Academic literature on the topic 'J Krishnamurti'

The article discusses the problems of individual development and self-development, put forward in the teachings of the Indian thinker J. Krishnamurti, explores the specifics of the humanistic approach in the modern cultural educational space. The author analyzes the content of the cultural-like and cultural-creation paradigm of J. Krishnamurti’s education and upbringing, reveals its main ideas and provisions, traces the ways of forming psychological and mental attitudes that have internal constant value. The article gives an analysis of the projective pedagogical and educational decisions of J. Krishnamurti, allowing you to change the idea of education as an information-cognitive process and remove the narrowly focused scientific and utilitarian principles of its construction.

J. Krishnamurti, whose life and teachings spanned the greater part of the 20th Century, is regarded by many as one who has had the most profound impact on human consciousness in modern times. He talked of the things that concern all of us in our everyday life: the problems of living in modern society, the individual’s search for security, and the need for human beings to free themselves from their inner burdens of violence, fear and sorrow. Meditation, according to Krishnamurti, is not the popular tranquilizer that most people call to mind, but an attempt to see if there is an end to knowledge, therefore freedom from the known. What Krishnamurti considers meditation is along the lines of insight meditation or jyana yoga. Meditation is not a means to an end; there is no end, no arrival; it is a movement in time and out of time. Every system and method binds thought to time, but choice less awareness of every thought and feeling, as well as an understanding of their motives, their mechanism, allowing them to blossom, is the beginning of meditation. This paper is an attempt to discuss J. Krishnamurti’s insight on what meditation is and how to practice it.

La educación forma en nosotros una nueva perspectiva sobre la vida, el cómo desarrollarnos en ella, nos forma con códigos de eticidad, etc. La vida es de suma importancia ya que en ella nos podemos manifestar como personas en la realidad. Es decir, tenemos la plena libertad de conocer, de aprender y dar ese conocimiento aprendido, el significado de la vida, desde mi perspectiva y de la de Krishnamurti es formar en la libertad. J. Krishnamurti en su obra “la educación y el significado de la vida” nos muestra un panorama amplio sobre la problemática que existe en la sociedad postmoderna, a lo cual, daré algunos puntos importantes: La liberación de lo religioso; para él, el alumno debe de quitarse esos pensamientos religiosos que simplemente atarían su proceso de estudio. ¿De que qué liberación nos habla? Precisamente de liberarse de creencias, ritos, falsas esperanzas y temores que simplemente coaccionan su libertad y su voluntad.

The concept of God in human mind has been and will always be a diversified concept. To understand God one has to travel through his mind and its contents. The centuries of inheritance have cemented the beliefs, on which we stand today. The concept of God is different for every human but to understand the whole concept of God one has to put his inherited knowledge on bay and look what he perceives. As J. Krishnamurti says- We have to completely come out of our psychological conditioning only then there is a possibility of understanding the immense named as God. Since, primitive time till today’s modern world this one word ‘God’ has played a major role in human living. It has travelled through the ages in human mind and to clearly understand this concept of God we have to look at our journey as mankind, without this neither we should accept nor reject the concept of God.

