Life 12 (Jul 11 - Oct 11)

Re: Life 12 (Jul 11 - Sep 11)

Postby winston » Sat Sep 24, 2011 8:16 pm

Consciousness Is of the Past

If you watch very carefully, you will see that it is not a constant but that there is an interval between two thoughts; though it may be but an infinitesimal fraction of a second, there is an interval that has significance, in the swinging backwards and forwards of the pendulum.

We see the fact that our thinking is conditioned by the past, which is projected into the future; the moment you admit the past, you must also admit the future, because there are not two such states as the past and the future but one state which includes both the conscious and the unconscious, both the collective past and the individual past.

The collective and the individual past, in response to the present, give out certain responses, that create the individual consciousness; therefore consciousness is of the past and that is the whole background of our existence.

The moment you have the past, you inevitably have the future, because the future is merely the continuity of the modified past, but it is still the past, so our problem is how to bring about a transformation in this process, of the past without creating another conditioning, another past.

- J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life

Source: jkrishnamurti.com
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Re: Life 12 (Jul 11 - Sep 11)

Postby winston » Sat Sep 24, 2011 8:52 pm

Memory Has No Life in Itself

What do we mean by thought? When do you think? Obviously, thought is the result of a response, neurological or psychological, is it not?

It is the immediate response of the senses to a sensation, or it is psychological, the response of stored-up memory.

There is the immediate response of the nerves to a sensation, and there is the psychological response of stored-up memory, the influence of race, group, guru, family, tradition, and so on;all of which you call thought.

So, the thought process is the response of memory, is it not?

You would have no thoughts if you had no memory, and the response of memory to a certain experience brings the thought process into action.

What, then, is memory? If you observe your own memory and how you gather memory, you will notice that it is either factual, technical, having to do with information, with engineering, mathematics, physics, and all the rest of it; or, it is the residue of an unfinished, uncompleted experience, is it not?

Watch your own memory and you will see. When you finish an experience, complete it, there is no memory of that experience in the sense of a psychological residue.

There is a residue only when an experience is not fully understood, and there is no understanding of experience because we look at each experience through past memories, and therefore we never meet the new as the new, but always through the screen of the old.

Therefore, it is clear that our response to experience is conditioned, always limited.

- J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com
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Re: Life 12 (Jul 11 - Sep 11)

Postby winston » Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:09 pm

The Unguarded Intellect

You can know yourself only when you are unaware, when you are not calculating, not protecting, not constantly watching to guide, to transform, to subdue, to control; when you see yourself unexpectedly, that is, when the mind has no preconceptions with regard to itself, when the mind is open, unprepared to meet the unknown.

If your mind is prepared, surely you cannot know the unknown, for you are the unknown.

If you say to yourself, 'I am God,' or 'I am nothing but a mass of social influences or a bundle of qualities'; if you have any preconception of yourself, you cannot comprehend the unknown, that which is spontaneous.

So spontaneity can come only when the intellect is unguarded, when it is not protecting itself, when it is no longer afraid for itself; and this can happen only from within.

That is, the spontaneous must be the new, the unknown, the incalculable, the creative, that which must be expressed, loved, in which the will as the process of intellect, controlling, directing, has no part.

Observe your own emotional states and you will see that the moments of great joy, great ecstasy, are unpremeditated; they happen, mysteriously, darkly, unknowingly.,

- J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life

Source: jkrishnamurti.com
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Re: Life 12 (Jul 11 - Sep 11)

Postby winston » Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:32 pm

The Flash of Understanding

I do not know if you have noticed, that there is understanding when the mind is very quiet, even for a second; there is the flash of understanding when the verbalization of thought is not.

Just experiment with it and you will see for yourself that you have the flash of understanding, that extraordinary rapidity of insight, when the mind is very still, when thought is absent, when the mind is not burdened with its own noise.

So, the understanding of anything -of a modern picture, of a child, of your wife, of your neighbor, or the understanding of truth, which is in all things- can only come when the mind is very still.

But such stillness cannot be cultivated because if you cultivate a still mind, it is not a still mind, it is a dead mind.

The more you are interested in something, the more your intention to understand, the more simple, clear, free the mind is. Then verbalization ceases.

After all, thought is word, and it is the word that interferes. It is the screen of words, which is memory, that intervenes between the challenge and the response.

It is the word that is responding to the challenge, which we call intellection.

So, the mind that is chattering, that is verbalizing, cannot understand truth -truth in relationship, not an abstract truth.

There is no abstract truth. But truth is very subtle. Like a thief in the night, it comes darkly, not when you are prepared to receive it.

- J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life

Source: jkrishnamurti.com
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Re: Life 12 (Jul 11 - Sep 11)

Postby winston » Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:36 pm

Intellect Will Not Solve Our Problems

Most of us are so unconcerned with this extraordinary universe about us; we never even see the waving of the leaf in the wind; we never watch a blade of grass, touch it with our hand and know the quality of its being.

This is not just being poetic, so please do not go off into a speculative, emotional state.

I say it is essential to have that deep feeling for life and not be caught in intellectual ramifications, discussions, passing examinations, quoting and brushing something new aside, by saying it has already been said.

