Inquiry Sunday at KECC
June 3, 2018

The Inquiry Sunday session at the Centre in Metchosin was attended by the two facilitators and four interested guests. In the morning we looked at a video recording of Shakti Caterina Maggi, and Italian non-dual teacher who has been a student of Rupert Spira. Rupert features significantly in the programs at the Centre. Caterina’s topic was “Embodied Awakening”, a talk given at the Science and Nonduality Conference in San Francisco. In various ways she emphasizes the significance of moving in life from the “heart” rather than from the thinking mind. Her sense of the heart is not merely the emotional centre but includes the vastness of pure awareness as our true nature without denying our human qualities. The participants very much enjoyed her presentation and found it relevant to their own self-inquiry.
For the afternoon session we began with an introductory video clip from GP Walsh, an American teacher who will be offering a weekend retreat at our Centre in late July. The video addresses the question “What is Nonduality?” and takes its listeners into a meditation on the nature of present-moment awareness and the sense of knowing which is present in all experience. Nonduality, he says, is experiencing what is here prior to our description of it. The way GP expressed this essence of self-inquiry was new to some of the participants and evoked some discussion and exploration. We look forward to having him with us in July to go further into his teachings.
Following the first video clip we watched a few clips of Krishnamurti speaking on topics of interest to the participants and entered into some fairly subtle points of inquiry concerning awareness and self-observation. It was a full day of meditation and seemed to be enjoyed by all.

Meditation and Inner Freedom
A Weekend Retreat with Dr. Ashwani Kumar
May 25-27, 2018

Dr. Ashwani Kumar is currently a professor of Education at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax. He has been seriously engaged with J. Krishnamurti’s work for more than 14 years and has spoken at Krishnamurti schools and study centers in the US, Canada, the UK, and India. He is the author of the book Curriculum As Meditative Inquiry (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) which explores Krishnamurti’s insights regarding meditation, consciousness, and education. Dr. Kumar joined us for the sixth year in a row to present, this time, a weekend retreat entitled “Meditation and Inner Freedom.” The retreat began on Friday evening with an introductory exploration of the subject of self-inquiry. Thirteen participants engaged with him in looking at the most real and meaningful questions in our lives at the present time. We were encouraged to share and further explore our questions to see the deeper issues underneath them. Being directly in touch with ourselves in this way, we were immediately in direct and real contact with ourselves and experiencing an inner integration.
Ashwani does not present anything as knowledge to be accepted or rejected but, rather, as encouragement to look clearly for ourselves at what is actually happening in us from moment to moment. He invites an intense looking and listening which involves the whole being rather than just the intellect. He guided the group into a number of awareness and relaxation exercises, including some very dynamic forms of “meditation”, which promote a balanced approach to self-inquiry and meditation. Over the course of the weekend we jumped into meditations involving dance and movement, laughing, and speaking in gibberish. We engaged in group dialogue sessions and were guided in deep explorations of the questions that were most important to us. There was also a generous amount of time to be quietly with ourselves and to be in nature in order to integrate what had arisen in the dialogues and meditations. Ashwani regularly asked us to share our experience of what was going on for us as we engaged with the exploration of what it means to be in a flow of meditative understanding in our lives. Our inquiry was supported by watching a talk on video by Krishnamurti entitled “What is Meditation?” in which he spoke of attention and inattention. To be attentive to inattention is attention.
Ashwani presented an experience of real substance and depth which participants found of great interest and benefit. Many expressed that their understanding of inquiry and self-knowledge had deepened in a significant way. We are very grateful for his visit.

Krishnamurti Study Session
Saturday, May 19, 2018

Five participants gathered at the Krishnamurti Educational Centre in Metchosin to study Q & A # 29, “Truth and Lie”, in the book The First and Last Freedom by J. Krishnamurti. It was a lovely day, enabling us to sit on the grass in front of the main building. The question posed to K was “How does truth, as you have said, when repeated, become a lie? Why is it wrong to lie? Is this not a profound and subtle problem on all the levels of our existence?” In responding, K begins with the first question and later moves on to the second. “Merely repeating certain ideas is not reality”, he points out. There is a radical difference between thought and direct experiencing and “one must be aware of oneself in the process of repetition, of habits, or words, of sensations. That awareness gives on an extraordinary freedom, so that there can be a renewal, a constant experiencing, a newness.”
As a group we explored the details and subtleties of K’s unravelling of the issue, going into his pointing that we not think in terms of the opposite but, rather, see what is actually happening. This has its own action on what is. There was a presence and intensity in the group which gave real substance to the inquiry.

Krishnamurti Study Session
Saturday, May 5, 2018

Three people gathered to study the book The First and Last Freedom by J. Krishnamurti. The chapter for study this week was Q & A #28 “On the Known and the Unknown”. The question asked of K is as follows: “Our mind knows only the known. What is it in us that drives us to find the unknown, reality, God?” K begins by asking if it is actually true that the mind has an urge for reality or the unknown. The mind with all its projections is actually always moving in the known and the problem is for that movement to be understood, which is arduous and requires right intention. When, through understanding, the mind becomes quiet, peaceful, then the unknown comes into being and there is joy.
The group inquired with Krishnamurti as he explores the issues in the text, entering into some interesting discussion together. The meeting was felt to be significant and enjoyable.

DB

Spirituality East and West – Krishnamurti and Gurdjieff

Weekend Retreat with Ravi Ravindra

April 13 – 15, 2018

For the sixth consecutive year Ravi Ravindra offered a weekend retreat at the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada. A Ph. D and former professor of physics and philosophy, Ravi resides in Halifax. The retreat opened with a public talk on Friday evening at the Centre in which Ravi addressed the topic of differences and similarities between Eastern, and especially Indian, perspectives on spirituality and those of the Western or Abrahamic tradition. Sixteen people in total were in attendance. Ravi opened with a few interesting questions that are widely asked, “It is fairly clear that I did not create myself. So, in this vast universe, why did the divine intelligence or God bother to create me? What am I really, and why am I here?” In answering these questions the two traditions take different approaches which are influenced by the culture and in turn affect the cultural viewpoints. Ravi had many interesting points about the spiritual search and what is required for a radical transformation to take place in the individual. He also emphasized the significance of the sense of wonder.

Fourteen people in all were present for the weekend events, which included guided meditations, awareness exercises, time for walks and rest, as well as plenty of group discussions of the issues being explored. A film was shown introducing Krishnamurti and his teachings. Ravi himself shared stories of his meetings with K and his experiences with the Gurdjieff work, which he suggested brought a scientific flavour to the approach taken by Krishnamurti, which emphasized “Being”. Ravi put “awareness” at the centre of the quest for transformation and attachment to the status quo as the main impediment. He spoke of the need to be receptive to the subtle energies and levels of reality that may ordinarily be overlooked. Delicious food was provided by Glenrosa Restaurant. The weekend was much enjoyed and appreciated and we thank Ravi for his visit.