Jiddhu Krishnamurti (1895 - 1986)

The Kingdom of Happiness

Talks in Eerde Castle, Holland, 1926

THE ENCHANTED GARDEN

If once you have entered, if once you have breathed the freshness, the quietness, the tranquillity of this Kingdom, then those things which are real, those things which are the breath of life, those things that matter, can never be forgotten. You can never doubt, you can never suffer again. It is only then you can know that you are not blindly following the footsteps of another; it is only then that you are following the Absolute, the Eternal. It is only then that you are one with Him who has His being in all things. It is only then that you can persuade, can have the tongue of the learned, the heart of the wise and the compassionate. It is only then that you can make people really know what it means to escape from sorrow, from all those trivial things by which they are harrowed and ground down in their daily lives. That is why you must find yourself, that is why you must listen to that Voice, why you must suffer and learn by every little thing in daily life. For when once you have found yourself, you have found Him; and He becomes part of you, becomes one with you, He is where you are and not a separate entity, a separate Being, living in solitary radiance. Where you are, there He is, and where I am, there He is, and when anyone has lived and delighted in that Kingdom, He is with him. Because you have found yourself, you have found the true Self; and once you have found Him, you can always return to the Source. You have then the key to all knowledge; you have always the power to be part of the Eternal compassion, the Eternal source of all things. I wish I had the power to make you look at things, feel things, for yourself.

Yesterday I was sitting on the Avenue in front of this Castle*. You know how the trees here grow, some short, some tall, and how together they form a cave round about the trunks; and there I saw my Glory, my Happiness, everything that to me is real, the source, the life, of all trees, of all living things. When once you can see Him, live in Him, and have your being in Him, you are then eternally in that garden, and not an outsider looking at a few tree trunks, a few roses, a few flowers.

There are two types of people: those who are in this garden where there is lusciousness, freshness, beauty, the tranquillity, and the gentle murmur of a thousand voices; where the whole air is alive with the sense of Eternal Beauty, where there is the sense of power, the sense of peace and of astonishing strength and reality. The other type are those who are outside this garden merely looking at the treetops, the few stray flowers, where there are hardly any shadows, where there is thin foliage and a few dead branches of last season. Once you have entered this garden, you can give others the key and persuade them to enter for themselves. You can make them realize that this garden, this Kingdom, has no barriers, though it may have a superficial wall made by human thoughts and human feelings. Once you are inside it, you are no longer looking at the inside world from the outside, but are looking at the outside world from the Truth, from the source of all things, from the true self. Once you have this key, you can always go outside, look at the thin foliage, see the dead branches, the remains of last season's withered flowers; you can always then go outside and have experience, for you have entered that garden and have found there the true knowledge, the true Happiness.

That is why, had I the power, I would drag you all in by force or by any other means, because when once you have looked into the garden and caught but a fleeting vision, you will never be satisfied by the outside effect of things; you will always want to go back, always want to have that vision enlarged, glorified, and extended; you will have a thousand terrors haunting you if you are outside. The moment you enter this abode of the Eternal, those terrors, those things that do not matter, those doubts, those worries, those passing sufferings, will all vanish away; because then you will be living in the hidden world where only a few, only the real sufferers, the real seekers after knowledge, the real believers, the real searchers live. Into that world you must go, because that is the only world that is lasting, because it is the only world where you can find Truth. In other worlds you are bound to create sorrows, superstitions, dogmas, and all the unrealities that each one of us creates. In that world you cease to exist as an individual. You are part of everything, part of the smallest leaf and of the tallest and greatest tree; because you are part of Him, and it is His garden, it is His abode, it is His Kingdom. It is where we must all live, where I live. We must all be thrilled by the same Voice. You can see how much more inspiring, desirable, and adventurous, that world is in comparison with this world. But to attain it, you must train yourself, you must have that Voice so attuned, so purified, so incessant, that it urges you on and on till you enter this Kingdom, this garden, the beauty spot of the world -of all the worlds.

Because it is my abode, because it is my source, I would I could make you live with me, I would I could share with each one of you what I have found. When once you have tasted it for yourself, as I have tasted it for myself, you can never completely lose it but will always find it again. If you have not searched for it, struggled to attain it, you cannot know what it means, cannot know the power of it, the stimulating ambitions, the ecstasy, the intoxication. It is not mere sentiment, mere emotion, but it is the very Truth, it is the essence of all things; and that is why it is so vital, so real -that is why, if you would do great things, if you would create greatly and live nobly, you must enter that Kingdom, live in that garden, enjoy the shades of that garden and the scent of many flowers and the murmurings of many bees. To live in that garden means that you live greatly, you live nobly, to the height of your perfection; and whatever is done greatly and lastingly must be done from that abode, must start from that source, must have its origin in that Kingdom. All trials, attempts, and deeds, fail when they are not lasting; when they are transient and changeable. Whereas if everything that you do bears the seal of this Kingdom, it will be acceptable to all men, to all gods, to all the kingdoms of Nature; because this Kingdom is the realm of gods, the realm of ideals, the source of all feelings, of all actions.

You must know for yourself why you seek this garden, this abode; and once you know that, you need not struggle to cling to it -it will never leave you. You need not fear that it will escape you, that it will vanish away through your foolish actions, small desires, and little worries. Like a beautiful image or a lovely vision, it always comes back in moments of tranquillity, or of great uncertainty. You will always have this as your background; you can always retire to that garden, you can always escape from this unreal world.

You must find yourself, you must make this Voice thunder out. You must have a thousand terrors, must have innumerable questionings, until you find that Voice. Till then there must be no peace, no tranquillity, no contentment, no happiness. All other things are unreal. This is the greatest of ideals, the essence of intelligence.

Have you ever seen how the pools and still waters, under perfectly clear skies, reflect every little shadow, every bird that passes by, and every cloud that is driven by the gentle breeze? Suddenly a little insect comes by and disturbs the stillness of the water, and that vision is gone. That little insect on the surface of the water disturbs the whole beauty of the world; and then it disappears and once more there is the tranquillity, the calm, the perfect purity of reflection. You must remove that little insect; it must be ruthlessly slain; it is the separate self.

As long as you can reflect with the certainty, with the knowledge, that your reflection is as perfect as the Kingdom itself -as long as you can be that reflection itself- no little insect, no passing wind, can ruffle the still waters of your life; you can only reflect the purity of that Kingdom when you have found your true Self, when you live eternally in your Kingdom and have Him as your eternal Companion. Then you have in you that absolute peace, the peace that gives enormous strength and power, because you have found yourself, because you have lived with those things that are permanent, that are eternal, that are worth possessing. I wish I could stir you to action so that you must create, you must dream, you must perceive, you must live. But you must bestir yourself; you must apply the whip yourself; and you can only feel the sting of that whip when you hear that Voice. That Voice is ever calling, ever insistent; and the greater the thundering of the Voice, the greater will be the nobility of your actions, the greater will be your strength and the greater your desire to enter into that garden, that Kingdom of Happiness.

* Castle of Eerde, Ommen, Holland.