The Flame of Attention
by
Jiddu Krishnamurti
NEW DELHI 4TH PUBLIC TALK 7TH
NOVEMBER, 1982
This is the last talk. I wonder if you are glad of it!
We ought to talk over together, as we have done in the last three
meetings, about isolation of nationalities, which are creating one of
the causes of war, and the isolation of each individual from the rest
of mankind. We also talked about how hatred, specially in this
country, is spreading more and more. We also discussed how
human beings get hurt, and that wound we carry all our lives, and
its consequences, we went into that too. And we talked about
relationship, which is the most important thing in life. Why in that
relationship there is always conflict. Without relationship there is
no life, life is a movement in relationship. We went into that very
carefully. And we talked about various images and illusions and
myths that man has created, and how these images, illusions, are
destroying humanity - the illusion of nationality, the illusion of our
own special gods, the illusions of past people who have given some
kind of advice, which we don't live. And also yesterday we talked
about fear, whether it is possible for humanity, for each one of us,
to entirely and completely be free of fear. We went into that very,
very carefully: what are the contributory causes of fear, and we
pointed out the various streams that bring the great river of fear.
And humanity, which has lived on this earth for millions of years,
perhaps not as we are now, but perhaps only forty thousand years,
we have never been able to be rid of fear; we have pursued
pleasure, not only sexual pleasure, the pleasure of possession,
domination, the pleasure of attachment, the pleasure of power.
And I think it is necessary this evening to talk about suffering,
whether there is an end to suffering, or must humanity, that is you
and all of us, maintain and nourish suffering. And also we ought to
talk over together, if time will allow, the meaning of death, because
that is part of our life. And we should go into the question of
religion, what is implied in religion, what is a religious mind, and
meditation.
So we will talk over together as two friends, friends who have
known each other for some time, not opposing each other, not
defending, or accusing, but enquiring, probing, gently because it is
only one discovers what is truth when there is no certainty. Those
who begin with certainty end up in uncertainty. Those who begin
with uncertainty, questioning, asking, doubting, probing, those
only end up with absolute certainty, not relative certainty, but
absolute certainty. So please as two friends don't start with
certainty, don't be sure that god exists, that your particular religion
is all right, that all the books, the so-called sacred books are right,
and hold on to them. They have no meaning in life.
We are enquiring together into the question of suffering. What
is suffering, whether it can end, and if there is suffering can there
be love. And human beings throughout the world have suffered
incredibly, the last two world wars and the previous five thousand
years in which there have been wars practically every year. Man,
woman, has shed innumerable tears. This is not sentiment, or
romantic imaginary state, this is actuality. Man has suffered, and
he is going on suffering: the poor in this country, the disease, the
pain and the anguish of human existence. Life isn't pleasant, life is
a turmoil, agony. One becomes more and more aware of all this.
One begins to see very clearly that all human beings bear the same
burden, share the same sorrow, not a particular sorrow, not the
sorrow of one's son dying, or brother dying, or the wife or the
husband leaving, but the sorrow which man has accumulated for
thousands of years. We are concerned with the understanding of
that sorrow. Please don't translate this statement that we are
concerned with individual, my sorrow. Your sorrow is the sorrow
of mankind, the sorrow of all human beings whether they live in
Russia, America, or China, or in this unfortunate country. We are
dealing, questioning, asking, the cause of sorrow, the pain of
sorrow, the grief, the anxiety that comes with sorrow, the utter
loneliness of sorrow. You understand?
Like pleasure, sorrow is narrowed down as mine, but we forget
when we are concerned with our own particular sorrow, we
neglect, we disregard, we are not concerned with the sorrow of
mankind. Because our consciousness, as we talked about some
meetings ago, our consciousness is the consciousness of humanity.
One must understand this very clearly because in understanding the
nature of our consciousness, that is what we are, our pain, our
loneliness, our depression, our joys, our beliefs, are shared by all
humanity. They may believe in one kind of god and you may
believe in another kind of god, but belief is common, belief is
general, and that is our consciousness, that's what you are - the
language you speak, the food you eat, the climate, the clothes, the
education, the constant repetition of certain phrases, the loneliness,
the ultimate fear of death, is the ground on which all humanity
stands. And you are that humanity. My friend and I are talking
together, and I am pointing out to my friend who is sitting with me,
as you are sitting there, that this consciousness is not individual, it
is the consciousness of all mankind, with their myths, superstitions,
with their images, fears and so on. This is important to understand,
not intellectually, not verbally, but to understand this with your
heart, with your mind. Because when we come to the question of
what is death we must first understand the nature of our
consciousness, the nature of what you are actually, not what you
should be - what you actually are in daily life. And that actuality is
shared by all and every human being in the world.