Ce travail rapproche les œuvres de J. -P. Sartre et de J. Krishnamurti. Désigné comme le futur messie par la société théosophique, celui-ci refuse ce rôle et met la libération inconditionnelle des hommes au cœur de ses préoccupations. Voici donc deux philosophies de la liberté et de l'existence. S'accordant pour déclarer que "dieu est mort", elles soulignent la perversion des morales traditionnelles et refusent le secours de toute religion. Quelle morale alors envisager, dans le contexte d'urgence d'un XXème siècle chaotique ? Dans les deux cas, l'homme est seul - ainsi débarrassé des scories du passé, des mensonges et de l'aliénation. Mais chez Sartre, le repli sur la sphère humaine rend difficile la fondation de la morale et la libération du conflit et de la violence. Chez Krishnamurti, l'homme seul s'ouvre à l' "autre", l'"altérite radicale", dans une liberté venant avec la fin de l'ego, lorsque la pensée prend conscience de ses propres limites. Apres un intéressant négativisme, Sartre valorise une action acharnée et une volonté de positif source d'échecs. Krishnamurti, barrant les voies traditionnelles, prône le rejet du faux et une attitude de non-agir psychologique susceptible de désamorcer les conduites conditionnées. Sa sensibilité à ce qui est éveillé alors une intelligence qui est amour et permet l'action juste. Dans cette perspective, Krisnamurti encourage une éducation différente visant le libre épanouissement d'individus sans peur
This study compares the works ofJ. -P. Sartre and J. Krishnamurti. Designated as the future messiah by the theosophical society, he refused this role and made of man's unconditional freedom his main concern. Thus, here are two philosophies focused on freedom and existence. Agreeing with the affirmation that "god is dead", they emphasize the perversion of traditional morals and refuse the help of any religion. So, which morality can be proposed, in this context of urgency characteristic of the chaotic XXth century ? In both cases, man is alone - alleviated from the burden of the past, of falsehood and alienation. But Sartre, who considers only the human sphere, has a difficulty to find a ground for his ethics, and cannot get rid of conflict and violence. According to Krishnamurti, the situation of aloneness leads to the "other" (or "otherness"), when thought becomes aware of its own limitations. After an interesting period of negation, Sartre chooses restless action and pursues positivity - a source of failure. Krishnamurti, rejecting the traditional ways, insists on an attitude based on negation and psychological nonaction, which can stop conditioned behaviors. Then, sensitivity to what is awakes an intelligence that is love and leads to right action. In this aim, Krishnamurti supports a different kind of education that encourages the free flowering of individuals without fear

