Jiddu Krishnamurti Quotes

Jiddu Krishnamurti had no allegiance to any nationality or a specific religion or school of philosophy. His style of teaching was mostly conversational in a question and answer format.

The quotes mentioned in this article are taken from such conversations he had while speaking to large and small groups, as well as individuals which were later published in various formats for his followers to guide them in the ups and downs of life. I am also mentioning Krishnamurti’s popular books here with their links to make it easy for you to purchase.

Also read: Quotes by Mirra Alfassa, The Mother.

Books by Jiddu Krishnamurti:

Freedom From The Known

Our mind is clouded by various conditioning that we received throughout our life. We think we know because we are in loop of conditioned thoughts which self feeds itself. In this book Jiddu Krishnamurti asks you to understand these conditioning and get yourself freedom from them.

A quote from the book which says it all in the words of Krishnamurti:

To be free of all authority, of your own and that of another, is to die to everything of yesterday, so that your mind is always fresh, always young, innocent, full of vigour and passion. It is only in that state that one learns and observes. And for this, a great deal of awareness is required, actual awareness of what is going on inside yourself, without correcting it or telling it what it should or should not be, because the moment you correct it you have established another authority, a censor.

The Awakening of Intelligence

Krishnamurti dives further, deeper into how conditioning develops and what all are the type of conditioning that we often carry with us unknowingly. And then, when Krishnamurti has introduced us with the technicality of these conditioned minds, he tells how to overcome it.

A quote from the book:

So, if I am aware that I am aware, then that is not awareness. In that there is a division between the Observer and the Observed.

Education and the Significance of Life

Most of the education system around the world, both at the time of Jiddu Krishnamurti and even now, lack a direct connection between what is taught in their institutions verses what is require to know while dealing with the real world. Krishnamurti’s emphasis on the fact that we must not merely focus on education as a mean for livelihood but we must have this integrated outlook about our lives as a whole. This book also covers, in parallel, the conditioning of mind and how parents and surrounding affects a human mind since childhood.

Two very profound quote from the book to explain further:

1. To understand a child we have to watch him at play, study him in his different moods; we cannot project upon him our own prejudices, hopes and fears, or mould him to fit the pattern of our desires. If we are constantly judging the child according to our personal likes and dislikes, we are bound to create barriers and hindrances in our relationship with him and in his relationships with the world. Unfortunately, most of us desire to shape the child in a way that is gratifying to our own vanities and idiosyncrasies; we find varying degrees of comfort and satisfaction in exclusive ownership and domination.

2. There is an efficiency inspired by love which goes far beyond and is much greater than the efficiency of ambition; and without love, which brings an integrated understanding of life, efficiency breeds ruthlessness. Is this not what is actually taking place all over the world? Our present education is geared to industrialization and war, its principal aim being to develop efficiency; and we are caught in this machine of ruthless competition and mutual destruction. If education leads to war, if it teaches us to destroy or be destroyed, has it not utterly failed?

On Love and Loneliness

This book by Krishnamurti is a compelling investigation of our intimate relationships with ourselves, others, and society. He suggests that “true relationship” can come into being only when there is self-knowledge of the conditions which divide and islolate individuals and groups. Only by renouncing the self can we understand the problem of lonliness, and truly love.

A quote from the book:

You will know love when the mind is very still and free from its search for gratification and escapes. First, the mind must come entirely to an end. Mind is the result of thought, and thought is merely a passage, a means to an end. When life is merely a passage to something, how can there be love ? Love comes into being when the mind is naturally quiet, not made quiet, when it sees the false as false and the true as true. When the mind is quiet, then whatever happens is the action of love, it is not the action of knowledge. Knowledge is mere experience, and experience is not love. Experience cannot know love. Love comes into being when we understand the total process of ourselves, and the understanding of ourselves is the beginning of wisdom.

Best of the powerful quotes by Krishnamurti

If you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes a transformation.
– Krishnamurti Quotes

Krishnamurti quotes about transformation

When one loses the deep intimate relationship with nature, then temples, mosques and churches become important.
– Krishnamurti Quotes, Conversation with parents and teachers

Also read Vivekananda Quotes.

It is only when the mind is free from the old that it meets everything anew, and in that there is joy.
– Krishnamurti Quotes, Freedom From The Known

When we talk about understanding, surely it takes place only when the mind listens completely – the mind being your heart, your nerves, your ears- when you give your whole attention to it.
– Krishnamurti Quotes

Freedom and love go together. Love is not a reaction. If I love you because you love me, that is mere trade, a thing to be bought in the market; it is not love. To love is not to ask anything in return, not even to feel that you are giving something- and it is only such love that can know freedom.
– Krishnamurti Quotes

You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing and dance, and write poems and suffer and understand, for all that is life.
– Krishnamurti Quotes

It is love alone that leads to right action. What brings order in the world is to love and let love do what it will.
– Krishnamurti Quotes

We are very defensive, and therefore aggressive, when we hold on to a particular belief, a dogmas, or when we worship our particular nationality, with the rag that is called the flag.
– Krishnamurti Quotes