A Few Thoughts On Krishnamurti
I originally posted a quote on this newsgroup from the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti because I felt that Bukowski's perception of the world"”his ability to embrace whatever was going on at the time"”was very much in keeping with the "choiceless awareness" that "K" talked about for over 60 years. There are similarities of viewpoint between great men, and I've included in this post a quote by K. on sex that might be of interest to even a Bukowski reader.
And since the subject of who Krishnamurti was has taken an interesting turn of events, and come up with Brother Schenker, Bukfan, and myself, I'm posting some specific resources on his controversial love life, all of which will mean nothing to anyone who has no idea who Krishnamurti was"”a man of wisdom who went into the root causes of why Man was destroying himself, and who also happened to be a poet and one hell of a writer. His personal journals are fantastic, and there were no erasures in the original manuscripts.
Then I'm dropping the matter out of deference to the intentions of this newsgroup, in order to maintain its overall harmony, and others can carry on with themselves if they wish to, or contact me privately. I have a wide range of in-depth interests in life, and the 80 years worth of teachings by this man are among them. I have every biography written, including the one by Sidney Field, called The Reluctant Messiah, who knew him for over 50 years"”recommended.
There are two books that go into K's relationship, and his so-called fall from grace, with the Rajagopals, including his affair with Rosalind: Lives in the Shadows by Radha Rajagopal Sloss (against), mentioned by Brother Schenker; and Krishnamurti and the Rajagopals by Mary Lutyens (supportive). Out of these many biographical accounts of Krishnamurti's life, the Sloss book is the only one that trashes him.
After looking at both sides of K's love affair with Rosalind Rajagopal, Sloss's mother, my personal feeling is that the worst mistake he ever made was to hire Rajagopal and eventually get emotionally involved with him and his family"”an event which occurred after K's trusted brother Nitya unexpectedly died and someone needed to step in to handle K's publishing and business affairs"”a terrible mistake in judgment on K's part. Eventually Rajagopal and K entered into a long legal battle over the publishing rights to K's teaching, with R's position being that he felt he had a right to them because K. had given R. carte blanche to handle K's business affairs thirty years before. The matter got ugly but was finally settled out of court... And as far as K. being a "con artist," he had every luxury pushed upon him from the time he was discovered at a young age on a beach in India, and refused most of it over the years so he would be free to travel and teach. Plus, I do not share the view that K cheated by projecting a false image of chastity. Those who have read his books and talks in detail will find no assessment supporting that view. On the subject of sexual relations, he said:
"So-called holy men have maintained that you cannot come near to God if you indulge in sex, therefore they push it aside although they are eaten up with it. But by denying sexuality they put out their eyes and cut out their tongues for they deny the whole beauty of the earth. They have starved their hearts and minds; they are dehydrated human beings; they have banished beauty because beauty is associated with woman." Even Bukowski might have agreed.
For me, the question is not whether K was a perfect being but to see whether the teachings work in real life or not. That's an individual decision, because I feel that our work in life is not about changing others, but changing ourselves. No man has ever led me to systematically question myself and the fundamental issues of life and death as deeply as he has. . . I also find it of interest that literary icon Henry Miller"”"Gandhi with a penis" according to some"”said, "there is no man living whom I would consider it a greater privilege to meet than he. . . . His career, unique in the history of spiritual leaders, reminds one of the famous Gilgamesh epic. Hailed in his youth as the coming Savior, Krishnamurti renounced the role that was prepared for him, spurned all disciples, rejected all mentors and preceptors. He initiated no new faith or dogma, questioned everything, cultivated doubt (especially in moments of exaltation), and by dint of heroic struggle and perseverance, freed himself of illusion and enchantment, of pride, vanity, and every subtle form of domination over others. . . . Krishnamurti has renounced more than any man I can think of except Christ. . . . He liberated his soul, so to say, from the underworld and the overworld, thus opening to it 'the paradise of heroes.'" Yeah, baby.
Best wishes to all . . . . Poptop
