Jiddu Krishnamurti Spiritual Quotations

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.

Only when the mind is tranquil-through self-knowledge and not through imposed self-discipline-only then, in that tranquillity, in that silence, can reality come into being. It is only then that there can be bliss, that there can be creative action.

Let the mind be empty, and not filled with the things of the mind. Then there is only meditation, and not a meditor who is meditating . . . The mind must be clear, without movement, and in the light of that clarity the timeless will be revealed.

Goodness, generosity, or love does not come into being save through the search for reality.

To know oneself is to study oneself in action, which is relationship.

The very attention given to finding out if the mind can be completely quiet is quietness.

Our conflict is in relationship, at all levels of our existence; and the understanding of this relationship, completely and extensively, is the only real problem that each one has.

Freedom lies beyond the field of consciousness.

Achieve order within yourself...an inward tranquility which knows no disturbance at any moment...in the daily life of the home and the office.

Mere isolation in an enclosing idea is not a release from conflict.

When the mind sees itself in the mirror of relationship, from that perception there is self-knowledge.

Through self-knowledge you begin to find out what is God, what is truth, what is that state which is timeless. In self-knowledge is the whole universe; it embraces all the struggles of humanity.

Freedom lies outside the pattern of society; but to be free of that pattern you have to understand the whole content of it, which is to understand your own mind.

Are you aware of the significance of every thought, of every reaction that you happen to have?

Meditation is the process of understanding your own mind.

In the search for reality, energy creates its own discipline. But mere discipline, without full comprehension of all this, has no meaning, it is a most destructive thing.

Intelligence is not discernment and judgment or critical evaluation.

Love is the most practical thing in the world. To love, to be kind, not to be greedy, not to be ambitious, not to be influenced by people but to think for yourself-these are all very practical things, and they will bring about a practical, happy society.

Intelligence is the seeing of what is.

You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it.

Meditation is not a withdrawal from life. Meditation is a process of understanding oneself.

We choose our leaders, political or spiritual, out of our own confusion, and so they also are confused.

Real freedom is not something to be acquired, it is the outcome of intelligence.

Training the intellect does not result in intelligence. Intelligence comes into being when one acts in perfect harmony, both intellectually and emotionally.

You may be ignorant of all the books in the world, and I hope you are, of all the latest theories, but that is not ignorance.

You can be creative only when there is abandonment-which means, really, there is no sense of compulsion, no fear of not being, of not gaining, of not arriving. Then there is great austerity, simplicity, and with it there is love.

It is only in a very quiet mind that great things are born; and a quiet mind does not come about through effort, through control, through discipline.

A mind that practices love cannot love.

Love, and don't be caught in opinions and ideas about what love is or should be.

The earth doesn't belong to anyone. It is the land upon which all of us are to live for many years, ploughing, reaping and destroying. You are always a guest on this earth and have the austerity of a guest. Austerity is far deeper than owning only a few things. The very word austerity has been spoilt by the monks, by the sannyasis, by the hermits. Sitting on that high hill alone in the solitude of many things, many rocks and little animals and ants, that word has no meaning.

Life is both pleasure and pain, is it not? But why should we cling to pleasure and avoid pain? Why not merely live with both? If you cling to pleasure what happens? You get attached, do you not?

Freedom is now or never.

Meditation is the movement of love. It isn't the love of the one or of the many. It is like water that anyone can drink out of any jar.

In the space which thought creates around itself there is no love. This space divides man from man.

Most of us waste our energy through chattering - endlessly chattering, gossiping, criticising, backbiting.

You may repeat the most marvelous poems. And that is not worth a cent if you don't live it.

Love may be the ultimate solution to all man's difficulties, problems and travails.

The transformation of the world is brought about by the transformation of oneself.

A man who is really earnest must begin with himself, he must be passively aware of all his thoughts, feelings and actions.

It seems to me that the real problem is the mind itself, and not the problem which the mind has created and tries to solve.

Compassion being action without motive, without self-interest, without any sense of fear, without any sense of pleasure.

To learn about oneself, a living thing, you have to watch, learn anew each minute.

Self-knowledge is only from moment to moment, and therefore there is a creative happiness from moment to moment.

The demand to be safe in a relationship inevitably breeds sorrow and fear.

As long as you ask questions you are breaking through, but the moment you begin to accept, you are psychologically dead. So right through life don't accept a thing, but inquire, investigate. Then you will find that your mind is something really extraordinary, it has no end, and to such a mind there is no death.

To understand what is right meditation there must be an awareness of the operation of one's own consciousness, and then there is complete attention.

When you do not name a group of people, you are compelled to look at each individual face and not treat them all as the mass.

True understanding is possible only when we are fully conscious of our thought, not as an operative observer on this thought, but completely and without the intervention of a choice.

If you set out to meditate, it will not be meditation. If you set out to be good, goodness will never flower.

We have so committed ourselves in different ways that we have hardly any time for self-reflection, to observe, to study.

Goodness is not in the backyard of the individual nor in the open field of the collective; goodness flowers only in freedom from both.

Truth does not belong to an individual.

Instead of old spiritual distinctions you have new spiritual distinctions, instead of old worships you have new worships. You are all depending for your spirituality on someone else, for your happiness on someone else, for your enlightenment on someone else

As we are - the world is.

Freedom comes with self-knowledge, when the mind goes above and beyond the hindrances it has created for itself.

It is necessary for all of us to awaken in ourselves this spirit of cooperation, for then it will not be a mere plan or agreement which causes us to work together, but an extraordinary feeling of togetherness, the sense of joy in being and doing together without any thought of reward or punishment.

Meditation is one of the greatest arts in life - perhaps the greatest, and one cannot possibly learn it from anybody, that is the beauty of it.

Truth is something which you must see immediately, and to see something clearly you must give your heart, mind and whole being.

We are empty shells if we do not possess, if we do not fill our life with furniture, with music, with knowledge, with this or that. And that shell makes a lot of noise, and that noise we call living; and with that we are satisfied. When there is a disruption, a breaking away of that, then there is sorrow, because you suddenly discover yourself as you are-an empty shell, without much meaning.

All paths do not lead to truth. There is no path to truth, it must come to you.

Free yourself from the psychological structure of society, which is to free yourself from the essence of conflict.

One is never afraid of the unknown; one is afraid of the known coming to an end.

The more you know yourself, the more clarity there is.

Being discontented, we either seek a different job or merely succumb to environment...instead of causing us to question life, the whole process of existence.

The society in which we live is the result of our psychological state.

If you lose touch with nature you lose touch with humanity.

Thought is matter as much as the floor, the wall, the telephone, are matter.

The craving to become causes fears; to be, to achieve, and so to depend engenders fear.

It is love alone that leads to right action. What brings order in the world is to love and let love do what it will.

Do not pursue what should be, but understand what is.

Energy functioning in a pattern becomes matter. That is all life is ... Matter and energy are interrelated.

I don't mind what happens. That is the essence of inner freedom. It is a timeless spiritual truth: release attachment to outcomes, deep inside yourself, you'll feel good no matter what.

Throughout life, from childhood, from school until we die, we are taught to compare ourselves with another; yet when I compare myself with another I am destroying myself.

Most people are unhappy; and they are unhappy because there is no love in their hearts.

It is a great art to have an abundance of knowledge and experience - to know the richness of life, the beauty of existence, the struggles, the miseries, the laughter, the tears - and yet keep your mind very simple; and you can have a simple mind only when you know how to love.

When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.

Most people like to live in illusions.