LET UNDERSTANDING BE THE LAW
1. Certain statements have been made with regard to you and your work which seem to be so fundamentally different from your teaching and from the Truth you set before us that we should be grateful if you could give us an opinion with regard to them. In 1925 you selected seven Apostles, the remaining five not yet having attained the necessary Arhat level. Now you say that you have no disciples.
KRISHNAMURTI: I say again that I have no disciples. Every one of you is a disciple of the Truth if you understand the Truth and do not follow individuals. I have no followers. I hope you do not consider yourselves as my followers, for if you do you will be perverting and betraying the Truth which I maintain. I have no disciples; I have no followers; but if you understand the Truth, which I put forward, in all its simplicity and in all its greatness, and love that Truth for its own beauty, then you will become the disciples of that Truth. Do not worry as to who is or who is not a disciple. How eager you are to judge others! You look to discipleship in order to be encouraged or discouraged, in order to lean upon and to be protected by someone else; and, friend, when you depend on another, woe to your life! So I hope that it is perfectly clear that I do not want disciples or followers; because I hold that to be disciples of an individual is to betray the Truth. The only manner of attaining Truth is to become disciples of the Truth itself without a mediator. Do not be shocked, do not be disappointed; Truth is not always pleasant. Truth is harsh to those who do not understand, but Truth is lovable, kindly, generous and lovely to those who do understand. So, friend, there is no discipleship except for those who understand that discipleship is not to individuals but to the Truth in its absolute sense, the Truth without end. And you, who are so fond of worshipping personalities, so fond of having mediators, will find it difficult to accept the Truth, but I am not here to please you. Do not become followers or disciples of individuals but become the tabernacle of Truth without beginning or end, and then these questions as to who is an apostle, who is a disciple, who is an Arhat, will all fade away, for they are of no value.
When you are climbing to a great height and there are signposts on the way, do you stop at the signposts and worship them, or do you go on and leave them behind? Ponder over the matter seriously; commune with your heart considerately and you will thereby gain understanding. There is no understanding in the worship of personalities. The labels which you adore have no meaning. I know you will all feel doubt with regard to what I am saying, feel uncertain of my statements, but, friend, I say that Truth has nothing to do with the petty, tyrannical personalities whom you worship, whoever they be. Truth is beyond all stages, and those stages only exist because of human limitations.
LET UNDERSTANDING BE THE LAW
LET UNDERSTANDING BE THE LAW
Jiddu Krishnamurti, Let Understanding be the Law. The seventh International Camp of the Order of the Star.