The thesis is a critical evaluation of the work of J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986). Part One assesses his religious teaching and educational thought. It contains biographical details, a literature survey and a discussion of Krishnamurti's ideas. Some weaknesses in Krishnamurti's work are identified, notably a tendency towards assertiveness in argument and an over-emphasis on individual psychology as an explanation for social phenomena. It is also argued that Krishnamurti's educational discourse owes much to the New Education Movement which flourished in the 1920s and that he made few contributions to educational theory as such. On the other hand many positive features of his work emerge; in particular an outstanding ability to communicate, a concern with spirituality which is not bound to institutionalized religions, and practical suggestions for evolving forms of education which might develop a high level of awareness among staff and students. Part Two focuses on two schools founded by Krishnamurti. The first, Valley School near Bangalore, South India is a school for six to eighteen year olds. Educational innovations and efforts to encourage a sense of inquiry among its pupils are described and there are reports of interviews with staff and pupils. The other school, Brookwood Park in England, is an educational centre which includes a school for teenagers and a study centre for adults who wish to go on retreat. An account of school life and interviews with staff and students convey Brockwood's atmosphere, difficulties and achievements. The concluding chapter summarizes the observations from the schools and discusses the most significant contributions that Krishnamurti made as religious thinker. Finally some avenues for future research are proposed.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The following mini-thesis, Things Fall Apart, Power and Krishnamurti, is concerned with the nature by which power is possibly viewed, maintained and transferred by the characters of Chinua Achebe' s novel, Things Fall Apart. The intent of this analysis is to incorporate traditional literary approaches to issues of power in the novel via polarised conceptions, such as east versus west, black versus white or indigenous culture and traditions versus Christianity. Yet simultaneously, by incorporating the unique world-view of Krishnamurti, power, as possibly represented in Things Fall Apart, will be scrutinised as a selfperpetuating entity which chooses its own agents for its manifestation, outside and not necessarily as results of constructions of race, religion or economical design. Specifically, I am interested in Achebe's fictional construction of the indigenous- African maintenance of power and authority within the novel; before and after the arrival of the European colonialists. Did all African villagers, as represented in the fictitious Umuofia, accept the powers-that-be with non-critical minds, or, was power and authority embedded in the processes whereby the Umuofians became accustomed and socially conditioned by the cultural constructs of their particular society? Personally, I do not perceive either of these approaches to be sufficient in the process of holistically comprehending African adaptation to and adoption of 'western' modes of culture. Instead, I believe that though the encroachment of European mercantilism and Christianity upon the African mental and physical landscape was undeniably brutal, this very brutality was in and of itself not variant, compared to psychological and physical maintenance of power in the indigenous realm. This is a primary area of concern of this thesis. I perceive that the African elite, like the European missionaries, used religion and perceptions of tradition and identity to hold on to their elitist and prestigious positions in the indigenous social network. Secondly, this thesis is critical ofthe perception that the dominant emergence of western spiritual and political constructs, over indigenous structures, is a direct result of the acquiescence or absolute physical and mental defeat of African people. Rather, I perceive that African people - in the processes of becoming aware of a new way of life and in making conscious decisions to incorporate this new world-view into their own life-scheme - altered the manipulation and maintenance of power and authority in indigenous society, within the context of Things Fall Apart. In effect, the transfer of political power in Things Fall Apart is not simply a matter of the destruction of African culture by the Europeans. Instead, it is a result of Africans becoming aware of a new way of life, and adopting aspects of this lifestyle in the place of their traditional norms. Krishnamurti's ideas will be incorporated into the above analysis to present a particular world-view that deliberately strives to counteract the human tendency to cling to philosophies, political persuasions, theories or religious fervor. I have included Krishnamurti in the examination of the tension and psychological conversion of African people (as represented in Things Fall Apart) due to moments when they themselves, in the process of introspection, sought to let go of ancient customs and explore the new and foreign, as represented by Christianity. It is my position that in the moments when indigenous authority was questioned by the masses, so began a multifold process: this included the reconstruction of the African self and the readjustment of power relations within the African collective. Krishnamurti posed the following question: When you are told what to do, what to think, to obey, to follow, do you know what it does to you? Your mind becomes dull, it loses its initiative, its quickness. This external, outward imposition of discipline makes the mind stupid, it makes you conform, it makes you imitate (1974:29). I am aware that by juxtaposing the above idea next to African culture might appear blasphemous in the 'new' South Africa, given the great effort to revive 'African' culture. I do not object to this revival and consciousness of tradition and heritage. Yet, I strongly agree with Krishnamurti that the maintenance of power by a select group of elite Africans in the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial dispensations is a result of the conformity and acceptance of the masses of African people of the social, spiritual and economic constructions of the elite. The very patterns whereby Africans think was, through centuries, developed by a select group of individuals, as reflected in Things Fall Apart. Culture and tradition have acted as standards whereby individuals measure the worth of their individuality. Hence, Krishnamurti views the struggle of freedom; the struggle of individuals to shake of cultural or traditional constraints, as crucial to the full development of the human self. "Freedom," he says, "liberty, the independence to express what one thinks, to do what one wants to do, is one of the most important things in life. To be really free ... within oneself, is one of the most difficult and dangerous things" (1974:30. As this thesis progresses, we will probe Krishnamurti's claim that the individual attempt to be free, as possibly represented in Achebe's Things Fall Apart, may be both difficult and dangerous.