Krishnaji in the light of Gita
Author Shankara Shaktananda
As long as we have memory, yesterday remains
As long as we have hope, tomorrow awaits
Live always in the present without worries of the past and anxieties of the future.
Worry or Anxiety never robs the pain of past or future, but definitely saps the energy of today
To see everything with the freshness of the present is the science and art of living. This finds expression beautifully both
in the traditional hindu scripture Bhagavat Gita, as well as the talks of Jiddu Krishnamurty and remains as the
philosophical essence of both. The main topic of this essay is to analyse the congruence in the philosphical essence that
forms the verses of Gita(Bhagavat Gita), also finding expression in the talks of Krishnaji or JK(Jiddu Krishnamurty) abeit
with different expressions of the same thought process.
The relevant Gita verse on worry is
Aśocyānanvaśocastvam prajñavādāmśca bhāśate
Gatasūnagatāsūnśca nānuśocanti paṇditāḥ
You worry on matters unmerited and justify it with judicious reasoning, the wise do not concern themselves with the
temporal breath cycle of the physique
“Only a restless mind worries” “Die to everything of yesterday so that your mind is always fresh, always young, innocent,
full of vigor and passion” says JK
The worry is always about the past or future, one is over with and other is yet to come and a guesswork. If the problem is
within your control then worry is unnecessary. If the problem is not in your control worry is superfluos. Thus worrying over
the past or future is a futile excercise.
For the purpose of brevity, the whole scope of the matter is divided into four logical segments for analysis, which is the
crux for human evolution.
1. Nature of Truth or our real identity is beyond the ken of senses and thus over and above phenomena
2. Our conditioning is the root cause for our habituated identity and thus the genesis for all our sufferings
3. Cultivation of an objective approach without conditioning of our habituated identity is the key
4. The destination - The ultimate state of evolution, which is our true identity
The problem starts with the ‘conditioning’, which is the root cause for our mistaken identity, and unless and until we
become aware of our unlimited true identity the state of 'choiceless awareness' as coined by Krishnaji or ‘param bhāva’,
as stated in the Gita, the status quo of our sufferings will continue marring our higher evolution, and the mode of approach
to the truth is by practice of an objective attitude which Krishnaji calls as ‘eternal vigilance’ and which gita refers to as
sthita dhī the man with a tranquil intellect or an equipose person not affected by the polars of duality. The ultimate state of
evolution is the experience of unity of all or the ‘universal brotherhood’ , the ‘one in all’ and ‘all in one’ state of self identity,
the point of reference, by which both these enigmas address humanity.
Now let us take the first segment ‘the nature of truth’ which is beyond the ken of limited human experience and see how
both of them address the same.
Krishnaji of Gita on Truth
Sarvendriya-guṇābhāsam sarvendriya-vivarjitam ।
Asaktam sarvabhruccaiva nirguṇam guṇa-bhoktru ca ॥ 13-14
That which is the light behind(substratum of) all sensual faculties eventhough without any senses, eventhough
unattached sustains everything, eventhough attributeless supports all qualities.
Bahirantaśca bhutānāmacaram carameva ca ।
Sūkṣmatvāt avigñeyam dūrastam cāntike ca tat ॥ 13-15
That which pervades all beings both internally and externally, that which is both static and in motion, that which is very
subtle, imperceptible to senses and hence both adjacent and remote.
Avibhaktam ca bhūteṣu vibhaktamiva ca sthitam 13-16
That which is all inclusive but appears separate
Krishnaji of adyar on truth
I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect.
Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any
organization be formed to lead or to coerce people along any particular path. If you first understand that, then you will see
how impossible it is to organize a belief.
Man has throughout the ages been seeking something beyond himself, beyond material welfare - something we call truth
or God or reality, a timeless state - something that cannot be disturbed by circumstances, by thought or by human
corruption.
The movement of search can only be from the known to the known, and all that the mind can do is to be aware that this
movement will never uncover the unknown. Any movement on the part of the known is still within the field of the known.
Note: Both impress upon truth as something beyond the ken of known knowledge and eventhough unavailable to our
ordinary sense perception, it is still available to us through sincere and objective self enquiry. Both recommend self effort
and intellectual sincerity as the means of approach.
Krishnaji of gita on conditioning
Avyaktam vyaktimāpannam manyante mām abuddhayaḥ ।
Param bhāvamajānanto mamāvyayamanuttamam ॥ 7-24
Being unobjectifiable, universal and unconditioned, imperishable and loftiest, I am considered objectified or limited and
conditioned by the unintelligent.
Nāham prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāya samāvṛutaḥ ।
Mūḍhoyam nābhijānāti loko māmajamavyayam ॥ 7-25
Due to my veil of conditioning, the ignorant phenomenals cannot perceive my eternal and imperishable nature.
Icchadveṣasamutthena dvandvamohena bhārata ।
Sarvabhūtani sammoham sarge yānti parantapa ॥ 7-27
Afflicted by duality of likes and dislikes leading to craving and aversion, all beings are caught up in this web of
rebirth(suffering).
Krishnaji of adyar on conditioning
One is never afraid of unknown, one is afraid of known coming to an end.
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. Religion is the frozen thought of man out of which they build temples.
What religion a man holds, to what race he belongs, these things are not important; the really important thing is this
knowledge: the knowledge of God's plan for men. For God has a plan, and that plan is evolution.
All of us have been trained by education and environment to seek personal gain and security and to fight for ourselves.
Though we cover it over with pleasant phrases, we have been educated for various professions within a system which is
based on exploitation and acquisitive fear.
