“Freedom from the Known” by Jiddu Krishnamurti
“Freedom from the Known” by Jiddu Krishnamurti has been called the primary work and magnus opus of Jiddu Krishnamurti. If you are interested in challenging yourself, your belief system, assumptions and authority, read this book. Read this book , allow each word , each sentence to sink in to deepen your spiritual experiences.
About the author : Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti (11 May 1895 – 17 February 1986) is regarded globally as one of the greatest thinkers and religious teachers of all time. He explained with great precision the subtle workings of the human mind, and pointed to the need for bringing to our daily life a deeply meditative and spiritual quality.Krishnamurti belonged to no religious organization, sect or country, nor did he subscribe to any school of political or ideological thought. On the contrary, he maintained that these are the very factors that divide human beings and bring about conflict and war. Know more about him here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti .
About the book : Freedom from the Known
This book “Freedom from the Known” by Jiddu Krishnamurti comprises of 16 chapters focusing Jiddu Krishnamurti’s philosophical views on Love, Freedom, Fear, Time, Joy, Sorrow, Duality, Conditioning & Consciousness.
The language and content of the book is well organized and concise, but at the same time the underneath concept is hard to process and practice. Every para will challenge your school of thought, and make you more aware about your understanding, thought and perspective relating to various topic covered in the book. So, go slow with this one. I recommend this book as a book you read all-at-once, as in on a plane or in the home in a single sitting.
Don’t mistaken this book as a self help device or something that is interested in helping you turn your life around. As J Krishnamurti himself says,
“Do not repeat after me words that you do not understand. Do not merely put on a mask of my ideas, for it will be an illusion and you will thereby deceive yourself.”
A tough book to review , as when you review it you do it with your own experiences, knowledge and assumptions or something which may altogether defy the very philosophical view that J Krishnamurti proposes through this book. Those who have given it a read, would truly get this.
The entire book is a product of Jiddu Krishnamurti ‘s unique wisdom. A Timeless Classic !!
Quotes : “Freedom from the Known” by Jiddu Krishnamurti
“What is “Known”? All that you have ever thought, all the memories that you’ve created, all ideas that you have ever learnt, all that your parents/society/religion/nation has taught or conditioned your mind to, and all that the millions of years of evolution coded in your genes – all that is Known. With so much Known in your head, you can’t help but be biased. To gain Freedom from the Known, you MUST drop all of this and look at everything as it is, with a child’s innocence and freshness. Once you become free, not intellectually, but actually free, you realize that the Observer is the Observed and you become one with the universe.”
“Thought is so cunning, so clever, that it distorts everything for its own convenience.”
“The demand to be safe in relationship inevitably breeds sorrow and fear. This seeking for security is inviting insecurity. Have you ever found security in any of your relationships? Have you? Most of us want the security of loving and being loved, but is there love when each one of us is seeking his own security, his own particular path? We are not loved because we don’t know how to love.”
“All outward forms of change brought about by wars, revolutions, reformations, laws and ideologies have failed completely to change the basic nature of man and therefore of society.”
“Do you know what time is? Not by the watch, not chronological time, but psychological time? It is the interval between idea and action.”
“To understand ourselves needs no authority either of yesterday or of a thousand years because we are living things, always moving, flowing, never resting.”
Buy it here : “Freedom from the Known” by Jiddu Krishnamurti (https://amzn.to/3sHjkqD)
Read more : Quotes on Life ( https://thebrightdelights.com/quotes-on-life/ )