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die volgende mini thesis, "Things Fall Apart, Power and Krishnamurti" is besorg op die manier hoe mag anskou, behou en oorgedra work binne karakters van Chinua Achebe se novel, "Things Fall Apart". Die doel van hierdie analise is om bewus te raak van die tradisionele liturere benadering tot konsepte soos mag gesien vanuit ft polografiese oogpunt, soos bv. oos teenoor wes, swart teenoor wit of inheemse kuluur en tradisie teenoor Christenskap. Inteendeel, deur die unieke sienswyse van Krishnmurti in te sluit, sal mag soos vervat in "Things Fall Apart", in totaliteit gekritiseer word deur sy eie manifesteringe en nie noodwendig vanuit ft oogpunt van ras, geloof of ekonomie nie. Ek is spesifiek geinteriseerd in Achebe se fiktioneie konstruksie van die Inheemse Afrikaanse behouing van magsbeheer in hierdie novel. Beide voor en nadat Europese kolonisme hier gearriveer het, het Afrikaner inwoners, soos voorgehou in die fiktiese "Umofia" magsbeheer in hulle gedagtes aanvaar? Of was magsbeheer onvoorwaardelik in hulle ingeplant deur die sosiale en kulturele aspekte van hul spesifieke gemeenskap. My persoonlike sienswyse is dat hierdie banadering ft oordeelkundige benadering is om gevolglik die Afrikaner aanvaring en uitoefening van westerse kulturele modes te verstaan. Inteendeel argumenteer ek dat die indringing van Europese merkantalisme en Christendom bo-op die Afrikaner geestelike en natuurkundige landskappe onerkenbaar geweldadig was en dat hierdie geweldadigheid in en vanself nie veranderlik was nie, invergelyking met die sielkundige en fisiese behouing van mag soos voorbehou in die Inheemse koningkryk. Die elite wie die opperpriester van prekoloniale Afrikaner gemeenskap saamgestel het, wie aangedring het op ft vorm van getrouheid tot kulturele en politieke konstruksies soos deur hulle bepaal, het ook die psige krag van die plaaslike dorpsbewoners misbruik. Dit is my primere punt van fokus in hierdie thesis. My argument is dat die Afrikaanse elite, soos Europese sendelinge, geloof en persepsies van tradisie en identitiet gebruik het om vas te kleef aan hul eie elite en invloedryke posisies binne die Inheemse en sosiale netwerk. Tweedens, hierdie thesis is krities van die persepsie dat die verskyning van Westerse spiruturele en politieke konstruksies oor inheemse strukture, ft direkte gevolg was van die instemming tot absolute psise en geestelike omverwerping van Afrikaner mense. Ek sal beweer dat Afrikaner mense, in die proses van gewoont raak aan ft nuwe lewenstyl, doelbewuste keuses gemaak het om hierdie nuwe wereld sienswyse in hul eie lewenstyl te inkorpireer. In hierdie proses is die magsbeheer soos voorbehou in die Inheemse gemeenskap gemanupileer binne die konteks van "Things Fall Apart". Gevolglik, die direkte oordrag van politieke mag in "Things Fall Apart" was nie net eenvoudig ft vernietiging van Afrikaner kultuur deur Europese nie. Inteendeel, dit was ft direkte gevolg van Afrikaners wat bewus geraak het van ft nuwe lewenstyl, en in die proses het Afrikaners hierdie lewesstyl as hul eie aanvaar. Krishnamurti se sienswyse sal geinkorpireer word in die boostaande analise wie se wereldwye sienswyse doelbewus stry teen die mens se geneighheid om aan te kleef aan filosofiese en politieke oortuigende gedagtes van theorie en geestelike opgewondenheid. Ek het spesifiek Krishnamurti se sienswyse ingekorpireer om die konflik en filosofiese veranderinge in Afrikaner mense te ondersoek (soos voorbehou in "Things Fall Apart") as gevolg van oomblikke waarin die Afrikaners hulself introspeksie doen en in dié proses, van hul eie eeue oue tradisies en gewoontes afstand gedoen het om die nuwe forum soos voorbehou deur Christenskap aan te kleef. Dit is my sienswyse dat gedurende hierdie tydperk magsbeheer bevraagteken was deur die magdom van mense. Dis hoe die rekonstruksie van die Afrikaner "Ek" en die herskedulering van magsbeheer verhoudinge binne die Afrikaner kollektief plaasgevind het. Krishnamurti stel die volgende vraag: Wanneer ft mens gesê word wat om te doen, wat om te dink, wat om te gehoorsaam, wat om te volg, weet jy wat dit aan n mens doen? Nmens se brein raak traag en die brein verloor sy inisiatief en sy fluksheid. Die uitwendige, die buitewerking van discipline maak jou brein dom, dit laat jou naaboots. (1974:29). Ek is bewus dat deur bogenoemde idea en Afrikaner kultuur naas mekaar te stel mag as godslasterend voorkom binne die konteks van die "nuwe" Suid Afrika, gegewe die groot inspanning om "Afrikaner" kultuur te hernu. Ek maak nie beswaar teen die heruwing en bewussyn van tradisie en erfenis nie. Ek stem saam met Krishnamurti dat deur die beheer van mag van fi selektiewe groep van elite Afrikaners in die prekoloniale, koloniale en post-koloniale dipensasies te gee, is as gevolg van die aanmeerning en aanvaarding deur die magdom van die Afrikaner gemeenskappe van sosiale, spirituele en ekonomiese konstruksies soos dié van dié elite. Die denks wyse waarlangs Afrikaners dink, was vir eeue lank, uitgebrei deur fi selektiewe groep mense, soos voorgehou in "Things Fall Apart". Kultuur en tradisie het fi standard geword waarby fi mens hom kan mee verlyk om sy waarde as individu te kan bepaal. Om hierdie rede, sien Krishnamurti die geveg vir vryheid as die geveg vir individue om kulturele en tradisionele beperkige af te skud en dis inderdaad belangrik vir die uitbreiding van die mens se eie identiteit. "Vryheid", sê hy, "liberalisme, die onafhanklikheid om uit te spreek wat fi mens dink, te doen wat fi mens wil doen, is een van dié mees belangrikste dinge in die lewe. Om innerlik vry te wees ... is een van die moeilikste en gevaarlikste dinge in die lewe" (1974:30). Soos hierdie thesis voortgaan, sal ek Krishnamurti se beweering dat die individu se poging om vry te wees, soos moontlik voorgestel in Achebe se " Things Fall Apart" dalk beide moeilik en gevaarlik mag wees.

