Commentaries on Living

Rating:
Summary: Timeless wisdom from the master...which you already possess
Review: I keep finding myself returning to this fairly straightforward and seemingly unsophisticated book. A series of topical vignettes by an Eastern teacher of wisdom--on the surface, just what the world DOESN'T need more of. In a society saturated by self-help would-be prophets and new-age dreck like Tony Robbins and Deepak Chopra, you would think a guy like this wouldn't make waves...but he does. Big ones. His insights are so frustratingly simple they almost leave our minds going, "That's IT?" for we usually assume that enlightenment is a stairway we have to climb. Krishnamurti has an uncanny ability to puncture this and many other illusions. A mystic who can stand his own with the best, he's also one of the most straightforward, non-flowery, non-blissed out authors you will ever read. He's tangled with everyone from heads of state to quantum physicists like David Bohm, so the average reader is no match for his razor-sharp insight and effortless deflation of unsound ways of being. He very often says in one paragraph what Leo Tolstoy needs two 1000-page books to get at, diving straight to the heart of the human condition and the activities of the unconscious mind. Though probably not the best anthology of his work, it's certainly a good way to clear your head which works MUCH better than any kind of chemical aids :) His prose is spare, uncompromising, and incisive, trimming away the excess fat of so many useless attempts by smaller minds to fill their true emptiness with pointless questions. Along with Marcus Borg's "The God We Never Knew", this book has essentially been my substitute for "Bible study" for quite some time now. That which we seek, we are. That which we would try to find is illusion. That which IS is not a process of linear time or human effort, but can only be understood when the observer "is not". Though I come from a monotheistic background and find some of K's work a tad impersonal, I cannot turn from the truth he offers--and that truth points a way to Truth, even though, as K himself would say, "Truth is a pathless land".

Rating:
Summary: CAN PROVOKE NEW INSIGHTS
Review: Krishnamurti's message is intelligent, helpful and can cause a major shift in our approach to life. If you are interested in meditation, mysticism, self-knowledge, or just a yearning to find something new and different, then read Krishnamurti.
I give this book 4 stars only because it might not be the best introduction to Krishnamurti

Rating:
Summary: Not A Good Vehicle For Krishnamurti's Teachings
Review: This collection of a bunch of very short commentaries misses its mark. The commentaries open up with Krishnamurti laying down a setting and/or background of the people concerned with the topics presented. Then, they just crumble away into short, mostly ambiguous, commentaries. If you aren't familiar with Krishnamurti's terminology & philosophy, these commentaries can be very confusing. If you are familiar with him, you'd probably agree that they flat-out aren't very good for the most part. I did brighten in finding some of his ideas expressed quickly & to the point, in ways not spoken in other works. But, for the most part, I thought the majority missed their mark.

Rating:
Summary: Beauty, insight and mystery
Review: This is a remarkable book. It is actually three books in 88 chapters. Each chapter starts with an absolutely magic description of people in nature. That is the first book. The second book consists of people telling about their problems and comments of Krishnamurti. These comments are very fresh, original and give new insights. They evoke the reaction "why did I never looked at it that way". The third book, the third part in every chapter describes his view of life. This is very difficult to understand. I am not sure I am able or should voice an opinion on this part because it so unique. There are no reference points. It is not a philosophy, it is not a religion, and it is not a spiritual path. From time to time you get the feeling, "I understand", the next moment it is again a mirage. When we look at a beautiful landscape, we can be totally absorbed by the experience of looking. We are not thinking or analyzing. Krishnamurti's idea is that that is the way we should live all the time. He refers to that as "experiencing". As soon as we start thinking or want to achieve something, we will forever be unhappy. Buddha teaches that through concentration and meditation it is possible, by "taming" the mind one can arrive at "experiencing". Krishnamurti totally rejects the need for experience, training and effort. The idea of living without thinking is for me not imaginable. One thing I do not like is that Krishnamurti rejects the wisdom of everybody. Logically, he also totally rejects the idea that people should ever consider becoming his followers or disciples. The risk I see with the book is that people read it as a smorgasbord. Pick up ideas that correspond to those they already have and reject the inconvenient ones. All in all for people with genuine spiritual interests it is a gold mine.