Self Inquiry and Nonduality
With Hillary Rodrigues
August 27 – 29, 2021
Zoom online

A long-time contributor and friend of the Krishnamurti Centre, Hillary was welcomed back to present a three day online workshop exploring the teachings of J. Krishnamurti in contrast to modern and ancient nondual teachings which have been attracting a great deal of interest in recent years. Sixteen people were in attendance for the event. Hillary began with the essential issue he wanted to consider with us: the possibility of having a transformative realization that is more real andexperiential than mere knowledge, which has its own place. Over the three sessions of 1 ½ hours he went into the history of nondualteachings such as Advaita Vedanta and the Upanishads in the Hindu tradition, including the teachings of Shankara, Buddhist teachings such as Zen, and modern offshoots such as Ramana Maharshi and current teachers such as Rupert Spira and Adyashanti. He then led an investigation of Krishnamurti’s teachings along similar lines and where there were at least apparent differences and emphases. Along the way we touched on various questions of identity, knowledge, and awareness,as well as some of the paradoxes that arise as the mind attempts to understand something which essentially cannot be grasped through thought. When asked to guess at the source of a number of quotes from different spiritual teachings it became apparent that it is in many cases difficult to distinguish between them.

When it came to looking at Krishnamurti’s expression of self inquiry, we spent some time exploring his approach to being with pain and
suffering. K gives great emphasis on not moving away from our suffering and not creating a duality between the observer and the observed or the “me” and the “other”. It is our movement away from “what is” that is the problem in that it creates a duality which results in conflict. When we stay with “what is”, it changes. This change leaves no residue and there is a transformation. These ideas were explored, sometimes very seriously and sometimes with a sense of humour and lightness which did not detract from the depth of the inquiry and the resulting sense of freedom and uncaused joy felt by some. Hillary’s integration of academic skillfulness and logic, along with his depth of direct realization of thatwhich he speaks, created a space where it was possible to touch at least a somewhat different dimension of consciousness. We are grateful for his ongoing participation in the life of the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada.

The Urgency of Change Dialogue Group

Sunday, August 15, 2021

Zoom Online

     Nine participants attended this month’s gathering, with a few alerting us they would be involved with necessary activities and unable to be present. The meeting began with a guided meditation exploring the quality of attention to the “outer” and the “inner” suggested by Krishnamurti in his talks and writings. We then focused on the chosen readings for the month, beginning with the chapter entitled “Dependence” near the end of the Krishnamurti book The Urgency of Change. K enters into a discussion of the topic with a “questioner” and brings up the issue of attachment and resistance. We alternatively read passages from the text and then explored the questions, observations, and experiences that group members were moved to share related to their own study of the chapter. A dialogue took place that was quite alive and seemingly not without some conflict, which was absorbed into the movement of the inquiry. We looked at the issue of attachment to objects, to ideas and concepts, as well as to people and relationships. This involves possessiveness in different forms.

     Krishnamurti points out in the chapter that, although attachment gives rise to various problems and to pain, the solution is not to become detached. Neither attachment or detachment brings the freedom that we feel is necessary for living without division and the conflict of opposites. Both are forms of resistance. What is necessary is a flow of life like a river without any boulders. It was suggested that each of us must do the inquiry into our true nature that dissolves the barriers to the natural “flow” and awakens a life of harmony. These truths were explored and expanded in a number of ways by the participants, sometimes with a sense of resonance and sometimes less so. It was suggested that we can be in a continuous process of looking, listening, and learning about ourselves, and that our interactions can be fuel for the seeing and insight that is the essence of that process. It was asked if we can be both individuals and, at the same time, a “part” of an undivided reality. Although the ideas may have been expressed in slightly different words, these were some of the issues we investigated and which seemed to be valuable to explore. It is not easy to describe precisely all the elements of such a meeting that is alive and spontaneous.

     We had planned to look into the chapter headed “Fear” because of its close links with the “Dependence” chapter, but there was not enough time to do so. It would probably be appropriate to tackle the “Fear” chapter at our next meeting in September.

The Ending of Time

July 22 – 25, 2021

Zoom Online

This four-part workshop was presented by Mukesh Gupta from Varanasi, India, over four days. The focus of inquiry was the text The Ending of Time, a collection of conversations between J. Krishnamurti and renowned physicist Davi Bohm in which they explore in a number of meetings the possibility and importance of ending psychological time or ending the effort to become something one is not. Including the facilitator and staff, the event was attended by nineteen people.

