Meditation and Clairvoyance, or Siddhis
J. Krishnamurti Quotes
Masters, gurus, teachers, cannot help to free thought
from its own self-imposed bondage and suffering; neither ceremonies,
nor
priests, nor organizations, can liberate thought from its attachments,
fears,
cravings; these may force it into a new mould and shape it, but thought
can
free itself only through its own critical awareness and self-reliance.
Extrasensory perception, clairvoyance, occult powers, cannot free
thought
from confusion and misery; sensitive awareness of our thoughts and
motives,
from which spring our speech and action, is the beginning of lasting
understanding
and love. Mere self-control, discipline, self-punishment, or
renunciation,
cannot liberate thought; but constant awareness and pliability give
clarity
and strength. Only in becoming aware of the cause of ignorance, in
understanding
the process of craving and its dual opposing values, is there freedom
from
suffering. This discerning awareness must begin in our life of
relationship
with things, people, and ideas, with our own hidden thoughts and daily
action.
The way we think makes our life either complete or contradictory and
unbalanced.
Through awareness of craving, with its complex process, there comes an
understanding;
which brings detachment and serenity. Detachment or serenity is not an
end
in itself. In this world of frenzied buying and selling, whose economy
is
based on craving, unless thought is persistently aware, greed and envy
bring
the confusing and conflicting problems of possessions, attachment, and
competition.
Our private thoughts and motives can bring either harmony in our
relationship
or disturbance and pain. It depends on each one what he makes of
relationship
with another or with society. There can never be self-isolation,
however
much one may crave for it; relationship is ever continuous; to be is to
be
related.
1940 Notes on Sarobia Discussions
The Collected Works of J. Krishnamurti, Vol III
Look, Sirs, because the mind is quiet, the body
becomes still, not the other way round. You force your body to sit
still.
You do all kinds of things to come upon this strange beauty of silence.
Do
not do it, just observe. Look, Sirs, you know in all this are various
powers
of clairvoyance, reading somebody’s thought. There are various powers,
you
know what I am talking about, don’t you? You call them siddhis, don’t
you?
Do you know all these things are like candles – candlelight in the sun?
When
there is no sun, there is darkness, and then the light of the candle is
very
important; but when there is the sun, the light, the beauty, the
clarity,
then all these powers, these siddhis, are like candlelight. They have
no
value at all. And when you have the light, there is nothing else –
developing
various centres, the charkas, kundalinis, you know all that business.
You
need a sane, logical, reasoning mind, not a stupid mind. A mind that is
dull
can sit for centuries breathing, concentrating on various charkas, and
you
know all that playing with kundalinis, - it can never come upon that
which
is timeless, that which is real beauty, truth and love.
So put aside the candlelight which all the gurus and the books offer
you.
And do not repeat a word that you yourself have not seen the truth of,
which
you yourself have not tested.
Krishnamurti in India 1970-71 Chapter 15 4th Public Talk, Bombay, p. 179, 180
So meditation has a significance. One must have
this meditative quality of the mind, not occasionally but all day long.
And
that implies another thing, which is: this something that is sacred,
not
imagined, not fantastic, affects our lives not only during the waking
hours
but during sleep. And in this process of meditation there are all kinds
of
powers that come into being. One becomes clairvoyant, the body then
becomes
extraordinarily sensitive. Now clairvoyance, healing, thought
transference
and so on, becomes totally unimportant. All the occult powers become so
utterly
irrelevant and when you pursue those you are pursuing something that
will
ultimately lead to illusion. That is one factor.
4th Public Talk, Brockwood Park, 1975
“Truth & Actuality”, Chapter 9