Gaia Community

Welcome to New Members

Balder said Feb 10, 2007, 5:54 PM:

I'd like to extend a welcome to everyone who has signed up as a member of this pod. Although I hope this forum will function fairly autonomously as a place for affectionate inquiry among friends on the pathless path, as the “sprouter” of this new Zaadz space, I will briefly introduce myself.

I first discovered Krishnamurti's teachings about 17 or 18 years ago, after several years of exploring Christian mysticism, and for a long time, they were my primary inspiration, a penetrating voice of clarity which always served to challenge me to look deeper, to question with passion and affection, to penetrate the clouds of images with which I habitually identified.

Several years after discovering K's teachings, I traveled to India and volunteered for a year as a teacher at one of his schools. This was a precious period of my life, a gift delivered by time and space which allowed me the leisure to look deeply at the central questions of our existence, and during which time some of my deepest spiritual experiences and insights unfolded.

It has been a number of years since I have read any of K's books, but my respect for his teachings and his tireless pointing is profound. I consider him one of my “root gurus” – those teachers who inspire us to look afresh and behold our true nature.

I hope this space will provide ample room for us to inquire and look together, to see ourselves and the world with renewed clarity, to receive with wonder the gifts of choiceless awareness.

Best wishes,

Balder

Show Replies

Re: Welcome to New Members

kirstenz [no longer around] said Feb 11, 2007, 9:01 AM:

hello balder,
nice to meet you here…
i read your post on the kinfonet and am very pleased you started this pod at zaadz.
looking forward to the exchanges here, it's new, it's fresh, it's very krishnamurti ! :)

Re: Welcome to New Members

Balder said Feb 11, 2007, 9:12 AM:

Welcome, Kirsten! Nice to see you here too. I'm looking forward to what unfolds in this little pod. If you're new to Zaadz, I think you'll see it's a great place, with a lot of resources for members.

Warm wishes,

Balder

Re: Welcome to New Members

Kiso [no longer around] said Feb 11, 2007, 4:19 PM:

Hi Balder!

I discovered Krishnamurti about the same time you did. I remember thinking (then) how K's material was the closest expression of “western Zen thought” that I had encountered.

I was always humored by his insistance for inquiry and open communication in the face of a rather dogmatic presentation. I remember in one book how he was terribly critical of Zen practice, only to refer to a story that is normally ascribed to the Zen tradition in the following paragraph!

Re: Welcome to New Members

Balder said Feb 11, 2007, 4:56 PM:

Hi, Kiso. Welcome!

I know what you mean by the rather dogmatic-sounding presentation. I like to think his strong disparagement of all religious traditions was a pedagogical device that he employed, rather than something he dogmatically believed, but sometimes I wonder….

Best wishes,

Balder

Re: Welcome to New Members

Lucidity said Feb 16, 2007, 2:54 PM:

I don't really know Krishnamurti, but having read some of your entries about his teachings. It moves me and connects to me. It really reminds me of what Chogyum Trunpa talks about in “Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism” …a pathless path, which is from the vajrayana teachings. I'm looking forward to learning more and connecting.

Re: Welcome to New Members

Balder said Feb 16, 2007, 4:07 PM:

Welcome to the Pathless Land, Klare! If you are not very familiar with Krishnamurti and his work, you might want to check out a thread I started which provides some online resources, including an online text collection (most of his books are available there for free):

Useful Krishnamurti Links

Best wishes,

Balder

Re: Welcome to New Members

Kiso [no longer around] said Feb 17, 2007, 3:34 PM:

Hi Klare!

I think that “Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism” is a very imporatant book and one that every “spiritual” person should read. Although it's been awhile since I have read it, what I seem to remember is that Trungpa was warning of the dangers of a “path” which the ego can get all wrapped up in. For me, the book gave me the hope that there can be a value in a path. By the same token, I hear Krishnamurti's teaching (at least in part) as putting out the warning of the possible traps (that are not necessarily the fault of the path) that are added on by the ego and the social function of organization. It is with irony that Trungpa is probably one of the better examples of what Krishnamurti was arguing against.

