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Jiddu Krishnamurti on What is Meditation
Jiddu Krishnamurti
- To understand what the mind is to do, we must go into the question of
meditation. Please follow this. They are related, they are not something
extraneous, about which the speaker is talking about. When we use the
word `meditation', don't take postures. Don't sit suddenly straight.
That is one of the things that has been brought over from India.
And when we go into this question of meditation, please look at it as
though you have never heard the word, or the meaning of that word, or
anything about it. But unfortunately you can't do that because you have
a lot of gurus, sannyasis, swamis, and all the rest of that gang, that
come to this country or to America, to teach you how to meditate, how to
sit properly, how to breathe, how to concentrate and all the rest of it.
So what is meditation? Not how to meditate: that is irrelevant. The
moment you understand what is meditation it naturally happens, like
breathing. You breathe naturally. So you have to find out what is
meditation. Right? Can you learn from another? Can you learn from
another what is the real meaning of meditation?
Volumes have been written about it, people have meditated according to a
particular system - Zen, or the Hindu systems of many, many varieties
and models and methods of system - the content of all those imply an end
to be achieved through control. Right? Control implies a controller.
Please follow this a little bit. And is the controller different from
the controlled? You understand the question?
They say - the whole meditative groups, and their systems and their
philosophies, their breathing - they say, control your thought, because
thought wanders about, and the wandering about is a wastage of energy.
And therefore thought must be absolutely held, disciplined, subjugated
in the pursuit of that thing - enlightenment, God, truth, what you will,
Jehovah, the nameless - all that! That implies a controller, obviously.
Right?
And who is the controller? Is he different in quality, in nature from
that which he says he is going to control? You are following all this?
Please, this is very important to understand because the speaker wants
to point out that one can live completely in daily life without any
control, against all the traditions. You understand? Against all your
education, your social, moral behaviour. So he says, live a life without
absolutely any controls, but that means you have to understand very,
very deeply who is the controller and the controlled, and this is part
of meditation.
Is the controller different from that which he is controlling, which is
thought? Some say the controller is different: he is the higher self.
Please listen to all this. He is the higher self, he is the part of
higher consciousness, he is the essence of understanding, the essence of
the past which has accumulated so much knowledge. So they - the whole
traditional, and the gurus, and the swamis, the yogis, all of them say -
control! Right? They have never asked, who is the controller.
They may have asked it, but they have translated it, yes the controller
is the supreme self - which is still within the field of thought.
However much thought may be elevated, it is still within the area of
time and measure, which is thought. Right? Do please see this. See the
truth of this, not the verbal acceptance of it, or the intellectual
comprehension of it, but the truth of the matter: that all the gods -
Christian gods, and the Hindu - all of them are the invention of
thought. And thought can project itself into all kinds of states, into
all kinds of illusions, and when thought says, there is the higher self,
it is still within the field of thought, and therefore the higher self
is still matter. I wonder if you get this?
So the controller is the controlled. Right? Do see this. Therefore the
whole aspect of meditation changes. And what is the meaning of
meditation? The meaning of meditation is - objectively, not my personal
opinion, judgement, evaluation, dogma, experience, none of that -
meditation means the emptying of consciousness of its content. Then only
can the mind and the brain be absolutely quiet. That absolute - not
relative - absolute quietness is necessary to observe, not to
experience. Right - please see all this.
Most of us want experience - experience which we have had - sensory
experiences, sexual, every kind of experience we have had - and thought
desires more experiences, an experience of another state, of another
dimension. Right? Because we are fed up with this world and its
experiences - they are boring, they have a limitation, they are
confined, narrow. And we want an experience which is totally different.
Right? Now to experience involves recognition. Right? You are following?
If I do not recognise, is there an experience? I have had the experience
of looking at a mountain: the beauty of it, the shadows, the lovely deep
blue of an early morning, the whole sense of something extraordinary,
magnificent. And that experience cannot exist if there is no
relationship to the past. Right?
So experience implies recognition from the past. Obviously - it is so
simple. So I want to... the mind wants to experience something supreme;
and to recognise it, you must have already had it, therefore it is not
the supreme. You understand? It is still the projection of the mind, of
thought. So meditation in which there is no experience. Swallow that!
Because in that there is no element of time. Are we meeting each other?
As we said, time implies movement and direction. Direction implies will.
And can the mind empty itself of time and direction and movement, which
is the ending of thought? That is the whole problem. You understand?
Are we following each other - or is this still verbal description, and
you are just enjoying the speaker's delight in talking about meditation?
