Jiddu Krishnamurti Early Writings

Jiddu Krishnamurti

Jiddu-Krishnamurti.net

Jiddu Krishnamurti 1895-1986
talks and text collection

EARLY WRITINGS - 1927 1928 1929

Foreword to Early Writings

With the death of his brother Nityananda, on the 13th of December 1925, Jiddu Krishnamurti found himself in deep personal crisis, perhaps the most painful episode of his life. While in the throes of this great sorrow, he struggled to understand what he was going through. In fact, the death of Nitya appears to have been a decisive turning point in the spiritual evolution of Krishnamurti. Nitya's death served as a springboard for Krishnamurti, catapulting him towards his final liberation. By 1927, at the age of 31, his spiritual development is complete and the forceful and overwhelming impact of this recent mystical experience is visibly evident in the immediate years thereafter. It comes through in the language, vocabulary and style of this period.

Krishnamurti´s language in this early period was in flux and changed drastically from year to year. He introduced new modes of expressions -the Kingdom of Happiness, Liberation, Truth, Voice of Intuition and Individuality- that were soon dropped and replaced in turn. Indeed, Krishnamurti is purported to have categorized his talks and writings before 1933 as "immature". However a closer examination reveals that although his language was evolving, the essence of his teachings remained consistent from this period until his death. With remarkable rapidity and in direct response to misinterpretation and translation on the part of his audience, Krishnamurti began "cleansing" his words and so developed the lean, precise and contemporary language style that he became renowned for.

The early works not only shed light on the origins of the central, underlying concepts of the teachings but also reveal why he felt it necessary later to adopt his trademark, stark, non-compromising stance. However, if examined with the benefit of having read the later works, the emotive nature of these early works need not cover over the fundamental insights that Krishnamurti's teachings embody. On the contrary, if we are wary of the inherent danger of misinterpretation, this material affords a rare glimpse into a mind that has only just discovered the “Kingdom of Happiness”.

In these early stages Krishnamurti spontaneously describes what he is experiencing and attempts to communicate the kind of mind required to achieve this state of "true happiness". He uses words in a natural and "innocent" fashion as he is yet to discover the important role his choice of words will play. The value of these early works lies in this “impassioned” delivery. Most importantly they open up the "hidden how" that Krishnamurti so deliberately ensconced in the teachings later on.

Certain terms in the early works seem to be at first diametrically opposed to the fundamentals of the teachings as we know them today. Specifically, Krishnamurti spoke then of the importance of having "pure desire", absolute certainty, true memory -all the while emphasizing that one’s “efforts” have to be based on understanding rather than on conviction or agreement. All in all, the early writings provide a vital clue in solving one of the basic conundrums of the teachings -namely, how it is that, "out of total inaction, there is an action that is tremendously positive, but not in the sense of the positive and the negative."