So when we are enquiring into the nature of sorrow we are not
discussing your particular narrow little pain and agony, but the
agony of mankind of which you actually are. So this enquiry is not
selfish, this enquiry opens up tremendous possibilities. So please
kindly listen, find out for yourself the nature of sorrow, why
human beings all over the world have gone through torture of
sorrow.
What is sorrow? And why has mankind never put it off, thrown
it off? Please ask this question of yourself: why you must have
some kind of sorrow, some kind of grief, pain, the sorrow of
loneliness, though you may be married, have children, we are
lonely people, we have separated ourselves so enormously that we
feel when there is a great grief you realize how lonely you are. So
we are asking, is one of the causes of sorrow, this loneliness.
Please enquire, go into it with the speaker. Loneliness is the result
of our daily life, each one of us is completely convinced that he is a
separate soul, separate entity, and all his activity is self-centred,
from the highest to the lowest it is self-centred, selfish. And the
daily activity of this self-centredness, will inevitably bring about
sorrow, loneliness, separatism, division. And we are asking, is this
isolation in our way of thinking, in our way of life, is that one of
the causes of sorrow? And is attachment the cause of sorrow? I am
attached to my wife, to my son, to my memories, to my beliefs, to
my experience, I am attached to them. I believe, and I am attached
to that belief, and when that belief is questioned, doubted, shaken,
there is uncertainty, pain. And is that one of the causes of sorrow?
So is it possible to be free of all beliefs, not one particular
belief, or one particular ideal, but to be totally free of all ideals, all
beliefs? Please don't say, if one is free of beliefs and ideals what do
you replace it by. That's a wrong question. See the truth that any
belief, any ideal, divides people. It is not an actuality. I don't
believe the sun rises and the sun sets, it is so, it is a fact. But I
believe that god exists, or doesn't exist, I believe in certain
ideologies - communism, socialist, conservatism, whatever it is,
capitalist - I believe in certain ideology for which I am willing to
fight, kill people. So to be entirely, completely free of all beliefs
because that is freedom. And we believe because it gives us a sense
of security. You may believe in god, as most of you do, because it
gives you a sense of protection, guidance, security. The mind has
invented, the brain has invented various forms of security -
nationalism, religious figures, the various so-called sacred books,
they all give a certain quality of security. And actually there is no
security in it at all, it is an illusion. So to realize that belief, ideals
and so on are very, very destructive, they separate man from man.
And to see the truth of it is to become intelligence. And only in
intelligence there is complete security, not in your beliefs, in your
myths and ideas.
So to discover this intelligence, and that intelligence is not
yours or the speaker's, it is intelligence. That is, to see the false as
false, and end the false. To see 'what is' actually, not imaginatively,
don't run away from it, to see actually what we are, and explore
into it. And in that exploration there is the awakening of
intelligence.
So we are asking is sorrow, the cause of sorrow, the pain, the
anguish, is it brought about by our isolation of mind, of thought, of
action? And is sorrow the result of our daily attachment, how we
are attached to people. Please wake up to all this, see the truth of
all this. And to explore what is the nature of attachment: it breeds
anxiety, fear, pain, jealousy, hatred, all these are the consequences
of attachment. If I am attached to my wife, or to my husband, see
the consequences of it, you depend on each other, and so that
dependence gives a form of security, and when that person leaves,
or dies, or runs away from you, you are then in pain, in agony of
suspicion, hatred, and sorrow. Don't you know all this? This is
nothing new, all this, this is the everyday fact of life. It may not
happen to you but it is happening to others, millions of others. In
their relationship there is sorrow, fight, agony. And we are asking
is attachment one of the causes of this sorrow. I am attached to my
son and he dies, and then I invent various forms of comfort. I never
remain with sorrow. You understand all this? To remain with it,
not escape with it, not seek comfort, not run off to some form of
entertainment, religious or otherwise, but to look at it, live with it,
understand it, the nature of it. When you do, sorrow opens the door
to passion - not to lust, passion. You are not passionate people
because you have never understood the nature of sorrow and the
ending of sorrow. We have become very dull, we accept things, we
accept sorrow, we accept fear, we accept being dominated by
politicians, by your guru, by all the books and tradition. That
means you never want to be free. And you are frightened to be
free, frightened of the unknown, so you invent various forms of
consoling illusory images and hopes.
