Life 32 (Jan 19 - May 19)

[winston]

Freedom from violence

So can you see the fact of violence—the fact not only outside of you but also inside you—and not have any time interval between listening and acting?

This means by the very act of listening, you are free from violence. You are totally free from violence because you have not admitted time, an ideology through which you can get rid of violence.

This requires very deep meditation, not just a verbal agreement or disagreement. We never listen to anything; our minds, our brain cells are so conditioned to an ideology about violence that we never look at the fact of violence.

We look at the fact of violence through an ideology, and the looking at violence through an ideology creates a time interval.

And when you admit time, there is no end to violence; you go on showing violence, preaching non-violence.

The Book of Life, June 26, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

At times, we may have a difficult day or go through a rough patch. How should we pull ourselves up?

People think that the more one has of worldly goods the happier one would be. But, as desires grow, disappointments and troubles also increase.

There should be a limit to our desires, attachments and ambitions. The world is suffering from numerous troubles because people set no limits on their desires. It’s a mistake to seek an unending series of pleasures and comforts in life.

Real happiness cannot be found that way. Without experiencing difficulties and troubles, how will you know the value of peace and pleasure?

Life is a constant alternation between pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, heat and cold. The sour rind that covers an orange protects the sweet juice inside. Hence look upon pain, anxiety and sorrow as the protecting cover for peace and bliss that you will experience later.

Your mind is the cause of bondage and liberation as well.

- Divine Discourse, May 14, 1984.

Happiness is an interval between two pains.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Simple awareness

Surely any form of accumulation, either of knowledge or experience, any form of ideal, any projection of the mind, any determined practice to shape the mind—what it should be and should not be—all this is obviously crippling the process of investigation and discovery...

So I think our inquiry must be not for the solution of our immediate problems but rather to find out whether the mind—the conscious as well as the deep unconscious mind in which is stored all the tradition, the memories, the inheritance of racial knowledge—whether all of it can be put aside.

I think it can be done only if the mind is capable of being aware without any sense of demand, without any pressure—just to be aware.

I think it is one of the most difficult things—to be so aware— because we are caught in the immediate problem and in its immediate solution, and so our lives are very superficial.

Though one may go to all the analysts, read all the books, acquire much knowledge, attend churches, pray, mediate, practice various disciplines, nevertheless, our lives are obviously very superficial because we do not know how to penetrate deeply.

I think the understanding, the way of penetration, how to go very, very deeply, lies through awareness—just to be aware of our thoughts and feelings, without condemnation, without comparison, just to observe.

You will see, if you will experiment, how extraordinarily difficult it is, because our whole training is to condemn, to approve, to compare.

The Book of Life, May 27, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

Knowledge is not wisdom

In our search for knowledge, in our acquisitive desires, we are losing love, we are blunting the feeling for beauty, the sensitivity to cruelty; we are becoming more and more specialized and less and less integrated.

Wisdom cannot be replaced by knowledge, and no amount of explanation, no accumulation of facts, will free man from suffering.

Knowledge is necessary, science has its place; but if the mind and heart are suffocated by knowledge, and if the cause of suffering is explained away, life becomes vain and meaningless...

Information, the knowledge of facts, though ever increasing, is by its very nature limited. Wisdom is infinite, it includes knowledge and the way of action; but we take hold of a branch and think it is the whole tree.

Through the knowledge of the part, we can never realize the joy of the whole. Intellect can never lead to the whole, for it is only a segment, a part.

We have separated intellect from feeling, and have developed intellect at the expense of feeling. We are like a three-legged object with one leg much longer than the others, and we have no balance.

We are trained to be intellectual; our education cultivates the intellect to be sharp, cunning, acquisitive, and so it plays the most important role in our life.

Intelligence is much greater than intellect, for it is the integration of reason and love; but there can be intelligence only when there is self-knowledge, the deep understanding of the total process of oneself.

The Book of Life, September 17, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi,com

[winston]

What are the important aspects of truth, we must imprint in our hearts, minds and words?

You write on boards (or make banners), "Truth is Divine." This is not enough. You should have this imprinted in your heart.

The Scriptures teach us, ‘Speak the Truth’. This is the physical aspect of the directive.

The immediate statement that follows is: ‘Speak lovingly’. This is an equally important virtuous aspect which means you should speak the truth in a loving and palatable way and not harshly.