Mukesh began by introducing the book and the relationship between Krishnamurti and David Bohm. He also explained that the material discussed in the text was very challenging and demanding, perhaps likely to bring students to a point of “not-knowing” or feeling unable to move in any direction towards meaningful answers to the questions raised by the two dialoguers. This, he said, may not be a bad thing at all. Mukesh made it clear that he is always learning about these deep issues and is not to be considered an authority.

The first question raised in the text is whether mankind at some point made a mistake in its understanding of life and has been suffering ever since from the results of it. After some inquiry, it was seen that the origin of the problem may not be so important but, rather, the mistake that thought is making every time it conceives of life, the world, and the self in terms of duality and separateness. The mistaken belief that we are all separate from each other and from the world Is the basis for our psychological suffering. This is not rational thinking; it creates division and conflict in all areas of life. K, David Bohm, Mukesh, and presumably the rest of us, are asking whether this false division in our thinking can be seen clearly and thereby dissolved. Thought could then take its right place in our lives.

Over the four days of the workshop a number of interrelated questions and issues were explored in addressing the core issue of going beyond the psychological self and its constructs or beliefs. Can there be an understanding or insight into the nature of thought and from that a living in freedom from fear and conflict? This was explored from different angles in smaller groups and the whole group together. And then there was the question raised by K and Bohm as to whether there is a “Ground” which is beyond the self and even beyond the ‘universal mind”. This seemed to stretch our capacities of comprehension but possibly awakened a sense of intensity in the inquiry. Can there be a depth and intensity of listening to another and to oneself that can open a door to that which is beyond the limited egoic self? When thought is silent at its core, then another form of intelligence may be able to act within our daily existence and a flowering of a life without division and conflict may take place. This does not happen through control and effort but, rather, through observation and insight.

It was a very interesting and “hopefully” fruitful exercise in dialogue and inquiry and we thank Mukesh for the dedication required to create such an experience. Thanks also to the participants for joining as co-creators of the happening.

Self Study Meeting

July 4, 2021

Zoom Online

Twelve participants in total were present for this Sunday online gathering. The focus of study was intended to be the February 17 – 21 selections from The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti. These are passages from K’s talks and writings on the subject of action without thought. It is a somewhat challenging section of the book. We opened with a short guided meditation exploring the possibility of a simple perceiving of the activities of the mind, including feelings and sensations, which does not enter into the complexities of discursive thinking as we approach core issues of human consciousness. When the meeting was then opened to interaction within the group there were a few participants with very definite ideas that they apparently wished to have acknowledged or understood by others. Many of these ideas were perhaps of value and could have been a foundation for a very fruitful inquiry, but the intensity with which they were expressed made it difficult to engage in the kind of sensitive and tentative dialogue that Krishnamurti seems to recommend. There was a degree of argument and defensiveness that sometimes felt contrary to the spirit of dialogue, which requires an open listening. On the other hand, some people felt that there was value in the way the discussion progressed despite the focus wandering away from the actual text. A greater focus on the written material was suggested by some to be desirable and will most likely be more emphasized in future meetings.

The Urgency of Change Dialogue Group Meeting

Sunday, June 20, 2021

Zoom Online

Five members of the group informed us that they would not be able to attend this meeting for various reasons to do with summer-time activities, birthdays, and so on. There were nine of us in attendance. The focus for this meeting was to consider any questions or insights still alive from our previous gathering related to the chapters “Perception” and “Suffering” and then to move into a study of the chapter entitled “The Mind and the Heart”. All selections were from The Urgency of Change by J. Krishnamurti. There were some issues from the first chapters that still were of interest to some participants. “What does it mean to perceive totally?” provoked some valuable inquiry which touched on the idea that the whole of life is present in each moment, as stated by Krishnamurti in the text. There was some questioning of whether there is any such thing as “moments” or is there, rather, an undivided flow of life which cannot be separated into moments. Some valuable discussion of the nature of suffering arose before we moved on to the chapter on mind and heart, which again provoked a good deal of significant inquiry. There was a sense that the dialogue was touching into a number of subtle and deep points in our exploration of ourselves and that it was looking into important and essential questions about the functioning of consciousness. We spent a good deal of time exploring the concept of “negation”, which has a central place in Krishnamurti’s teachings.

The opening guided meditation introduced the challenge of approaching what often appears to be complicated ideas with simplicity and a direct seeing of “what is”. The subject came back into the discussion a number of times and seemed to have a definite significance. It was a valuable journey of self-knowledge apparently enjoyed by all present.