Now after saying all this about sorrow, looking at it, when my
son dies, I realize why I am attached to him, that I have lost him
for ever, and remain with that sorrow. You understand? It is like a
flower, it blooms, it opens up and it withers away, it dies at the end
of the day - it may die at the end of a week, but it withers away.
You must give it an opportunity to flower: the flowering of sorrow
and the ending of sorrow, then you have passion, you have vitality,
energy, drive.
Where there is sorrow there can be no love. Your books may
talk about it, your Gita - do they talk about love? I question it - do
they? Just investigate sir, don't tell me they do, that means nothing.
A mind, a brain that is in agony, that is lonely, self-centred, how
can it love? Love is not emotion, love is not sentiment, a romantic,
fanciful, comforting thing. It is tremendously vital, as strong as
death. And when there is sorrow, love is not. And as most human
beings in the world suffer, and never resolve the problem of
suffering, so they do not know what it is to love. We have now
reduced love to pleasure - sexual, attachment, and so on, various
forms of pleasure. So we have to ask is love pleasure, is love
desire, is love thought, can love ever be cultivated? Of course not.
And without love, this sense of compassion, the flame of it, the
intelligence of it, life has very little meaning. You may invent a
purpose for life, perfection, and you know, all the rest of that
business, but without this fundamental beauty of life, life has no
meaning. Actually your life, when you look at it, going to the
office every day for the next fifty years, what does it all mean?
Getting a little money, a little power, breeding children, the wrong
kind of education, and so perpetuating this incredible cruelty in the
world. You may read all the books in the world, all the museums in
the world, listen to talks like this from a different kind of speaker,
but if there is not this quality, that extraordinary sense of beauty
with its great sensitivity, life has very little meaning; even for the
top people, the princes of the land, the people in power, without
this they become more and more mischievous, more and more
chaotic in the world. You hear all this, and do you love anybody?
Or does that love contain jealousy, possessiveness, domination,
attachment? Then that's not love, it's just a form pleasure,
entertainment.
So where there is sorrow there cannot be love, and therefore no
intelligence. Love has its own intelligence, compassion has its
quality of this pure unadulterated intelligence. When there is that,
this intelligence operates in this world. That intelligence is not the
result of thought. Thought is a small affair. So when you hear all
this, when you see the truth of all this, if you do, does the perfume,
the sense of loving completely another, or will you go back to the
old routine?
And also we ought to talk over together the question of death.
Which is not a morbid question, which is not a useless question;
like love, like pain, sorrow, fear, death is part of our life. You may
postpone it, you may say, I have ten years more to live, but at the
end of it there is death waiting. Again all humanity fears death, or
they rationalize it away, saying that death is inevitable, what comes
out of the earth dies in the earth. And together you and the speaker
are going to enquire into the nature of dying, what does it mean,
why we are so frightened of it.
First, as we said, to understand the depth and the full
significance of that extraordinary incident which is called death,
we must enquire, or rather we must understand the nature of our
own consciousness. Do you understand this? The nature of what
you are. If you don't understand what you are actually, not
descriptively or merely explanatory, but actually what you are, if
you don't understand that then death becomes a dreadful thing.
Then you may worship death in different forms, which some do.
So first before we can go into the question of death we must
understand ourselves, what we are. What are you? A name, a form,
man or woman, with certain qualities, certain tendencies,
idiosyncrasies, desires, pain, anxiety, uncertainty, confusion, and
out of this confusion you invent something permanent, the
absolute, the Brahman, or god. But what actually you are is the
movement of thought. That thought may invent that you have got
the spark of divinity in you, but it is still the movement of thought.
So what are you, apart from your physical reactions, man and
woman, differently educated, rich and poor, actually when you
look at yourself, what are you? Aren't you all these things? Don't
invent something, that you have some great divinity in you - that's
just an invention, it's not an actuality. If there is something
permanent in you, then why seek permanency somewhere else?
You understand my question? Oh, you don't follow all this.
