Public Talk 7, Bombay, 28 February 1954

(The Public Speech delivered by Shri J. Krishnamurti in the compound of S. N. D. T. Vidyalaya)

I would like to discuss this evening rather a difficult problem and I hope you will listen to it with a consideration, not at the result, not at the aim but at the beginning because I feel that neither the reformer nor the radicals have the real solution of the problem. Their action is born out of confusion. Now, most of us are concerned with the action. We must do something. We must change the social order radically and our whole outlook, our whole valuation, is based on, is it not, on the result. The Reformer and the Radicals both promise us these results. Both are sure of their results. They say they are not confused beings. They are clear and they are pattern of action and will.

Now, I would like to discuss a step which is not an action at all, because the action that we know is borne out of choice, out of determination and we know, as we observe in the world, that action is of various forms, viz., acceptance of authority, liquidation, re-distribution, decentralisation so on and so forth. But I feel that there is an action which is not an action at all nor is it reaction. We know the action of choice, of determination, of a result, of Utopia and so on. I do not think, such an action is true action because it leads to conflict, to a struggle between a man and a man. So we have to find out the state from which the action comes. It should not be the reaction or the result of the action of a Reformer or the Radical. It seems to me very important to find out whether we are confused or not because the action which comes out of the confused state is not again a true action. But you all know that we are confused. If we were not confused then our action could have been a true action. But we are not certain. No human being, nor a capitalist, nor a Communist nor a Socialist is quite clear. But they want to be clear and the very desire to be clear creates the action of uncertainty because basically we are all confused. I think that it is an important thing to admit to oneself that we are confused, but out of humility we do not admit it. The Reformist and the Radical assert that they know and that they are dear and therefore their action, which is born out of confusion, inevitably breeds destruction and uncertainty. Now I know that I am confused, not at one layer of my consciousness but right from conscious to unconscious layers. But I dare not admit it. But if we really try to understand the question of action and if we go into it, not verbally, but intellectually, we will have to admit that we are confused and this confusion itself produces an action which is not of the mind. We start all our actions on the assumption that we know. But we only say that we know. Beyond that do we know anything? Therefore, when the Reformist and the Radical say that they know, they drive others in the pattern of their action, which has really come out of confusion. An action coming out of a confused mind is bound to be a confused action. Is it not? I am confused and in that confused state of mind I persuade myself to accept a particular way. But basically I am confused and out of that confusion I try to create certainty which is essentially a confused certainty. But I give it a name and a pattern and some people follow me. But the fact is that you and I are confused. Our political, social and religious leaders all are confused. If we can admit that, not merely intellectually or verbally but actually, we will see that the result of all this is bound to be a confused result. We must see, each one of us must see, that we are confused basically. But it is very difficult for us to admit that we are confused. Now if we are confused, can we say that we must act. If I am confused and I say that I know and I must do this, what would happen is that my confusion would bring about its own action which is uncertainty. I think it is very important to understand this and then the action will take care of itself. For the moment I am not concerned with action. I think that relationship must be established between you and me, that I am, at present, not concerned with any action, I do not believe in action, in the action of a Reformist or a Radical. All that I am concerned is confusion. Therefore there is humility and there is no assertion. Now let us see what happens to a mind that knows that it is confused, that it has no leader, because to choose a leader out of confusion is an action of confusion. Obviously. To have a theory, to have a plan, to have a pattern of action borne out of confusion is still confusion. Let me go slowly. Please don’t say what are we to do then. If you admit that you are confused, it means you know nothing. So it would be futile for you to follow any authority or a book or a leader or a pattern of action as regards the good and the bad, what is right and what is wrong. Is it not? Please try to go into the real question A man who is confused does not know what is right and what is wrong. He has no leader. He knows no authority or book on which he can rely because his mind is fundamentally confused. He is not in a state in which he can read a book or follow an authority. I am not mesmerizing you to admit that you are confused. But you have to think for yourselves and see whether you are confused or not, and if so whether your decision as regards what is right and wrong has any meaning. Now, if the whole world is in a state of confusion, you are a part of that world. So if we are really aware that we are confused, then what action would be ours? It would be neither the action of a Reformer or the Radical. So what do we do? When there is no choice, when there is no leader, no guide, no following of any authority, because the very choosing out of confusion is still confusion, what do we do? So what happens to your mind? A man who is confused and knows that he is confused, does not know what to do, because he is uncertain. But our social, political and religious leaders think that if they tell us that they are confused, we might abandon them and therefore nobody is prepared to admit that he is confused. But once we admit that we are confused, our whole pattern would be destroyed. The very confusion of our mind brings an action which is not a reaction of the mind, which is an action of uncertainty. Therefore there is no utopia, no leader, no teacher. In a state of entire confusion you are trying to find out what is true. There are so many others who are like you, who are in a state of confusion, and all of you come together. But all of you are in a state of confusion, in a state of uncertainty and therefore there is no cooperation between you. Now the man who says that he knows, is really not admitting that he is confused. But the man who admits that he is confused and therefore is incapable of knowing anything, is a sincere man. When I say that I do not know, in the deepest sense of the word I admit that I am confused, and therefore there is a state of humility. I do not become humble, but there is a state of humility, which itself is an action and that action is the real action. Therefore it seems to me that we are confused human beings and that our leaders have no significance at all. Now if I really see that I am confused, then I would not follow anybody and hence my mind would become quiet. It would no longer be uncertain. It would in a state of humility and that which is really humble is in a state of love. This love is not something which can be cultivated. Without this love, there [would](../../rould) be no ideal.

