Jiddu Krishnamurti

Jiddu Krishnamurti was an Indian-born speaker and writer on the mind, freedom and religious life. Raised by the Theosophical Society, which proclaimed him a coming 'World Teacher', he dissolved the organisation built around him in 1929, declaring that 'truth is a pathless land'. For the rest of his life he gave talks in India, Europe and America, and founded schools in India, England and California. Books such as Freedom from the Known (1969) argue that psychological freedom comes not from methods, gurus or beliefs but from direct, choiceless awareness of how the mind works.

Key ideas

• Truth cannot be reached through any organisation, creed, teacher or method; each person must discover it directly.
• The observer is the observed: the self that watches thoughts is itself a product of thought.
• Choiceless awareness, attending to what is without judging or trying to change it, frees the mind from conditioning.
• Conflict and violence in society reflect conflict within individuals, so social change begins with self-understanding.
• Education should cultivate the whole person and self-understanding, not just technical skill and conformity.

Major works

• Freedom from the Known (1969)
• The First and Last Freedom (1954)
• Commentaries on Living (1956)
• Krishnamurti's Notebook (1976)

In the Book corner

• Freedom from the Known 1969 · Beginner
  A short book compiled and edited by Mary Lutyens from Krishnamurti's talks, arranged as a continuous argument rather than as separate lectures.…

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