Self-inquiry with Mukesh Gupta, June 30, 2024
Meditative Self-inquiry
With Mukesh Gupta
Sunday, June 30, 2024
At KECC Metchosin
Seven participants in total were present for this Sunday afternoon meeting at the Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada in Metchosin, BC, at the 538 Swanwick Road location. The weather was warm and dry, with no rain, so we were able to sit on the front lawn in the sunshine. The gathering was facilitated by Mukesh Gupta who began with a short period of silence which, he said, allowed the flowering of a quality beyond thought and memory and created a space within which group members could bring forward any question that was wanting to be asked and explored within the group context. If there was no pressing question then Mukesh would read a selection from The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with J Krishnamurti. The book had been chosen as particularly relevant to the engagement with the process of self-inquiry which was the focus of the Meditative Self-inquiry sessions.
Mukesh asked if one of the group would like to read a passage, which she then shared with the others in the group. We then entered into a dialogue which investigated the meaning of the Krishnamurti quote and sought to illuminate more deeply the truth of what was said. The questions and topics for exploration that arose amongst the participants were, at first, the nature of relationship and love both within relationship and outside the field of personal interaction. It was suggested that love may be much deeper than thought but, also, what is love in fact? There was some discussion of the role of the “self” and the self-image in the inhibition of the energy of love and the need to be aware of the presence of a tendency in each of us to give or to take in our relationships with others and within ourselves. We asked what quality is dominating our consciousness at any given time and how we are affected by the habit of separating ourselves from each other psychologically. Does a sense of separateness mean love is missing? Are the two mutually exclusive? Must the “I” disappear before love can appear? Is love an ultimate goal or can there be an immediate seeing of whatever our state is? Can we ever say “I know love”?
It was an interesting afternoon of inquiry and “meditation” on some challenging issues.