Rich

Re: Welcome to New Members

Lucidity said Feb 17, 2007, 9:51 PM:

Rich,

I agree with you about the irony regarding Trungpa, but he also realized the materialism involved with a spiritual journey and had his students practice the mahamudra to undermind their ego grasping. From what I'm starting to understand about Krishnamurti, he was speaking to the problems of religious organizations possibilities of its own disillusionment and he did this quite well. On the one hand organizations have helped many on the path. And it's good to be constantly reminded of the ego's entrapments.

Both fortunately and unfortunately, we are not enlightened beings and I'm sure Krishnamurti had his moments as well. So, it's really at least for me coming into “awareness” whenever and whereever we are.

I think to Kristen's point it's important to see the “truth” in many relative forms because ultimately the “absolute” can be spoken of in so many ways and at the same time we can't speak about it.

Re: Welcome to New Members

Sam [no longer around] said Feb 18, 2007, 11:43 AM:

Hello Balder,

I came here here after reading your invitation on the K forum. My name is Samatha aka sammy/sam. I been reading your posts on and off, for a few years, now, on the K forum. And it's, wonderful to meet you here. I like how things are transparent and clear out here, Only i need some time to figure out my way around this new place.

I also see Kirsten my friend from the K forum. Hello, Kirsten! it's me Sam. :-)Good to meet you here. wonderful, infact.

Thank you for the warm welcome, Balder.

May peace be with us,

Love, sammy

Re: Welcome to New Members

Balder said Feb 18, 2007, 3:25 PM:

Welcome, Sammy! It's great to see you here. Hopefully we can all grow this 'pod' together into a beautiful, flowering, stately tree…

Warm wishes,

Balder

Re: Welcome to New Members

Sam [no longer around] said Feb 19, 2007, 7:59 AM:

Thankyou, Balder.

Iam starting to love this place, Zaadz. It's the coolest place on the net, full of such spirited beings. wow!

Yes, hopefully we could nurture the seed with care, attention, compassion and forgiveness.

namaste, sammy.

Re: Welcome to New Members

Chaitanya said Feb 21, 2007, 9:37 AM:

Dear Friends:
I can only urge you all (and myself) to make the best use of this community explore ourselves till we find that we are all one, essentially and fundamentally. We must use this opportunity very intently and passionately.
Love,
Chaitanya

Re: Welcome to New Members

_ [no longer around] said Feb 22, 2007, 11:58 AM:

Hey everyone!

I don't have a strong history in the teachings of J. Krishnamurti, but I have been downloading and watching some lengthy talks between him and Dr. Allan Anderson from 1974 , so his teachings are definitely an area of interest.

Seems like a great bunch to share discussions with, as well!

Re: Welcome to New Members

Balder said Feb 22, 2007, 1:01 PM:

Hi, Seth, welcome! I remember really enjoying those dialogues with Alan Anderson. I think I've seen them all; the Krishnamurti Study Center at Rajghat had a full library of tapes, so I spent many afternoons in there. (Including watching a “Young Indiana Jones” episode which featured the young Krishnamurti!).

Looking forward to talking and exploring with you here.

Best wishes,

Re: Welcome to New Members

David Sun said Feb 22, 2007, 3:50 PM:

Hi Balder,

I met Krishnamurti when I was 8 or 9 and I had been going to his school for 4 years in Ojai, California. At the time I only saw him as an intense, kind old man. I didn't understand what he said to me, my parents and during his talks until about 10 years later. He was always pointing at the truth even if it took many years before people who listened got what he was saying. Krishnamurti was indeed a kind, humble, direct and seriously funny man as I recollect without ever entertaining all the hype around him. He's one of the great teachers and he founded a beautiful school which I had the priveledge of attending.

Re: Welcome to New Members

Balder said Feb 22, 2007, 6:43 PM:

Hi, David. Welcome to the pod! And how fortunate to have been able to attend the Oak Grove School… I've visited there and it is a beautiful place. It has been years since I've been there, but I check their site from time to time and read what they're up to.

Best wishes,

B.

Re: Welcome to New Members

Meenakshi said Mar 16, 2007, 8:28 PM:

Hi all,
I met Krishnamurti at several times in ch ildhood, as we'd hear him whenever he came to where we were staying. Memories of him walking solitary along a river, greeting us so humbly when we were introduced to him, as if saying - “What? YOu want to meet me? Why?”
So different from his rather stern personality… actually remote but passionate - if I can convey the impression he gave as a speaker.
Always came at the dot of 6 p.m. and left at the dot of 7 p.m. Only the leaves stirred…even the kids in the audience would be spellbound…

I'm glad to have found this pod!

