Jiddu Krishnamurti The Pool of Wisdom

Jiddu Krishnamurti
The Pool of Wisdom

BY WHAT AUTHORITY

4. OMMEN CAMP FIRE TALK, 1927

In ancient days man retired from the turmoil and bustle of the world, and withdrew into the world of reality within himself to seek peace and Happiness. He secluded himself to search, to discover, to commune with himself and so to enter into that Kingdom where there is Happiness, where there is Liberation. But as times are now, when you have to build both materially and spiritually, you must remain in the world and there find your Liberation and your Happiness. While building materially, you must at the same time build your spiritual strength, your spiritual determination, and be liberated from that very building itself. When the artist paints a picture, he is not attached to the picture, he is merely concerned with reproducing his ideas and materializing them on canvas; after he has done that, he is free. Likewise those of you who are still seeking, who are still groping, who would desire to enter into that realm of Happiness and of Truth which abides in each one, you must still live in the world of forms, the world of manifestation, the world of unreality, and there, working in the unreal you must discover the real. You must be of the Truth, part of the Truth, and yet work with the unreal and the fleeting. You cannot withdraw, as of yore, into forests, into monasteries, into quiet, secluded valleys to seek and to commune with yourself. That is not Liberation, that is mere self-attainment, that is mere self-seeking; those who would really attain in the times of today, while they are working in the world, while they are making the world beautiful and noble, and perfecting the transient things, even while they are struggling, while they are suffering and are afflicted, must seek that Liberation and that Happiness.

So if you look at it from that point of view; Liberation is not annihilation; on the contrary, it is construction; Liberation is not negative, but on the contrary, it is positive. It is not entering into a mere void and there losing yourself, but it is entering into Truth, becoming part of the Truth, and going out and liberating those who are worshipping the reflections on the still pools; then you have great energies and vitality, then you are part of the world. When once you have attained Liberation and when once that Happiness becomes part of your being, then you realize that Liberation is constructive and not a mere vague dream. It is as tangible as that fire which you see, as alive and dancing as that flame. There are those who imagine that Liberation is the annihilation of the world, the entering into a void where there is no self. It is true that there is no separate self, but there is the Self of all; there the world is one; the flower, the blade of grass, the vast skies, every tree, every human being exists in that Kingdom. Because many have the idea that Liberation means the annihilation of all things around them, the destruction of the world of material welfare, of art, of science, of beauty, I would urge on you that it is rather in making those things that are around you more beautiful, more noble and more perfect, that you attain Liberation, although at the same time you must be detached from them all. As the scent of the flower is wafted through the air and leaves the flower as it was, so is the liberated man who gives freshness, who gives delight to every passer-by. So those of you who would seek this Liberation and this Happiness must not only dream, must not only have contemplations and solitary retreats, but must work in the world of transient things, making the world beautiful, making it noble, and making human beings happy, even though these are temporary. In order to forget the physical, you must first perfect it; in order to attain, you must not neglect it.

For what profit is knowledge, understanding and wisdom, if you do not use that understanding, that wisdom and that knowledge to break the fetters that binds you? Many of you are more learned in the ways of books than perhaps I am, many of you are much more aged in this life than I am, but because I have found my Liberation and because I have attained that Kingdom of Happiness which dwells within me, I would tell you that, if you would enter into that abode, you must be free from all fetters, you must destroy those cords of affliction which bind you. For wherever a soul is bound by affliction, by the cords of sorrow, he will be unable to enter within himself; he will be unable to see himself clearly. When he has renounced all things, then he will be able to control his mind and his heart, for the heart walketh after the eye and the mind followeth the heart. Unrest is constant until there is this intense desire to discover the Truth. Because you suffer from your own actions, from your own desires, from your own little knowledge, from your own little purposes, your own little deceits and little conceits, because you have not been able to rid yourselves of these, you will never be able to enter into that Kingdom which dwells within you.

There was a time when Krishnamurti, as an individual, desired to find Liberation, but, like all human beings, he was caught in the wheel of his own desires, of his own knowledge, of his own little conceits and deceits. Because he desired to reach that Truth which is the purpose of life, because he desired to destroy that separateness which existed between the Truth and his ignorance, he suffered, he was bound to the wheel of birth and death. But now he is consumed in the fire of Liberation and of Happiness, and exists no longer as a separate being because his desires, his creations, his self-expression, have become those of his Beloved.

Because it has been my purpose to show you that path of Liberation and Happiness and to open your heart so that you will enter into your own inward self and there discover the Truth, I would tell you that you must renounce all things. You must renounce your books -the books that bind you, the philosophies that restrict you, the works that encompass you. You must give up your friends to enter within yourself; you must give up your families. If you would go within and there discover the Truth as a single star in the sky, you must give up your gods, the rites they demand and the ceremonies they require. For if you seek to enter with all these burdens, you will be caught in their limitations, you will be caught in the shrines in which you worship, you will be held by superstitions, by dogmas and by creeds, and to escape from these very things you must renounce those things. I know it is easy and comforting to hide yourself behind books, behind philosophies, behind creeds and dogmas, behind gods and behind ceremonies, but as long as you are held by them, you will be limited, you will be bound and there will be fleeting joys and sorrows. The moment you leave these things behind -as a man passes through a bank of clouds- and enter within and there discover the Truth, you will become part of the Truth. Then you will need no supports, no crutches, but you will need strength, you will need determination and ecstasy of purpose. You must give up your narrowness, your pettiness, your little knowledge, in order to understand the simple truth. Because your mind is complicated, you will make the Truth complicated; because you have the knowledge of books and the authority of books, you will give to that Truth the authority and the knowledge of books.

So, friend, if you would learn to seek that Truth, if you would enter into that abode where lives the Truth like a flame that is ever dancing, that is ever enticing you, that is ever giving you energy to fulfil your purpose, you must set aside all things, you must give up all things and enter within. It is because it is so difficult to give up all things, because the Truth is so difficult to conquer that you need crutches. It is much easier to live in the secluded shrine than to live in solitude, in loneliness on the mountain-top. Though you may perceive the mountain-top in moments of tranquillity, in moments of peace, though you may occasionally enter within your heart and there discover the Truth for yourself, it requires great determination to cling to that Truth, for the world of unreality is much more real to those who have not entered into the Kingdom of Happiness, who have not tasted this freedom, and so you have to be supported by those things which have no value. But all things meet in the end; whether you come from one shelter or another, you will come to the same goal. And for those who have perceived the end, it becomes their purpose, their determination, and their duty to go forth and give life to those who have not yet seen, who have not yet felt, who have not yet the knowledge of such things.

Jiddhu Krishnamurti (1895 - 1986)