Jiddhu Krishnamurti (1895 - 1986)

Jiddu Krishnamurti
The Pool of Wisdom

BY WHAT AUTHORITY

OMMEN CAMP FIRE TALK, 1927

Once upon a time, there was a flame of immense magnitude, of great height, reaching to the heavens, and out of that flame came many sparks and among those many sparks there was created, from one spark, a human being, and that human being we shall call, for the moment, Krishnamurti. I take that story because I know Krishnamurti well and as I shall examine him impersonally, I am going to ask you to do the same. Before I begin with my story, I want you to detach yourselves from your individualities, so that you will be able to examine yourselves as I am going to examine Krishnamurti.

That spark, through aeons of time, through endless passage of time, became a human being. At first that human being was in the shape of a savage. He had, like all savages and barbarians, one desire, and that was the satisfaction of the physical; he gave way to the desires of the body, the pleasures of the body; to him the existence of life, the purpose of life, the end of life, was in the mere satisfaction of those desires and those cravings that are of the body. During many lives he learned, he suffered, he learned to acquire, he learned to possess, he learned to gather everything for himself. He was not happy till he had many possessions, many acquisitions -all things that perish. He dwelt in the wintertime of ignorance; while he was young in evolution, he had only one purpose and that was the mere satisfaction of the body and the pleasures of the body. But through the passage of time, through sorrow, he began to learn the laws of the community, the laws that exist for the benefit of all, and through observing those laws and obeying those laws, he began to distinguish what is true and what is lasting from what is false and what is fleeting. He began, by the breaking of those laws, to suffer; and through many lives he was acquiring experience, till he grew to the state of a civilized being. Through many aeons, through the passage of time, through years of suffering, and longing to escape from those things which the world considers are essential for the well-being and the Happiness of human beings, he sought for knowledge. Because, he said to himself, wherever I go, wherever I live, there is misery, there is turmoil around me and within me, and in order to escape this turmoil, in order to escape this limitation, this unhappiness, I must go out, seek and wander, to discover that which is lasting, that which is permanent.

He began to depend on other people for his Happiness, he began to depend on others for his affection, on others for his love, on others for his worship; in this search for mount the lasting truth, he began to lose himself in temples, in ceremonies, at the altars, in all those things which are limiting and binding, but he was not satisfied and he was in constant revolt. He desired to extricate himself from those shrines that are by the wayside leading to the mountain-top. His desire was intense to discover what lay behind the picture which he was worshipping, what was behind the eyes and the mind of that image which was put before him, which he had worshipped life after life. To discover what lay behind the eyes, behind the heart of that picture, he went through immense sorrows, great disappointments and intense longings. Little by little, by austerities, by tortures, by starvation, in many lives, he was able to control his body, and while he was controlling his body, he was training at the same time his emotions and his mind; because when they are not cooperating, when they are not coordinated, when they are not synthetic, then there is discord, then there is no well-being.

As the fisherman goes out to sea on the open waters to gather fish, so he started on life to gather experience and while gathering experience he was caught in his own net and he had to cut himself loose from that net of experience to be free, to enter into that flame which is the essence of all experience. Little by little that person whom you know as Krishnamurti, who started as a separate spark, as a separate being from the flame, has been able, through great experiences, to be united with the flame.

I have told you that story because ordinarily, when an individual starts as a separate being, it takes aeons, it takes centuries of time to acquire all the lessons, all the teachings that life can give before there is the possibility of perceiving, of seeing that vision of Liberation and Happiness. But for every one of you who is here, it is possible now to perceive that vision of Liberation and Happiness, because you are now in the presence of the Beloved, and when the Beloved is with you, time as such ceases. You need not go through all the experiences of sorrow, of affliction, of grief, of intense joy, to perceive that goal which is the end for all. As the river at the beginning of its course knows its end and seeks sedulously to enter that sea, so you must know from the very beginning of your days, the end which awaits all.

I am saying this, not to impose authority, not to make you credulous, not to make you give devotion to the personality of one being. I am telling you all this because when you have become united with the Beloved, when you have merged into the flame, you can then go out and give that Happiness and that Liberation to others; you can give to those who are hungry the Happiness that is lasting; you can give to those who are held in a prison of sorrow and grief the vision of Liberation. You can but give it, you can but show it, but the individual must struggle to attain it. For authority can be cut down as the tree; and if you have not roots deep within you, well established in the ground, your tree will die, and will have to be re-planted. But if you have the roots well and firmly established, then it will sprout and bear tender leaves and buds and give shelter once more. And in telling you of this attainment of Liberation and Happiness, I am going to urge every one of you to think not of the individual that is speaking, but to go within and examine yourselves. Because I have found my Happiness, because I have found my tranquillity and my peace, because I have been united with my Beloved, I would have you do the same. And to do that, to feel that union with the Beloved, there must be within you the strong and pure heart, the clear and tranquil mind. As the sun shines on all, on the daisy and on the forest tree, and helps them to grow, so, when the Beloved is with you, you will grow to your fullest measure, no matter at what stage of evolution you may be.

For such is the purpose of life: to start as the spark of a flame, to gather experience, and eventually to re-join the flame, so that the individual self is destroyed. Happy is he who has been able to unite himself with the Beloved. Happy is he, for he will be able to help others, for he will be able to give of the living waters of life to those that are thirsty, to those that are in want.

So, friend, I want you to realise from the very beginning that Happiness does not depend on any other individual, but on yourself. It has been my intense longing to unite with my Beloved, and it has been fulfilled because it has been my purpose from the very ancient of days. Now, while the Beloved is with you, when there is the possibility of seeing that vision, of holding that vision and well establishing it within your heart and within your mind, I want you to set aside and destroy all things that separate you and so become one with the Beloved. There is a great opportunity; there is a great possibility of attainment for you, if you feel strongly and intensely enough.

It is my purpose to show you that within you lies the strength and the power to attain and to establish within yourself Happiness and Liberation, so that when you go out into the world, you will be able to speak with your own authority which is born out of your own experience.