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subscribe Tell a friend Jiddu Krishnamurti
The Pool of Wisdom
BY WHAT AUTHORITY
OMMEN CAMP FIRE TALK, 1927
I have found my Liberation and my Happiness through sorrow, through suffering and experience, through setting aside all things, through renouncing the gods I have worshipped; and because of that finding I would give.
Truth is generally not understood. Those who would gaze upon the sun need strong eyes, and there be very few who have such strong eyes. They need colored glasses. And because Truth is dazzling, because Truth is powerful, annihilating and yet constructive, you do not desire Truth in all its nakedness, in all its purity; so you clothe it, you call it by pretty-sounding names, so as to comfort yourselves in those names. I know, as I have myself done it; it has been my lot to deceive myself behind colored glasses so as not to be dazzled; but I had to remove those colored glasses through sorrow, through suffering, through the desire and the incessant prayer for understanding. Before you can find the Truth, you require a clear understanding, and with it Truth will come. I have found the Truth which abides in everyone and which abides in me; I have found that Happiness which exists in all and in myself; I have found that Liberation which is in all and in myself; and if I am to give that Truth to you, you must remove those glasses that you have colored with prejudice, through little understanding, through little sorrows, through little pleasures.
You desire comfort, you desire substance, you desire knowledge and wisdom, but, friend, that knowledge, that substance, that wisdom come only when you can behold the Truth in its entire nakedness, when you can be one with the Truth and abide with that Truth. But those who would understand this Truth, this Truth of Happiness and Liberation, must set aside those things which they have accumulated, those things which have grown up and have hidden the Truth during the past. I would that you could find the Truth for yourself, the Truth of your own understanding, of your own creation, which is the same as my understanding and my creation. For authority is like a cloud. It darkens and it does not clear, it hides the face of the mountain, and hence that which you worship is hidden; but you should have all things open, clear and precise in your understanding. Then you will discover the Truth.
There must not be in your mind the fear of missing something. Many people are afraid, naturally, that because of their misunderstanding or their lack of understanding of the Truth, they will not see the glory of the Beloved. But, friend, if you would see the glory, if you would see the face of the Beloved, you must have a pure heart and a tranquil mind. Then you will have the power to discriminate, the power to choose, the power to set aside those things which are trivial, those things which are transient.
And so I would ask you not to crave for comfort, but for understanding, for with understanding you have judgment, with understanding you have tolerance and affection; without these, woe to the man who searches for Truth, for he will be bound by his own fetters. So I would ask you to have understanding and not a definite set of beliefs, of dogmas, of authorities, of credulities. Then you will be able to help, then you will be able to become the real disciples of the Beloved, then you will have the Beloved with you.
Like everyone else, Krishnamurti, in the past, searched, obeyed and worshipped, but as time grew, as suffering came, he wanted to discover the reality which hides behind the picture, behind the sunset, behind the image, behind all philosophies, behind all religions, all sects, all organizations, and to discover and to understand that, he had to hang on to a peg of unreality, of untruth, till, little by little, he was able to pass all those shrines that are limiting, that are binding, all the gods that insist on worship. In passing all those he was able to arrive where all religions, where all affections are consummated, where all worship ends, where all desire ceases, where the separate self is purified by being destroyed. It is because I have gone through those stages that I am able to speak with the authority of my own experience, with the authority of my own knowledge, and I would give to you of that knowledge, of that experience.
The guide knows the short mountain-path, and though it be dangerous, though there be great obstacles to climb, though there be many pitfalls, if you would be as the guide himself, you must follow the guide who knows -follow not blindly, not superstitiously, not in credulity, but through your own desire to find the Truth, through your own suffering, through your own desire to set aside those things which are fetters, which are holding you as cords of affliction. So, if you would follow me into your own hearts, where there lies this Truth, where dwells the Beloved, you must have a mind that is trained through understanding, that is unprejudiced, that is not bound, that is not limited in its vision of greatness. For prejudice hides and does not make clear, prejudice is like the cloud which hides the sun, and most people prefer to dwell behind the cloud rather than in front of it where there is no barrier between themselves and the clear sun. So if you have a mind that is without prejudice, that is not narrow, that is understanding, Truth will come, Truth will invite you into its abode, which is your own heart, which is your own understanding.
Then you must have a tranquil heart, a heart that is affectionate, yet detached and impersonal. It is essential to love, for through love you grow, you expand, you live as the bird lives in the free air, joyous at all times. So must be a heart which is full of affection, but it must be detached, impersonal and able to give its affection to all, and not to one individual alone, or to one particular group.
Then you must have a body made perfect with understanding; for without a clean, fine body, there is ill health. So when you have the mind, the emotions and the body in perfect cooperation, assisting each other, developing each other, encouraging each other, that veil which separates you from the Truth will be destroyed. Then will come that which you desire, the comfort of understanding, not the comfort of stagnation. As on the pools in the woods where there have not been many winds, where the life has not been, where the birds do not alight, you will find a green scum, you will find that no animal comes to drink, that no human being delights there, you will find that there is no reflection of the heavens or of the open skies or of the flying birds, so is the mind, so is the emotion, so is the body which is comforted. But the moment you desire to seek understanding, the moment you desire to have that Truth within you, then you are as the dancing waters of the sea; you will have your calmness, your moments of tranquillity, but you will also be like the rivers that dance down to the sea.
So those who follow the Truth, which abides in me, must discover their wisdom in their understanding, in their experience, in their sorrows, and in their joys. Of what avail is it to give a beautiful picture to a child? He would little understand its beauty. But give it to the real artist, give it to the man who has great understanding of pictures, and he will appreciate it, he will desire, not to copy, but to create it in himself, in his own fashion, in his own manner. Because you desire to copy, there is misery; because you desire authority, there is trouble; but if you desire to understand, if you desire to cooperate, if you desire to create in the light of that understanding, then you will not be troubled, then you will have found peace, then you will have established within you the delight of being ever with the Beloved. And, friend, in this short time that we have been together, some who have knowledge -not of mysterious things- will have found understanding; with them dwells the responsibility of cooperating with that understanding. When within you lies the glory of the Truth, you can develop it fully, as the flame develops when you throw logs of wood into it; or you can let that flame die down and wait for an aeon, for centuries, to rekindle it so that it will give comfort, give warmth, give substance to the mind, to the heart that suffers.