We are asking: what is meditation? We said it is the emptying of the
mind of the known. Emptying of the mind of its content as consciousness,
with all its accumulation, and whether that is possible. Right? Because
we need knowledge to function, to speak any language you need knowledge,
to drive a car you need knowledge, to do anything you need knowledge.
And what place has knowledge in meditation? Or, it has no place at all.
It has no place because if it is merely a continuation of the past, it
is still the movement of time, the movement of the past, and so on. Have
you understood? So can the mind empty itself of the past, and come upon
that area of the mind which is not touched by thought? You have
understood the problem - my question?
You see, we have only operated so far within the area of thought as
knowledge. Right? Is there any other part, any other area of the mind,
which includes the brain, which is not touched by human struggle, pain,
anxiety, fear - all the violence, all the things that man has made
through thought? Right? And the discovery of that area is meditation.
That implies, can thought come to an end but yet for thought to operate
when necessary, in the field of knowledge?
You understand my question? Please understand this question - pay a
little attention, you may be tired but just give a little attention to
it. We need knowledge, otherwise you cannot function, you can't go home,
you wouldn't be able to speak, you wouldn't be able to write, and so on.
Knowledge is necessary to function, and that functioning becomes
neurotic, out of function status becomes all important, which is the
entering of thought as the `me', which is status. Right?
So knowledge is necessary. And meditation is to discover, or come upon,
or to observe an area in which there is no movement of thought, and can
the two live together harmoniously, daily, in action? That is the
problem, not breathing, you understand, not sitting straight, not
repeating mantras, you know, slogans, paying a hundred dollars, or
whatever you pay in order to learn some ugly little word, and repeat
that, and you think you are in heaven, which is called transcendental
nonsense!
And that is the whole problem of yoga, practising yoga, standing on your
head and proficiency in yoga, and all the rest of it. It must originally
have had a totally different meaning. The word `yoga' means to join - to
join the higher and the lower. You follow? That was what we have, but it
must have quite a different meaning, because who is it that has divided
the two, and who is it that joins them together? You follow? It is still
thought. Right?
So yoga exercises are excellent. One must do it. I do it - the speaker
does it every day, for an hour or more, but that is merely physical
exercise of a different kind, to keep the body healthy, breathing and so
on. But through that, you can never come upon the other. Never! Because
if you give to that all importance, then you are not giving importance
to the understanding of yourself - which is to be watchful, to be aware,
to give attention to what you are doing every day of your life: how you
speak, what you say, what you think, how you behave, whether you are
attached, whether you are frightened, whether you are pursuing pleasure,
and so on. To be
aware of this whole movement of thought. If you are,
and if you are really serious about it, then you will have established
right relationship, obviously. You understand?
You know relationship becomes extraordinarily important when all things
about you become chaotic. When the world is going to pieces as it is,
relationship becomes extraordinarily important. There you seek security,
you want to hold on to that one thing that can possibly give you a
complete sense of unity, and all the rest of it. Right?
So unless there is this establishment between you and another of total
relationship, that means a world relationship, not between you and me,
but human relationship with the whole of the world, that is the basis:
from there you can go on to behaviour - how you behave. If your
behaviour has a motive, then it is not behaviour. If your behaviour is
based on pleasure or on reward, it is not behaviour. It is merely the
pursuit of pleasure or fear - not the pursuit of fear - fear arises.
So relationship, behaviour, and order - these are absolutely essential
if you want to go into the question of
meditation. If you have not laid
this foundation, then you can do what you like - stand on your head,
breathe in for the next ten thousand years and repeat words, words -
there will be no meditation. You can even go to India if you have the
money. I don't know why you go to India - you will find no enlightenment
there.
Enlightenment is where you are. And where you are, you have to
understand yourself. Having established that, laid the foundation there,
order - not mechanical order, because order is virtue, from moment to
moment, it is not following a pattern, it is not the order for the
establishment, it is not the order or the virtue of society, which is
immoral. So order, behaviour and relationship. Then you can go into the
question of finding out what is meditation.
Meditation implies a quality of mind that is absolutely silent, not made
silent, not a contrived act, not brought about through will, but a
silence that comes in naturally when you have established order,
relationship and behaviour. And silence is necessary, because otherwise
you can't see. Right? Please see this. If my mind is chattering, as most
minds are, in that chatter there may be a period of silence - between
two chatterings there might be a period of silence, but that is not
silence. Silence is not the absence of noise.