We are domesticated animals, revolving in a cage which we have built for ourselves - with its contentions, wranglings, its
impossible political leaders, its gurus who exploit our self-conceit and their own with great refinement or rather crudely.
Have you ever asked yourselves what you are going to do when you grow up? In all likelihood you will get married, and
before you know where you are, you will be mothers and fathers; and you will then be tied to a job, or to the kitchen, in
which you will gradually wither away. Is that all that your life is going to be?
We have lived on what we have been told, either guided by our inclinations, our tendencies, or compelled to accept by
circumstances and environment. We are the result of all kinds of influences, and there is nothing new in us, nothing that
we have discovered for ourselves: nothing original, pristine, clear
We do not know what love is. We know the symptoms of it, the pleasure, the pain, the fear, the anxiety and so on. We try
to solve the symptoms, which becomes a wandering in darkness. We spend our days and nights in this, and it is soon
over in death.
To live is to find out for yourself what is true, and you can do this only when there is freedom, when there is continuous
revolution inwardly, within yourself
Note: Both instruct that our conditioning is the main cause of our suffering, and both recommend self effort and
intellectual sincerity as the means of to get over it. The six animalistic natures of kāma desire, kroda , lobha greed, moha
delusion, mada egostic assertion matsarya envy described in the Gita also finds expression in the talks of JK albeit in a
different expression. Thus there is perfect congruence in their ideals about the cause of suffering.
Krishnaji of gita on art of living
दुःखेष्वनुद्विग्नमनाः सुखेषु विगतस्पृहः ।
वीतरागभयक्रोधः स्थितधीर्मुनिरुच्यते ॥ २-५६॥
One whose heart is neither debilitated by pain nor overjoyed by pleasure, and thus free from craving and despair, fear
and anger is called an adept of equipoise mind.
यः सर्वत्रानभिस्नेहस्तत्तत्प्राप्य शुभाशुभम् ।
नाभिनन्दति न द्वे ष्टि तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता ॥
One who at all occasions is unattached to the dual emotions of pleasure and pain, and thus neither craves, nor despairs,
his intellect is in a equipoise state.
बन्धुरात्मात्मनस्तस्य येनात्मैवात्मना जितः ।
अनात्मनस्तु शत्रुत्वे वर्तेतात्मैव शत्रुवत् ॥ ६-६॥
Mind is both one's confidante when rightly utilized and detractor when wrongly utilised, based on the way of it’s utilization
Ārurukṣormuneryogam karma kāraṇamucyate I
Yogārūḍasya tasyaiva śamaḥ kāraṇamucyate II 6-3
For an aspirant in self discovery, the determinant is through the path of unattched action(karma yoga)
For an adept in self discovery, the determinant is through the practice of equipoise state.
Krishnaji of adyar on art of living
The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form intelligence.
Can the mind see the truth of its own incapacity to know the unknown? Surely if I see very clearly that my mind cannot
know the unknown, there is absolute quietness.
Truth cannot be brought down; rather, the individual must make the effort to ascend to it. You cannot bring the
mountaintop to the valley. If you would attain to the mountaintop, you must pass through the valley, climb the steeps,
unafraid of the dangerous precipices
When we talk about understanding, surely it takes place only when the mind listens completely - the mind being your
heart, your nerves, your ears - when you give your whole attention to it.
In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand.
Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself.
If you listen through the screen of your desires, then you obviously listen to your own voice; you are listening to your own
desires.
Listening has importance only when one is not projecting one's own desires through which one listens.So when you are
listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what
is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it.
When the mind is empty, silent, when it is in a state of complete negation - which is not blankness, nor the opposite of
being positive, but a totally different state in which all thought has ceased - only then is it possible for that which is
unnameable to come into being.
Meditation demands an astonishingly alert mind; it is the understanding of the totality of life in which every form of
fragmentation has ceased.
Meditation is a state of mind which looks at everything with complete attention, totally, not just parts of it. And no one can
teach you how to be attentive. If any system teaches you how to be attentive, then you are attentive to the system, and
that is not attention.
The ultimate state of evolution is the Final Truth of all paths
Note: Both advise an unjudgemental calm mind devoid of the conditioned animalisitic tendencies as the sure steps by
which one can ascend in the path of evolution and recommend self effort and intellectual sincerity as the means of
approach.
Universal brotherhood
Krishnaji of gita
Sarvabhūtasthamātmānam sarvabhūtāni cātmani ।
Īkṣate yogayuktātmā sarvatra samadarśanaḥ ॥ 6-29
A self integrated person through harmony identifies himself with every one, and every other with his self.
Yo mām paśyati sarvatra sarvam ca mayi paśyati ।
Tasyāham na praṇaśyāmi sa ca me na pranaśyati ॥ 6-30
One who sees me in everything, and everything in me, he is not forsaken (either by me or me by him)
Ātmoupamyena sarvatra samam paśyati yo’rjuna ।
Sukham vā yadi vā duḥkam sa yogi paramo mataḥ 6-32॥
One who recognises his self in every other, and thus empathise totally in both their pleasure and pain, he is considered an
adept yogi
Krishnaji of adyar
When I understand myself, I understand you, and out of that understanding comes love.
When one travels around the world, one notices to what an extraordinary degree human nature is the same, whether in
India or America, in Europe or Australia.
Life is relationship, living is relationship. We cannot live if you and I have built a wall around ourselves and just peep over
that wall occasionally. Unconsciously, deeply, under the wall, we are related.
Note: The pivotal thosophical ideal of ‘universal brotherhood’ finds expression in the prodigiuos offerings of both these
enigmas to humanity. Both recommend self effort and intellectual sincerity devoid of animalistic tendencies as the means
of approach.