The next statement is - "You must be silent and avoid speaking the truth when it’s not palatable". This is the spiritual aspect that you shouldn’t neglect.

At the same time, simply because it will please another person, do not speak untruth or half-truth.

Truth is changeless and eternal. Conviction in this value is not traceable amongst people of the present.

Make a sincere effort to join good company which will help you entertain sacred thoughts to be translated into righteous action. Lead a life of morality and good character.

- Divine Discourse, Jul 18, 1997.

The sanctification of the five senses is the way to practice truthful living.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Often, consciously or unconsciously, we are guilty of wasting life’s precious resources.

All of you are wasting time. Time is Divine.

The Divine is described as the Master of Time. Therefore, you should not waste time on unnecessary activities.

For example, excessive talk is a waste of time. When you switch on the radio and listen to all unnecessary programmes, electricity is wasted.

The body is like a radio receiver. Chanting the Divine’s name and singing the glory of Him will capture signals of grace. But when you indulge in unnecessary gossip, you waste precious time and energy.

When you do wicked or inappropriate deeds, again you waste energy and incur dangerous consequences too.

Sanctify your life by adhering to the twin ideals of Truth and Righteousness. Instead of preaching them, put them into practice.

Propagation is 'quantity' while practicing is 'quality'. Quality is always very important.

A spoon of cow's milk is much better than a barrel of donkey's milk.

- Divine Discourse, Jul 18, 1997.

If you are engaged all the time in the acquisition of information, when will you undertake the task of your transformation?

Source: radiosai.org

[behappyalways]

The Monk Who Taught the World Mindfulness Awaits the End of This Life
http://time.com/5511729/monk-mindfulness-art-of-dying/

[winston]

Prayer is a complex affair

Like all deep human problems, prayer is a complex affair and not to be rushed at; it needs patience, careful and tolerant probing, and one cannot demand definite conclusions and decisions.

Without understanding himself, he who prays may through his very prayer be led to self-delusion.

We sometimes hear people say, and several have told me, that when they pray to what they call God for worldly things, their prayers are often granted. If they have faith, and depending upon the intensity of their prayer, what they seek—health, comfort, worldly possessions—they eventually get.

If one indulges in petitionary prayer it brings its own reward, the thing asked for is often granted, and this further strengthens supplications.

Then there is the prayer, not for things or for people, but to experience reality, God, which is also frequently answered; and there are still other forms of petitionary prayer, more subtle and devious, but nevertheless supplicating, begging and offering.

All such prayers have their own reward, they bring their own experiences; but do they lead to the realization of the ultimate reality?

Are we not the result of the past, and are we not therefore related to the enormous reservoir of greed and hate, with their opposites? Surely, when we make an appeal, or offer a petitionary prayer, we are calling upon this reservoir of accumulated greed, and so on, which does being its own reward, and has its price. ...

Does supplication to another, to something outside, bring about the understanding of truth?

The Book of Life, December 10, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

How should we maintain our balance and progress steadily in life, when troubles and sorrows weigh us down?

Do not count your tears of pain; do not sulk over your grief. Let them pass through your mind as birds fly through the sky leaving no trail behind; or as flames and floods appear on the screen in a movie hall without burning or dampening the screen.

You must not lose heart when you are disappointed. Perhaps, your wish itself was wrong, or its realisation may have landed you in worse situations.

Any way, it is the will of the Divine and He knows best. Disappointments and distress are like the skin of the planta in which is there to protect the taste and allow the sweetness to fill the fruit.

In such dire straits, let your mind dwell on the splendour of the Divine Self (Atma) and its majesty; that will keep you alert and brave.

The antics of the senses and the mind can be arrested by the whip of wisdom of the true Self (Atma jnana).

- Divine Discourse, Jan 22, 1967.

Whatever be your troubles, however great is your sorrow, persist and win by recollecting the Divine.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Listen with ease

"Have you ever sat very silently, not with your attention fixed on anything, not making an effort to concentrate, but with the mind very quiet, really still? Then you hear everything, don’t you?

You hear the far off noises as well as those that are nearer and those that are very close by, the immediate sounds—which means really that you are listening to everything.

Your mind is not confined to one narrow little channel. If you can listen in this way, listen with ease, without strain, you will find an extraordinary change taking place within you, a change which comes without your volition, without your asking; and in that change there is great beauty and depth of insight."

The Book of Life, January 1, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com