtful, purposeful and wise in his choice, what is it that you want? Don't you see, on that depends what you are going to get, what you will have? Don't you see, on that depends your capacity to understand? Don't you see, on that depends your strength of attainment, your purposefulness, your ecstasy, your enthusiasm?

You cannot accept ideas or thoughts from my conception, or from another's, but if your ideas are born of that which is eternal, lasting, then you can live by those ideas. So to find what is the lasting, what is the eternal, you must put aside the fleeting, the unessential, the trivial.

You ask me, "Please tell me what is the essential?" How can I tell you what is the essential? I know what is the essential for me, and I know how I have attained that essential which is incomparable, unlimited, free and absolute. For me that truth is to be free from all desires, to be free from all experience, and the moment you realise that, you will find that no one can save you except yourself. Man's greatness is that no one can save him; that is the greatness of man, it is the glory of man. But what are you all seeking? You want to be saved, you want to worship at altars made by human hands, you want to worship gods created by life, and that is why I say: Worship that life which is in all things, because life created god and man -life which is free, unlimited, unconditioned and absolute. For that is the truth.

I do not mind if next year there be only two people at the Camp. One man who is sincere, who understands, is worth a multitude who cry vainly without understanding; for that man will live from everlasting to everlasting.

So, friends, during this Camp, I hope that I shall be able to help you in your choice, to discover for yourselves and perceive by these happy visions, that which will establish peace and understanding in your hearts, that which will give you sustenance, that which will uphold you in your integrity. For there is no greater truth than that you shall be united with that life which is eternal, for in that life is immortality.