The Pilgrim and his Holy Pilgrimage

Part 1. The Pilgrim and his Holy Pilgrimage

Chapter 3. Krishnaji tells us why and for whom he speaks

Why Krishnamurti speaks?

It is the delight and glory of the being who attains and fulfils that Life, to make that unconditioned life understood by those who have not yet attained.

To destroy all old traditions...

My function, if I have one, is to make you realise that you are creating illusions and so stimulate you into breaking them. The moment you are conscious of your illusions, you will cease to create them. This is the kind of help I am trying to give you and it is, after all, what anyone might do. But it is difficult and it is you who create the difficulties. You have not suffered enough to feel dissatisfaction. You are content with your little gods, with your little lives, with your little ceremonies, with your authorities. You are afraid to step off the beaten path and seek. You would rather seclude yourselves and be certain in your illusions claiming these to be knowledge. It is because you do not know the Real that these illusions are realities for you.

All that I can do is to point out your illusions. You must destroy them for yourselves. It would be an easy matter if by the attainment of one, all could attain. But life and its beauty would then be lost. The understanding and happiness of another cannot be transmitted.

The true teacher does not lead you, control you or say, 'through me you will realise Truth'. He shows you the false creations of your own intimate cravings and it is for you to see their illusory nature and through your own effort, free the mind and heart of them. Thus there can be no following to realise Truth. How can you follow another when that which you are seeking is within yourself? But in the gratification of craving you set up another, you carve the image of supposed divinity and that image you worship in the hope of wisdom. Thus you are following your own craving.

To make you certain of yourself

Don't you want to be free and happy? It is not my mission. It is your mission. It is what you are seeking... It is because you make it mine, that is the reason you don't understand. Because you are not aware of your own suffering, of your own narrowness; of your limitations, of your corruption of life, you give to another the authority to lead you. And as I am not accepting that authority, it is useless to say it is my teaching or my message.

It is the message and teaching of life, which is in everything and everyone, and the moment you understand it, it is yours and not mine. As it is yours, my purpose is only to awaken that knowledge, that desire to discover for yourself. And as it is yours, you must struggle to understand...

For whom he speaks?

We are all seeking to live without confusion and sorrow and to free ourselves from the struggle, not only with our neighbours, family and friends, but especially with ourselves, with the conceptions of right and wrong, false and true, good and evil. There is not only the conflict of our relationship with environment, but also the conflict within us which inevitably reflects itself in social morality.

Of course, there are those brutal and stupid exceptions, who are wholly at ease; or, fearful of their own personal safety, live without thought and consideration. Their minds are so padded, so invulnerable, that they refuse to be shaken by doubt or inquiry. They do not allow themselves to think; or if they do, their thoughts run along traditional lines. They have their own reward.

We are concerned, however, with those who are seriously attempting to comprehend life, with its miseries and apparently ceaseless conflict. We are concerned with those who, deeply realizing their environment, seek its true significance, and the cause of their suffering, of their transient joys. In their search they have become entangled, either in the mechanistic explanation of life or in the explanations of faith, of belief.

The Pilgrim and his Holy Pilgrimage

Part 1. The Pilgrim and his Holy Pilgrimage

Jiddu Krishnamurti. The Pilgrim and his Holy Pilgrimage is a very rare selection of Krishnamurti writings.