This study traces the development of the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti through the primary source material of his first writings in 1912 until he left the Theosophical Society in 1930, as well as his post-Society published work until his death on 17 February 1986. Where they are helpful, the primary source materials of the teenage Krishnamurti’s two influential guardians, Annie Besant and Charles W. Leadbeater are also consulted. Since the teachings in which they indoctrinated the young Krishnamurti were a reworked presentation of the impressive macrohistorical worldview of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky co-founder of the Theosophical Society, this study begins with certain fundamental aspects of her work. A crucial aspect of Blavatsky’s mature teaching was the occult potency of the natural order; sights, smells, sounds, words and conversely silence, were all avenues whereby “one feels oneself rebecoming a god”. Further, the potency of the natural order and the gnosis of one’s divinity, were the substance of a Path of Initiation which had been transmitted from earlier human root races and lay hidden in the books of (1) Enoch, Daniel and Revelation. Jesus had held the gnosis of the mysteries of the Path of Initiation, as well as the knowledge of the cycles of time. According to Blavatsky, his three-year public ministry, which began when he was thirty years of age, reflected a “Cycle of Initiation”. While Blavatsky promoted a seven-key hermeneutics, she concealed and revealed in The Secret Doctrine and The Voice of the Silence a “Lost Word” key. That “Lost Word” key was the voluntary holding of the breath while mentally intoning the keynote Fa, in an occult meditative practice of sensory deprivation. When practiced by the disciple on the Path of Initiation, that occult meditation would raise the energy of kundalini, overcome and eradicate karma, and finish (cf. Dan. 12:7; Rev. 10:7) the cycle of incarnations in the crucifixion of the personality (cf. John 19:30) to an awakened god-consciousness: Blavatsky’s “Consummatum Est”. The successful disciple who finished the seven-gated Path of Initiation outlined in The Voice of the Silence, and who renounced Nirvana in order to help suffering humanity, would be the new Bodhisattva for the present historical period. It was Besant, Blavatsky’s friend, confidante and star of her exclusive Inner Group of pupils, who brought to Leadbeater the gnosis that Blavatsky’s “inner purpose” for the Theosophical Society was to proclaim the coming of a new Teacher. Besant and Leadbeater secretly reworked Blavatsky’s “Messianic Cycle” and her 1975 prediction for the coming of the new Teacher, and Besant defied her mentor’s year date by “perhaps half a century”. Krishnamurti became disillusioned by a perceived failure of his mentors to fulfil the perfectionist ideals of the Path of Initiation in which they had indoctrinated him. With a fidelity to certain sacramentally potent words and phrases in The Voice of the Silence, and unreferenced biblical texts which composed the Theosophical discourse of his early training, Krishnamurti in 1922 at Ojai, California, claimed to have finished the Path of Initiation and to have gained all the qualities of the Lord Maitreya the World Teacher. This study shows Krishnamurti’s claimed initiatory status to have been the result of his imagination and practice of Blavatsky’s occult breathless meditation. Since for Blavatsky, Besant, Leadbeater and Krishnamurti the faculty of imagination held a mythopoeic and sacred function in human consciousness, and since Besant and Leadbeater had created their own Fourth Initiation Adept status, they were trumped by Krishnamurti’s claim. Leadbeater left all responsibility for Krishnamurti to Besant. Besant supported Krishnamurti yet decreed he had passed only the Third Initiation. Krishnamurti, in an uneasy alliance with Besant, publicly defied her authority in his published writings and talks by his use of the sacramental vocabulary of his early indoctrination. As the initiate triumphant, Krishnamurti urged his supporters to use their imagination, as he admitted of himself, to conquer karma and time and finish their evolutionary journey towards a god-conscious perfection and be “the few” (cf. Matt. 7:14) who would help him “change the world”. When Krishnamurti at thirty years of age announced himself as the Teacher in 1925, he mimicked Blavatsky’s proposal that Jesus began his ministry at the age of thirty. Besant confirmed the event as Krishnamurti’s “consecration” in a temporary possession by the Lord Maitreya. On 11 January 1927, in a claimed context of involuntary breathlessness, Krishnamurti declared himself to be the Beloved. Besant ratified his declaration as the permanent possession by the World Teacher for three years, as in the three-year ministry of Jesus in Palestine. Following his 1927 breathless declaration, Krishnamurti placed in his talks and writings a number of literary indicators to the efficacy of the state of involuntary breathlessness apart from any formal Path of Initiation. Three years from 11 January 1927, Krishnamurti dissolved the Order of the Star in the East, his support organization, and resigned from the Theosophical Society. Apart from a few oblique examples in the 1950s, Krishnamurti did not allow any clear reference to the state of involuntary breathless attention to appear in the public domain until 1960. He did, however, during that long silence and until his death use the phrases “rare moments” and “the key”. In The Voice of the Silence, the words rare and key were highly significant. It is shown herein that when Krishnamurti did recommence reference to the state of involuntary breathless attention, those examples, as also his references to “rare moments” and “the key”, were couched in a similar vocabulary derived from both unreferenced biblical texts and non-biblical Theosophical discourse. Further, it is argued herein that Krishnamurti’s commencement once again to refer to a breathless state of attention, was due to a break with his long-time operations manager and editor Rajagopal. Krishnamurti feared Rajagopal would usurp or undermine his World Teacher status by drawing attention to the significance of the state of spontaneous breathlessness.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 1987.
Title from title screen (viewed 25 March 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of Religious Studies. Degree awarded 1987; thesis submitted 1986. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

