J Krishnamurti’s Insight on Meditation

J. Krishnamurti, a 20th-century thinker, redefines meditation not as a tranquilizer or a means to an end, but as an insight practice akin to jnana yoga. He argues that meditation is a movement both in and out of time, requiring choiceless awareness of every thought and feeling, understanding their motives and mechanisms, and allowing them to blossom. This approach aims at ending knowledge and achieving freedom from the known, freeing individuals from inner burdens like violence, fear, and sorrow. The paper discusses Krishnamurti's insights on the nature and practice of meditation.

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Abstract

J. Krishnamurti, whose life and teachings spanned the greater part of the 20th Century, is regarded by many as one who has had the most profound impact on human consciousness in modern times. He talked of the things that concern all of us in our everyday life: the problems of living in modern society, the individual’s search for security, and the need for human beings to free themselves from their inner burdens of violence, fear and sorrow. Meditation, according to Krishnamurti, is not the popular tranquilizer that most people call to mind, but an attempt to see if there is an end to knowledge, therefore freedom from the known. What Krishnamurti considers meditation is along the lines of insight meditation or jyana yoga. Meditation is not a means to an end; there is no end, no arrival; it is a movement in time and out of time. Every system and method binds thought to time, but choice less awareness of every thought and feeling, as well as an understanding of their motives, their mechanism, allowing them to blossom, is the beginning of meditation. This paper is an attempt to discuss J. Krishnamurti’s insight on what meditation is and how to practice it.