Intellect is not the way. Intellect will not solve our problems; the intellect will not give us that nourishment which is imperishable.

The intellect can reason, discuss, analyze, come to a conclusion from inferences, and so on, but intellect is limited, for intellect is the result of our conditioning.

But sensitivity is not. Sensitivity has no conditioning; it takes you right out of the field of fears and anxieties.

We spend our days and years in cultivating the intellect, in arguing, discussing, fighting, struggling to be something, and so on.

And yet this extraordinarily wonderful world, this earth that is so rich -not the Bombay earth, the Punjab earth, the Russian earth or the American earth- this earth is ours, yours and mine, and that is not sentimental nonsense; it is a fact.

But unfortunately we have divided it up through our pettiness, through our provincialism. And we know why we have done it, for our security, for better jobs and more jobs.

That is the political game that is being played throughout the world, and so we forget to be human beings, to live happily on this earth that is ours and, to make something of it.

- J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life

Source: jkrishnamurti.com
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Re: Life 12 (Jul 11 - Sep 11)

Postby winston » Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:55 pm

Intellect Corrupts Feeling

You know, there is the intellect, and there is pure feeling -the pure feeling of loving something, of having great, generous emotions.

The intellect reasons, calculates, weighs, balances. It asks, 'Is it worthwhile? Will it give me benefit?'

On the other hand, there is pure feeling,the extraordinary feeling for the sky, for your neighbor, for your wife or husband, for your child, for the world, for the beauty of a tree, and so on.

When these two come together, there is death. Do you understand? When pure feeling is corrupted by the intellect, there is mediocrity.

That is what most of us are doing. Our lives are mediocre because we are always calculating, asking ourselves whether it is worthwhile, what profit we will get, not only in the world of money, but also in the so-called spiritual world: 'If I do this, will I get that?'

- J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life


Source: jkrishnamurti.com
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Re: Life 12 (Jul 11 - Sep 11)

Postby winston » Sun Sep 25, 2011 6:57 am

What is more important, mastering one's mind or achieving sense control ?

Remember the senses can do nothing by themselves; they are not independent. If the mind is brought under control, the senses can also be controlled.

Some people undergo mere asceticism of the senses in order to control the mind! They are ignorant of the real discipline that is necessary - the destruction of desires.

However vigilant warders may be, a clever robber can still steal in a hundred amazing ways. So too, however skillfully you may try to control the senses, the mind will drag them to its side and execute its desires through them.

If only the outer door is closed and the inner door is left unbolted, calamity is certain. Therefore the aspirant should establish mastery over the external senses.

But the mind too has to be controlled by means of Shanthi (peace) and Vairagya (renunciation).

When this is done, one can experience Ananda (spiritual bliss) and visualize the Atma (Divine Self) within, at all times.

- Dhyana Vahini, Ch 13: “Developing One pointedness”

Source: radiosai.org
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Re: Life 12 (Jul 11 - Sep 11)

Postby winston » Sun Sep 25, 2011 6:39 pm

A happy life is just a string of happy moments.

But most people don't allow the happy moment, because they're so busy trying to get a happy life.

--- Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop in Sacramento, CA on Saturday, March 15th, 2003 # 207


Source: abraham-hicks.com
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Re: Life 12 (Jul 11 - Sep 11)

Postby winston » Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:08 am

What is the meaning of the word Veda and why is it essential to foster the Vedas even in today's times?

The root of the word ‘Veda’ means ‘to know’. Vedas are also known as Chandas; this means pleasant, joyous.

Other important meanings of this word are vital, strong and shielded. All these are the qualities of the Vedas as it is shielding, fostering, promoting the welfare of humans engaged in the unceasing round of worldly affairs, and conferring the ultimate liberation.

Humans are ever caught up in activities, pursued with the profit available as the purpose.

They have to be moulded as righteous men and women. The Vedas shield people on the path of action from engaging in unrighteous acts, and protect the seekers of knowledge from the temptation of the senses.

Through their role as armour or shield, they shower bliss on all who rely on them.

The sacred ceremonies and rituals that Vedas expound confer joy and bliss not only on the participants but also on the entire world and beyond.

- Ch 23: “Modes of Worship”.

Source: radiosai.org
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Re: Life 12 (Jul 11 - Sep 11)

Postby winston » Tue Sep 27, 2011 7:34 am

Why is cultivating good habits foundational for spiritual development ?

The senses are extrovert by nature and so they drag the ignorant perpetually towards external objects.

Hence the spiritual aspirant, endowed with discrimination and renunciation, must suppress the outbursts of the senses, just as the charioteer wielding the whip and the reins does to the raging steeds.

Uncontrolled senses cause great harm. But before using concentration and meditation to control them, cultivate good habits.

Concentration must have Sathwa-guna (pure qualities) as its basis.

The mind has to be purified by proper treatment of the character through good habits.

Concentration has to follow this purification process, not precede it. Else the whole effort would be futile. Many great people have ruined their careers by aspiring for concentration without the discipline of good habits.

- Dhyana Vahini, Ch 13: “Developing One-pointedness”.


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