Leadbeater was a man who made the most startling claims for himself, and made them in a very matter-of-fact way.[4] He declared that he had penetrated the depths of the atom by his psychic powers, discovered the ultimate unit of matter whilst sitting in a park on the Finchley Road in London, and had psychically extracted individual atoms of various elements from the showcases in the Dresden Museum whilst he reclined several miles away. He also claimed to have sent sea spirits to dig out atoms of another element from the mines of Sabaranganuwa in Ceylon while he lay in his bed in Madras in India.[5] He claimed to have explored most of the planets in the Solar System, while his body remained on earth, and described their climates and inhabitants in some detail.[6] He claimed to be in regular communication with the Powers which govern the earth from the Inner Planes, the Masters or Mahatmas, the Supermen who constitute the Occult Hierachy of this planet. And, so he said, he conducted parties of pupils to the secret places in Tibet where these same Masters resided, while the bodies of both the pupils and their guide slept securely in their beds.[7](Excerpt from Introduction pp.3-4)

Doctor of Philosophy
Leadbeater was a man who made the most startling claims for himself, and made them in a very matter-of-fact way.[4] He declared that he had penetrated the depths of the atom by his psychic powers, discovered the ultimate unit of matter whilst sitting in a park on the Finchley Road in London, and had psychically extracted individual atoms of various elements from the showcases in the Dresden Museum whilst he reclined several miles away. He also claimed to have sent sea spirits to dig out atoms of another element from the mines of Sabaranganuwa in Ceylon while he lay in his bed in Madras in India.[5] He claimed to have explored most of the planets in the Solar System, while his body remained on earth, and described their climates and inhabitants in some detail.[6] He claimed to be in regular communication with the Powers which govern the earth from the Inner Planes, the Masters or Mahatmas, the Supermen who constitute the Occult Hierachy of this planet. And, so he said, he conducted parties of pupils to the secret places in Tibet where these same Masters resided, while the bodies of both the pupils and their guide slept securely in their beds.[7](Excerpt from Introduction pp.3-4)

