Krishnamurti Study Session at the Centre, November 18

This session we looked into Q & A # 19 in The First and Last Freedom by J. Krishnamurti. The question concerned prayer as a way to God. K’s response included an investigation of prayer, concentration, and meditation. Prayer, he says, usually involves asking God to clear up the mess and confusion that we ourselves have created, thereby avoiding our responsibility for the way things are. Prayer may, he admits, produce a result that we want, but such a process is a projection of our own minds and is not putting us in touch with reality or clearing up our confusion. He goes into a few different aspects of prayer and then proceeds to question whether concentration as a process of exclusion has anything to do with real meditation. Meditation is understanding the ways of thought and feeling, seeing into all the layers of our consciousness, and being free of the content of the conditioned mind.
The reading of the chapter was interspersed with discussion of the issues presented and a sharing of questions and insights. The four participants were able to look into the relevance of K’s pointers for their own lives and to continue with the deepening of their inquiry and self-understanding.