Silence is not the absence of conflict. Silence comes only when the
content of your consciousness has been completely understood and gone
beyond; which means the observer and the observed are one. And when
there is no controller - please listen to this. When there is no
controller it doesn't mean that you live a life of undiscipline, but
when there is no observer, no controller, action then is instantaneous,
which brings a great deal of energy. Right?
So meditation means not only the emptying of
consciousness of its
content, and that happens only when you observe your consciousness and
its content without the observer - please see this. Right? Can you look
at something, whatever it is, your wife, your husband, your girl, your
boy, or the mountains, without the observer. The observer is the past.
And as long as there is the observer, he will inevitably translate
everything he observes in terms of the past, and therefore he is the
maker of time. And he divides the observed, and the observer. And
therefore in that there is conflict. When there is an observation
without the observer, there is no conflict, there is no past, only the
fact, and you have the energy to go beyond it. Do it and you will find
out!
So meditation implies a gathering of all energy, because you have
established order, relationship, behaviour, therefore you are not
dissipating energy in that field, and therefore you have energy. And
that energy is necessary to look without the observer. Right? So that
you have the energy to go beyond. And with that energy, which has not
been dissipated, the mind sees there is an area which is not touched by
thought. But all this requires tremendous attention and energy and
discipline. You understand? It is not just a plaything for some
immature, idiotic people.
It requires tremendous discipline. Now discipline means - the word in
the dictionary means to learn. Do you understand? Not the absurd thing
that we have made of it - that we must control, we must subjugate, we
must imitate, conform. Discipline means to learn. Disciple. From the
word `discipline', comes the disciple. Disciple who is one who is
willing to learn from the master. Learn. Here there is neither a
disciple nor a master, but only the act of learning, all the time.
Right? And that requires a great deal of attention, a great deal of
energy, so that you are watching, you create no illusion. You
understand? Because it is easy to create illusions. Illusions exist only
when you are pursuing, demanding, wanting an experience. Desire creates
illusion: wish creates illusion.
You know all this implies a mind that is very, very serious, a heart
that is of love, that has never been hurt. You understand? We human
beings from childhood are hurt; our parents hurt us, our friends hurt
us, and in the business world we are hurt. We are hurt in every
direction, and when we are hurt we cannot possibly love. Right? So is it
possible for a mind that has been hurt, to be free of all those hurts,
which is part of the consciousness?
And you will find, when you look at it, that it is utterly and
irrevocably possible to empty all hurts, and therefore to love, to have
compassion. To have compassion means to have passion for all things, not
just between two people, for all human beings, for all things of the
earth, the animals, the trees, everything the earth contains. When you
have such compassion you will not despoil the earth as we are doing now,
and we will have no wars. You understand all this? It is up to you,
gentlemen and ladies.
So, a mind that is serious, totally dedicated, concerned, it is only to
such a mind meditation means something extraordinary, something so
immense, because in that meditation you discover... mind discovers
space. You know what space is? This tent contains space. Right? There is
this tent, and space in held within that tent. And there is space
outside the tent. Right? And thought creates the space round itself.
Have you noticed it? Thought as the `me' creates the narrow space in
which it acts. Which is, it has created through hurt, through all kinds
of reasons, a wall within which it lives. Right? There is that narrow
space, and the space which thought has created outside of itself, as the
tent, and is there a space - not science fiction space - is there a
space which is not... which has no frontiers, which has no boundaries,
and therefore no centre. You understand? I wonder if you understand.
This is part of meditation, too. This is meditation, to find out.
So to find out what it is, as long as there is a centre, the `me' or the
idea of the `me', with all its attachments, all the rest of it, that
very centre creates a space round itself, and where there is a centre
there must be a border. The border may be extended, but it is still
within the space which the centre has created. Meditation means to come
upon that space in which there is no centre, and therefore no direction,
and therefore no time. And all this is meditation. Right?
Because without meditation and the coming upon that thing which is not
experiencable, which is not to be put into words, which has no time,
which has no continuity, unless there is meditation, life has very
little meaning. Do you understand? You may have a lot of money, or no
money, you may be attached to your property, to your wife, to your
friend and all the rest of it: or you may worship your particular little
god which thought has invented - the Jesuses, the Christs, the Buddhas
and all that - as long as you live there, there will be suffering, pain,
anxiety and violence. And that has no meaning in itself - obviously. So
unless you come upon this - not invented, not projected, not brought
about through any system, then only life has an extraordinary sense of
beauty and meaning. Right, finished.
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