The chapter provides the context in which J. Krishnamurti and his work may be understood today. Krishnamurti’s relevance in our understanding of the contemporary human condition when humans can no longer be passive observers in a deeply divided and self-destructive world is examined. It is in the everyday that Krishnamurti seeks out change beginning with the individual and her world, both personal and social. This premise foregrounds his emphasis on educational practice as the medium through which social change is possible. At the same time, education is not an objective instrument but a deeply nuanced method for the transformation of consciousness and social change. To develop an understanding of the transformative value of education, it unravels Krishnamurti’s approach through a focus on education and society, the sacred and universal, and agency, values, and an ethical life. There is also an emphasis on caring for emotions and on addressing diversity in educational practice.

Very close to his death, Krishnamurti made sure that ‘The Rishi Valley School’ starts with small schools in the surrounding remote villages. The so-called Satellite Schools exist now for more than 30 years and have inspired thousands of schools worldwide by their MultiGradeMultiLevel-Methodology. More than the methodology it seems to be the attitude of the teachers that bring children as well as themselves ‘in the driver’s seat’ and realize therefore schools that run without fear—an aim Krishnamurti always focussed on. The contribution briefly introduces the educational ideas of Jiddu Krishnamurti’s philosophy and shows how they can be identified in the MultiGradeMultiLevel-Methodology and its ideas of teacher education.

This chapter is a study of the efforts of Rishi Valley Institute for Educational Resources (RIVER) to transform teacher education in India; it explores the aims, intents and structure of RIVER’s Teacher Enrichment Programme (RTEP). Through RTEP, RIVER seeks to supplement the implementation of the Diploma in Elementary Education (DElEd) programme in teacher education institutes across Andhra Pradesh. RTEP is grounded in the educational philosophy of Jiddu Krishnamurti and places immense faith in the compassionate role of the teacher; it may be read as RIVER’s application of Krishnamurti’s ideas to the contemporary context of Indian teacher education. In attempting to bring about teacher self-knowledge in its content and form, as well as openness in its method of dissemination, RTEP responds to the existing institutional challenges of teacher education in India. In doing so, this chapter argues, RTEP represents and reflects the tremendous power, foresight, and malleability of Krishnamurti’s philosophical thought.

For over fifty years, Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) spoke on a wide array of topics, but primarily directed his teachings at the problem of human suffering. He taught that all conflict is intrinsically tied to our psyches, which have been heavily conditioned by our upbringing. Aligned with other renowned Western and Eastern thinkers on the wisdom of self-discovery, Krishnamurti presents a distinctive vision for learning that encourages self-understanding through sensitive observation and choiceless awareness. He calls for a radical transformation of human consciousness, thereby enabling pliant minds to blossom. This flowering of intelligence, through a liberating insight into the mechanisms of conditioning, is at the heart of his educational philosophy. Institutions that embrace his approach must be vigilant not to succumb to the traditional modes of academic training and norms of success, lest they perpetuate the structures of fear, violence, and conformity that continue to stifle the creativity of human spirit.

This expository essay describes various facets of translating J. Krishnamurti’s educational thought into an institutional setting at Rishi Valley School. Krishnamurti’s is a spiritual philosophy embedded in a transcendental vision; schools are secular institutions located in particular space and time; the former occupies a religious space, the latter address secular issues. How is the gap bridged? And, is there an interface between the secular and the spiritual in Krishnamutri’s thought? These questions form the core of the exposition. The chapter examines the values derived from the founder’s thought embedded in the school’s curricula, the norms that guide student-teacher relationships, and the shape of its outreach programmes in the areas of conservation, health and rural education.