The Only Karma Worth Working For
“Some Karma we have worked out already, some we are working out now in the present, and some are waiting to bear fruit in the future. The first kind is past and gone. The second we will have to work out, and it is only that which is waiting to bear fruit in the future […]
Don’t Google All Your Questions
“It is not right to make an incantation of ‘Who am I?’ Put the question only once and then concentrate on finding the source of the ego and preventing the occurrence of thoughts. . . Suggestive replies to the inquiry, such as ‘I am Siva,’ are not to be given to the mind during meditation. […]
Loving an Ideal Versus Loving a Human
“To love an ideal, a Master, a god, a state is easier. . . they can be created in our image according to our hopes, fears, illusions. It is more convenient. . . to have an ideal, a far-off image to love, for between that and ourselves there can be no unpleasant, personal reaction which […]
Not What We Know, But What We Do
“We should approach life, not from the point of ‘What can I know?’ but ‘What can I do?’ The path of ‘What can I know?’ leads to worship of an authority, fear, and illusion; but in understanding ‘What can I do?’ there is self-reliance which alone brings forth wisdom.” — J. Krishnamurti What makes us […]
Empty Your Cup
“Which state is my individuality? When I was a baby sprawling on the floor trying to swallow my thumb? Was that the individuality I should be sorry to lose? Fifty years hence I shall look upon this present state and laugh, just as I [now] look upon the baby state. Which of these individualities shall […]
Why Does Compassion Feel Like Suffering?
“When you have compassion you don’t suffer. . . We suffer because we want a result; that is when you say, ‘I am compassionate of the person who is suffering; I want him to get better.‘” — J. Krishnamurti Suppose your colleague confides in you that she’s having a rough time at work. Or a […]
Be Sturdy, Not Fragile
One noon, a tired Parshurama asked his disciple Karna to bring him a roll of deerskin that he could use as a pillow to sleep on. Karna offered his thighs instead, which Parshurama accepted. While Parshurama slept, a boar-like insect cut through Karna’s thigh. “If I want to stop it,” he thought, “I will have […]
The Greatest Danger to Man
“There is one great danger in human nature, viz. that man never examines himself. He thinks he is quite as fit to be on the throne as the king. Even if he is, he must first show that he has done the duty of his own position; and then higher duties will come… No man […]
The Expression of Intelligence
“Giving importance to self-expression causes frustration. The individual expresses himself through his conditioning, and that limitation which he insists is his self-expression, is but sorrow and frustration.” — J. Krishnamurti Much of what we call self-expression is just stating our opinions which, in turn, are often based on our conditioning, memory, and personal experiences. We […]
The Most Important Factor in Adapting to Change
“If we accepted that everything is change, including ourselves. . . there would be no conflict between the changing circumstances of life and the thing we now think of as being permanent.”
— J. Krishnamurti