So as we said, begin with uncertainty, begin with not knowing,
which is what we are. You know that very well. You know your
face when you look in the mirror, that's what you are. But also
inwardly you are all the struggle, the pain, the conflict, the misery,
the confusion, that's what you are actually. That is the state of all
human beings. So your consciousness is not yours. It is the
common ground on which all human beings stand and share. If that
is clearly, the truth of it is clearly seen, then what is death? You
follow all this? Death is the ending of everything - my pleasure,
my memory, my experience, my attachments, ideals, beliefs, all
that ends. That's what you are. That ends. But we don't like the
ending. To us ending is pain. So we begin to invent, search for
comfort in reincarnation. That's what most of you believe, don't
you. You have never asked what it is that incarnates next life. What
is it that incarnates? Your memories? Your experiences? Your
hopes? A better life, better house, becoming a great ruler? This is
what you are now, you are going to incarnate next life. If you
really actually, deeply believed, felt that the next life you are going
to be born, then what you are doing now is all important. Right?
What you are doing now, what you think, what you feel, how you
react, because that is going to be born rightly, correctly, happily
next life. You don't believe, you just believe in reincarnation, it's
not an actuality. Actuality is your life now, and we are unwilling to
face it.
So death is something to be avoided. We always ask, what
happens after death, but we never ask what happens before death.
You understand my question? What happens now in our life, what
is our life? Working, working, working, office, money, pain,
striving, climbing the ladder of success. That's our life. And death
puts an end to all that. So please listen to all this. Is it possible
while living to end - end your attachment, end your belief. I know
you can't end your bank account, if you have one, but to end. You
understand the beauty of ending something voluntarily, without
motive, without pressure.
So in ending there is a new beginning. If you end, the doors are
open, but you want to be sure before you end that the door will
open so you never end. End your motive. So the understanding of
death is to live a life psychologically, begin inwardly, end it.
And also now we ought to talk over together religion and
meditation. What is religion? The origin of that word is rather
doubtful, etymologically speaking, the origin, the beginning, the
root meaning of that word, is very doubtful. One has looked up
various dictionaries, but the root meaning of it is uncertain. So we
will accept the word religion, what we generally call religion. What
is religion for most of you? Belief, rituals - if you are a Christian,
belief in a saviour, in a particular saviour, with all the rituals, with
all the marvellous dressing, the beautiful architecture inside the
churches, the great cathedrals. I do not know if you have seen a
cardinal performing a mass, it is really a great sight, great beauty,
the utter precision, to impress the poor people. And that's belief,
dogma, rituals, your daily puja, if you do puja daily, and above all
you believe in god. That's what you call religion, which has
absolutely nothing whatever to do with your daily life. All
religions, organized or unorganized religions, have said, don't kill,
love somebody. So you go on killing, you go on worshipping false
gods, which is your nationalism, your tribalism, the Sikh, the
Muslim, the Hindu, it's all tribalism. So you are killing each, and
that's what you all call religion. Isn't that so?
So to find out the nature of a religious mind you must put away
all those childish things. Will you? Of course not. You will go on,
do your puja, your ceremonies, become slaves to the priests.
Religions has become a form of entertainment. That entertainment
may be very sacred, as you consider, but it is still entertainment
because it is not affecting your life in any way. So can you put
away all that and not belong to any so-called religion, neither be a
Christian, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Muslim, leave all that - that's
propaganda of centuries. Like a computer you have been
programmed. Of course you are. When you say, 'I am a Hindu',
you have been programmed for the last five thousand years. So
when you are enquiring into the nature of religion, you must be
free from all this. Will you? No, of course not. Because then when
there is freedom from all that is false, illusory, then you begin to
enquire into what is meditation - not before. You understand? A
mind in conflict, a brain in struggle, cannot possibly meditate. You
may sit down quietly for twenty minutes every day, or every
afternoon, night, whatever it is, but if the brain is in conflict, pain,
anxiety, lonely, sorrow, what is the value of your meditation?
So we are going to enquire into what is meditation. Not how to
meditate, you have asked how to meditate, which is to give you a
system. Right? A method, a practice. Do you know what practising
does every day to your brain? Repeating, practising, your brain
becomes dull, mechanical, not active, alive, full of vitality - it is
tortured, making effort to achieve some silence, some state of
experience. That's not meditation, that's just another form of
achievement, like a politician becoming a minister. In your
meditation you want to achieve illumination, silence, it's the same
pattern repeated only you call it religious, the other calls it political
achievement - not much difference.