Re: Welcome to New Members

yosyama [no longer around] said Mar 16, 2007, 10:49 PM:

Hi,
UG as i'm feeling allowed to call him today; is my loved teacher.
I love him for more than one reason but to start with; because i can not
take falsehood.

I may or not contribute to this board i have no idea, but i am glad
to find it here!

There are two things i want to say which sum into one.
First, his life was revolving and i am looking into his initiation as
'world teacher' in a time of great turbulence when in my mind -
possibly the strongest spiritual wave ever occurred in recorded history.

During that very massive BLOW; UG founded his teaching and his
way was decided so that time defines him. Therefore it would be good
to add an acknowledgment that tells the story of that HUGE BLOW and how
with or despite it all, his teaching emerged in relation to both movements
existed then and the people and how free it is after all!

Add to it; UG at that time, and if i attribute a time to him; in his earlier
years, in the early years of the Twenties Century; his beautiful message, his
such deepest message of truth, you need a photo from those days that will
show the real man, the powerful messenger of truth that he is with his vigorous
conviction and that clear look in his eyes with his simple and so serious expression
and his beauty as a man, i say you can not take a photo of him when 90 and say
this was Krishnamurti.

So i took my time and found a photo of his when 40 or so to show him for how he
really was for our kind eyes:

http://www.josephtany.com/image/ug_1.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors." style="cursor: -moz-zoom-out" />

_

Beblessed namaste yosyama

Re: Welcome to New Members

Balder said Mar 17, 2007, 8:50 AM:

Welcome, Meenakshi and Yosyama!

Meenakshi, what a blessing, to have been able to meet Krishnamurti and to listen to him under the trees. I never got the chance to meet him, though I've visited a number of his centers and met many people close to him. I discovered his teachings in 1986, which I believe was the year he passed away. I went to a Gathering in Ojai a year or two after he passed away, and I remember having the feeling that I'd just “missed” something enormous, the echoes of which still vibrated in the air.

Yosyama, UG Krishnamurti is not the same individual as J. Krishnamurti, as I'm sure you know – though their pathless paths were obviously connected.

Best wishes,

Balder

Re: Welcome to New Members

yosyama [no longer around] said Mar 17, 2007, 9:15 AM:

U.G. is Krishnamurti, thats how his close friends called him
Not only you can find his picture on-line if you look for U.G.
but also i saw movie with him and Byron Katie, which can
i believe be watched now on Youtube, where she sweetly
calling him U.G.
…
or i am wrong, in which case thanks for showing me;)
and here is i think a photo that is surely his hmmm ?

http://seekeraftertruth.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/krish_2Dnamaste1.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors." width="252" style="cursor: -moz-zoom-in" />

~

Re: Welcome to New Members

Balder said Mar 17, 2007, 9:25 AM:

Jiddu Krishnamurti was the boy who was “discovered” by the Theosophists and raised to be the World Teacher. Years later, after he dissolved the Order of the Star, he was giving a teaching, and a man named U.G. Krishnamurti was in the audience. U.G. says he had a spiritual awakening after listening to J. Krishnamurti's talk, and he ended up becoming a teacher in his own right.

Re: Welcome to New Members

yosyama [no longer around] said Mar 17, 2007, 9:34 AM:

Amazing isn't it Balder, this is really amazing

I know the Krishnamurti who you tell about afterall i knew him from reading a book
The Awakening of Intelligence, you must know..

And BTW i am having all his books yes its a kind of intellectual fetish or just a vast
library ~ if you like to also have it pls let me know

yosyama

Re: Welcome to New Members

kirstenz [no longer around] said Mar 17, 2007, 9:33 AM:

must say i am pleased with this mixing up of the both Krishnamurti's,
i watched some video's from UG and it had a great impact on me,
if i understood it correctly UG was a student of Jiddu, and later he went his own path..
yes balder.. both talking about the pathless.. both walking alone their own path.
i guess UG is going a bit further with the insights.. he states it a bit more radical, all.
i love the friendly Jiddu, his patience and his aura of love..
but i do like the 'to-the-core'-attitude of UG too.

love to you all dear friends,
busy times keep me from contributing more here,
but i do read it all and it's wonderful to see how smoothly the pod is getting form..

