You are the world

Today most of us lead unhappy lives due to many reasons. The escalating cost of living, terrorism, disrespect for moral teachings and the total disregard of human values are some of the maladies our society is suffering from.

Despite great religions, mankind seems to be afflicted with a deep discontent. For instance, youth is the best period in one's life. But many men and women take to drugs in a big way and waste their lives. Universities are no longer places for high academic research. They have turned out to be hotbeds of politics.

Responding to this malaise, the leading philosopher of the 20th century J. Krishnamurti said that you have to become your own teacher as well as your own disciple. The words may sound paradoxical even after 22 years after his death. For well over four decades Krishnamurti addressed the people in many countries of the world.

Unfortunately, even some educated people fail to understand the significance of his words. Most of his messages are couched in words which can be understood properly by the intelligent people.

For instance, when he asked us to use his words as a mirror to look at ourselves, some of us may not understand his teachings. But the fact remains that if we want to treat his words as a mirror to look at ourselves, we have to be completely free.

This concept of complete freedom may baffle some of us. What he meant was that if you wish to be completely free, you should not be bound by any authority - either political or religious.

Krishnamurti warned that this kind of freedom did not mean that you can do anything and everything without restraint. Your freedom should not lead to an undisciplined and self-indulgent way of life. Here is a different kind of philosopher.

He wanted a revolution in the psyche itself. He believed that when the mind is free from all kinds of "isms" and doctrines preached by others any sensible human being can undergo a complete transformation.

In his travels to many parts of the world Krishnamurti saw that human problems were similar almost everywhere. In every society there is a need to develop a better relationship between man and man.

Peace is the buzz-word, but it is eluding everybody. Rulers are in conflict with the ruled, parents with children, the young with the old. On top of these, poverty and starvation have gripped the majority of the population. Prosperous countries are becoming more prosperous and powerful. The situation of the poor is worsening daily.

In order to get away from these social problems, many people seek the refuge of religious teachers and others who claim to know the remedy for social ills. Meditation is supposed to be one way of getting rid of some of the pressing mental problems.

Today meditation is no longer a monopoly of the East. It has spread to the affluent west too.

Krishnamurti never tried to foist his thinking on his listeners or readers. He always maintained that he was no expert or specialist to solve the problems of human beings. He saw many ideological divisions in the world. Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Communists have their own way of looking at human problems. When there are divisions in society there can arise only hatred - not harmony.

He boldly said that all ideologies are idiotic because they have divided mankind. If not for these different ideologies, there would not have been wars and bloodshed that shook the very foundation of civilization.

We all want to live in a free society. Everybody loves freedom. But this freedom is not a licence for anybody to indulge in unlawful activities. The tragedy is that we misuse our freedom to do what ever we want to do. We fail to see that others too love freedom.

When we try to impose our will on others that leads to innumerable problems. Therefore, the first step to real freedom is to get rid of all kinds of ideologies we hold close to our hearts.

Hilter proved the danger of clinging on to an ideology. But man cannot be free from ideologies propagated assiduously by religious and political leaders. Man is conditioned to listen to them and act accordingly. As a result, we do not know how to think freely.

That is why Krishnamurti always asked: "Can thought ever solve our human problems?"

There is the problem of violence pervading our society. Seniors brutally rag freshers at universities; those who hold different views are gunned down; people do anything to amass wealth.

Bribery is rampant despite the state machinery to control it. What has happened is that we have been conditioned to think that war, violence and bribery are part of our lives. So long as we are committed to violence, what is the use of displaying anti-violence posters with catchy slogans?

Now you might ask whether it is possible to bring about a psychological revolution immediately. To a conventional thinker this is not possible. But Krishnamurti said that we have no time to lose because our house is on fire!

If you look at the human history you will learn that both hell and gallows have not been successful in preventing man from killing his fellowmen. On the otherhand, many religious promise heaven or a better life in the next birth, if people lead non-violent lives. Even such rewards have not deterred man from committing crimes.

Krishnamurti believed that we have no time for analyzing these problems. Such analyses take time and sometimes the conclusions can be wrong. Take a simple example. You can easily find out why a child is crying. But that will not stop the child from crying.

Similarly, you can find the causes of university student unrest. But that does not necessarily stop violent ragging of freshers.

In one of his lectures Krishnamurti said, "There have been 15,000 wars in 5,000 years!" Many people, however, fail to understand the central point of Krishnamurti's reasoning: Is violence separate from the observer? Is not violence part of the observer? In one of his talks delivered at the John de Silva Memorial Theatre in Colombo a few decades ago, Krishnamurti said, "When you look at that free, when you see the bird on the wing, the evening light on the water, is the 'experiencer' different from that which he observes? Do we, when we look at a free, ever 'look' at it? Please do go with me a little.

Do we ever look directly at it? - or do we look at it through the imagery of knowledge of the past experience that we had?"

Here we come across the crux of the matter. If there is a division between the "observer" and the "observed" that is the source of all human conflict. When the "observer" is the "observed" then conflict ceases.

When I listened to him as a young man I too was baffled by what he said. How can the observer be the observed?

Take a simple example; when your house is on fire, you do not with to sit down and analyse the situation. Are you going to find out who built the house or who did the wiring? No you immediately swift into action. The observer becomes the observed.

Today mankind is facing a great crisis. We have no time to analyse the crisis on compare and contrast divergent views. Time is ripe for us to look at ourselves directly without looking through the eyes of others.

One criticism levelled against the great sage is that he is quibbling about words such as the "observer" and the "observed". However, so long as there remains a difference between the observer and the observed, conflicts would arise.

So long as we look at the burning problems of the day through borrowed ideologies and the eyes of others, we will not be able to see the reality. As a result, we will never be able to solve our problems.

All this will lead to the inevitable truth: The whole world lies in you. You are the world!

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