So we are going to enquire together, it doesn't matter if we go
over an hour, what is meditation. Are you tired?
Q: No.
K: You must be, don't tell me you are not - well, it's up to you.
What is meditation? What does that word mean? The word, the
meaning of the word. If you look up in a dictionary you will find it
means to ponder over, to think over, to be concerned, to look, to
ponder over. That's what it means. That's what the dictionary says.
And the word 'meditation' also implies measurement, to measure.
Right? We are going to go into this. First the word implies to be
able to think clearly, not with confusion, not personally, but
objectively, clearly, to think, which we have done, if you have
followed very carefully, during the last three talks. So it needs
clarity. And meditation also means measurement, to measure. We
are always measuring, which is comparing - I am this, I will be
that, which is a form of measurement. I will be better - the word
'better' is measurement. You are following all this? You so easily
nod your heads, please don't. That is to compare yourself with
another is a measurement. When you tell your son, or somebody,
you must be like your elder brother, that's measurement. So we live
by measurement. We are always comparing. That's a fact, isn't it.
So our brain is conditioned to measure - I am this today, I hope I
will be different in a year's time - not physically but
psychologically. That is a measurement.
Now to live without measurement is part of meditation, totally
completely free of all measurement. Not, I am practising this, I will
achieve something in a year's time - that is measurement, which is
the very nature of one's egotistic activity. In schools we compare,
in universities we compare, and we compare ourselves with
somebody who is more intelligent, more beautiful physically.
There is this constant measurement going on. Either you know it
consciously, or you are not aware of this movement of
measurement.
So meditation is the ending of measurement, ending of
comparison, completely. You understand this? See what is implied
in it. That there is no psychological tomorrow. Yes sir. Tomorrow
is the measurement of 'what is' in time. Do you understand all this?
So measurement, comparison, and the action of will must end
completely - there is no action of will in meditation. Every form,
every system of meditation is an activity of the will - will, I will
meditate, I will sit down quietly, control myself, narrow down my
thoughts, practise - that is the action of desire which is the essence
of will.
So in meditation there is no activity of the will. You understand
the beauty of all this? When there is no measurement, no
comparison, not achieving, not becoming, there is the silence of the
negation of the self. There is no self in meditation, not, 'tell me
how to meditate, I have tried the Zen meditation, the Tibetan form
of meditation, the Buddhist form of meditation, the Hindu, and the
latest gurus who offer systems of meditation', they are all forms of
the action of will, which is a form of desire.
So a mind, a brain that is in the act of meditation, which is the
whole of life is meditation, not one period when you meditate -
meditation is the whole movement of living. But we have separated
- at least you have separated meditation from your life. It is a form
of relaxation, take a drug. If you want to repeat, repeat Coca-Cola,
or any other Cola, it is the same effect, it dulls the mind. Whereas
meditation, when there is no measurement, when there is no action
of the will, and the brain is in entirely free from all systems, then
there is great sense of freedom. And in that freedom there is order,
absolute order, and that you must have in life. Then in that state of
mind there is silence, not invented silence, not the seeking of
silence, not wanting, desiring to have a quiet mind. That's too
childish. But when there is this freedom from measurement, which
is the activity of the self, to become something more and more and
more, then in that freedom of absolute order there is silence.
Then is there something sacred, not invented by thought? There
is nothing sacred in the temples, in the mosques, in the churches -
they are all the inventions of thought. So when you discard all that,
is there something sacred? That is, nameless, timeless, something
that is the outcome of great beauty, and total order, which begins in
our daily life. That's why meditation is the movement of living, it's
life. If you don't understand the basis of all this, that is, our life, our
everyday reactions, our behaviour, all that, your meditation has no
meaning whatsoever. You can sit on the banks of the Ganga, or
some kind of place, do all kinds of tricks with yourself, that's not
meditation. Meditation is something that is of daily life, it is a
movement of life. And when there is in that movement freedom,
order, and out of that flowers a great silence and then only then, if
you have come to that point, one finds there is something
absolutely sacred.
End
(My humble salutations to the lotus feet of Sri Jiddu Krishnamurti and
gratitude to the great philosophers and followers of him.)
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