Re: Welcome to New Members

Artz said Mar 31, 2007, 10:19 AM:

Hi
I am trying to live, not merely existing and in this forum will be a great help.
Regards
Sanjiv

Re: Welcome to New Members

theurj said Apr 14, 2007, 11:16 AM:

I joined this pod because I'm struggling with how to take multiple perspectives without attaching to any one perspective, even a “better, more inclusive” one. And it seems to me that this is one of the things that K teaches. I found this summed up in Balder's comments below from the “K and the new atheists” thread:

We're coming to some interesting questions. At least, here are the questions that are coming up for me:

Is it always problematic to take a stance? What is involved in taking a position? When we take a stance with regard to a particular issue, what are we doing? Is it possible to not take a stance, when even choosing not to form an opinion or take a stand with regard to an issue can be seen, in itself, as another position?

Other questions that also arise: Should we choose not to act on particular issues, especially in the social sphere, until we have first transformed individually? It may be fairly easy to avoid taking a position when people are acting in ways that are only subtly or indirectly violent, as when they choose to adopt exclusivist belief systems, but what about those instances when an ideological movement is training people (including children) to hate, kill, and commit suicide?

If “taking a (conceptual/ideological) position” is necessarily limiting, is there a way we can nevertheless engage effectively with ourselves, others, and the world at large - without retreating into a noncommittal quietism that amounts to an avoidance of the world?

Re: Welcome to New Members

basho said Apr 14, 2007, 11:25 PM:

hi theuri-

'Is it always problematic to take a stance?'

taking a 'stance'. what does that mean to you?

when i take a 'stance', where does this 'stance' originate?

does it originate in my view, my opinion of what the reality of the moment is?

if so then there will always be a conflict with someone elses stance, no?

but in understanding the root of my 'stance', i am free of it.

mind is clear. possibilities are endless.

the best-
basho

Re: Welcome to New Members

Frans said Jun 22, 2007, 8:39 AM:

Hello all,

I am very happy to join this pod; K has been an increasingly more important influence on my thinking over the past years. One of my main areas of interest are his views on education; both because that’s obviously a place where real change has fertile ground and also because I am a new dad (3 week old little girl), and I know I don’t want to rely on the Canadian schooling system alone.

I’m looking forward to learning and contributing!

Love, Frans

Re: Welcome to New Members

Marcus [no longer around] said Jun 23, 2007, 3:01 AM:

Hi, I'm new to Zaadz and was happy to find a little K community here. I've been interested in his work for what seems like a long time. First came across it when I was 20 - was lucky enough to be taken to wonderful Brockwood Park by a friend . Hope I'll be joining in the dialogues here once I get the hang of how everything works.

Marcus

Re: Welcome to New Members

Balder said Jun 23, 2007, 9:08 AM:

Welcome, Frans and Marcus! Please feel free to start discussions on any aspect of K's teachings you are interested in, or to join one of the discussions that are already underway. I also came across K's work when I was about 20, and it had a powerful impact on me, and I was able to visit the Oak Grove School, the Rajghat Besant School, and Brockwood Park a number of years later. Beautiful places. Oases. Hopefully we can make this little pocket of cyberspace into such an oasis for inquiry and affectionate relationship.

Re: Welcome to New Members

Kev [no longer around] said Jul 12, 2007, 1:10 PM:

If I recall correctly when reading K he basically led the audience to unravel their assumptions about the world, gently, like peeling an onion (no reference th Shrek intended). When he got to the core he would not describe it or “mentalize” it but pointed to the non-conceptual awe that exists there at the core of ourselves….Eckhart Tolle speaks of this recently… in K's personal writings, he reveals all kinds of forms to describe the core phenomena–probable from his occult/theosophical upbringing. K articulates what Aurobindo teaches: keep a silent mind.

Cheers, Kev

Re: Welcome to New Members

Mark said May 31, 5:56 AM:

Bruce,

“I also came across K's work when I was about 20, and it had a powerful impact on me,…”

That's right, anyone that really gets K will be powerfully impacted and be able to do something with it. The mission statement for this group is vague and needs to be updated.

Mark