Now most of us are concerned with the problems and the solution of those problems. But we should always be concerned with the understanding and the resolution of the problem and we should not create more problems. Our solution of the problems should not be such as would give root to the other problems in future. If you find out a solution of the problems which you have today, but that solution is such that it carries some problems over tomorrow and gives rise to other problems tomorrow, that is not a real solution at all. Now you have got several problems. You have the problem of death, you have the problem of frustration. If I carry over this problem of frustration for tomorrow, I would be adding strength to it. Please, do understand the significance of all this. We must not give a root to our problems in future. So how can I, how can the mind, not give the root to our problems for tomorrow? Do you understand what I am saying? If you will really grasp the subject, you will see that there is no problem at all. Today we have a problem because we have made it a problem for the last so many days, and therefore, my mind is never fresh. It is always living in the past which is really dead. But if we really understand and do not give a root for our problems for tomorrow, there would be no problem at all.

A Gentleman: May I ask you the way out of the vice of drink of which I am addicted? I request an answer from you as I know that you are opposed to self-control and such matters.

Shri J. Krishnamurti: Sir, there are many causes for which one drinks. There is frustration, starvation, constant struggle in life, the struggle between the husband and the wife, the family worries and you want to escape yourselves from all this and therefore you drink. Now the question is how can you stop drinking. The answer is very simple, viz., by mere analysis, the analysis of frustration, the analysis of your worries. When you know why you have a frustration, you would be able to remove it and then there would be no need of drinking. If you have really such a problem, please see the importance of what I am saying. We know the effects of drinking. If you analyse this also, you would realise that there would be deterioration and when you would realise this, you would automatically stop drinking. But if you will decide that you have seen the implications of drinking and therefore you will drop the habit from tomorrow, then you will be creating a problem for tomorrow. Sometimes it also happens that to drop something you adopt a method, but that very method becomes your habit. So the mind is not really free from the habit. Instead of one habit it cultivates another habit. Even the habit of performing Puja or reading sacred books is a habit. It nay be said that this is a good or respectable habit and some other habit might be an evil habit. But psychologically both are habits. If you want to get rid of these habits, you have to go to the root of them. If you will really understand that there is no method, no system by which you can drop the habit, then you will see the truth and that truth will act upon you; you will not have to act upon the truth. Most of us want to act upon the truth but if you let the truth alone to act upon you, you will get what you want.

A Gentleman: I am a Hindu and you ask me to be free from Hinduism. Can I be ever free from Hinduism?

Shri J. Krishnamurti: This is a very complex question. We must go very carefully to understand it. Now you call yourself a Hindu, i.e., there is a certain background behind you. There are certain traditions which you follow. You call yourself a Hindu, not a Mussalman, and therefore you want to follow the traditions of Hinduism. Now if you want to find out the true implications of following, if you want to find out whether following is evil or not, you will have to see whether it is really necessary to follow your experience, your traditions and your culture. But in order to see this, you must be absolutely free. Now, when you say that you are a Hindu, what do you mean by that? Can you say that you are a pure Hindu or a pure Aryan? There is no such animal like that because we are mixture of everybody’s culture. Most of us have the background of Hinduism or some other Eastern and Western philosophy. So we are neither this nor that. But the mind wants to have a root in something. The mind wants to be secure in something and when it feels that it would be secure in Western culture, it gives up the Eastern culture and vice versa. That is exactly what is happening in the case of all of us. Really speaking we are in a state of confusion and it is only when we are totally free from any culture that we would be able to see clearly. But if we accept one culture, either the Western or the Eastern culture, then it acts as a poison. If we want to see clearly and to find out the real truth, then there should be complete clearness of the mind and that can only come when you do not belong to any society. The real truth would act upon you only when your mind is absolutely free and that freedom can only come when you do not belong to any community. That means when the mind is fearless, it has no background, no root anywhere, then only you can see what is the Truth.

A Gentleman: Physically, time has no dimension. But you speak of temporary time as different from permanent time. I want to know whether time is non-existent or is it existent which is not phenomenal?

Shri J. Krishnamurti: This is not a philosophical question — philosophical in the sense theoretical or verbal. The question implies that time has a phenomenal existence. There is tomorrow and there is also yesterday. So time is chronological. That is a fact. But there is a difference between psychological time and chronological time. There is a time which the mind establishes, the time as distance between me and what I shall be, me and the idea, me and the death and the future, me as mortal and me as would become immortal. There is a wide gap between what I am and what I shall be. So all our religions and theories and their outlook vanish. We cannot deny the phenomenal time. But the time which the mind creates is a permanent one. I would like to see what I am today and what I would be tomorrow. That is the distance between what I am and what I shall be. Now I have a desire to become immortal through the mortal life. So there is also “what is” and “what should be.” The moment I introduce the factor of desiring to change, I will produce time. Suppose I am stupid. Now, that I am stupid is a fact. But the moment I say I condemn it and I must become clever, I introduce a factor of time. But without the condemnation, the fact is that I am stupid. Then there is no sense of time. It is a fact. But the moment I decide that I should become clever, I introduce time. Now my mind is the result of time and through the mind I am going to achieve what I want to achieve. So my mind is equivalent to time. But there is only one thing which is a fact and that is what I am today. Now let us put it the other way. The mind is also the result of thought of yesterday, of today and what it would be tomorrow. Mind is the result of the thoughts of centuries, of the traditions, of ideas, of so on and so forth. Mind is also I. The future is unknown and the mind, which is the result of known, is trying to go to unknown. Now, mind can never be free from the past. But if you look into it very closely, if you can really go into it precisely, then the past is burnt away. Then you will be able to see the truth and you will be able to bring astonishing results.