Jiddu Krishnamurti
 
 
By Vijay Phanshikar :
    “To understand the immeasurable, the mind must be extraordinarily quiet, still”. 
- Jiddu Krishnamurti  

POSSIBLY, ordinary mortals do not understand the “immeasurable” -- that vast, timeless nature of existence -- because they cannot keep their minds “extraordinarily quiet, still”. For, to achieve such a state, is the toughest task in life -- and most mortals find themselves particularly unsuited to achieve that goal of a completely still mind -- where even the smallest vibration does not escape notice. Of course, J. Krishnamurti often talks of the quiet mind, the still mind. In his commentaries on life, in all his discourses, he often promoted the idea of calming down the inner mental chatter everybody faces all the time, all life.

 

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He felt, the process of quietening of the mind did not happen like a switch-on/ switch-off process. A quiet mind needs to be built over lifetime, he often said. That process is truly tough. The fully quiet mind is achieved when the body is still, the mind is noiseless, there is no inner conversation going on, there is no angst to harbour, there is no desire to be fulfilled, there also is no sense of loss or gain, victory or defeat, happiness or sadness ... ! In other words, one has to rise above and go beyond every process -- inner or outer -- that marks living. Yogis spend their lifetimes in trying to achieve such a state of being. Sages often caution that achieving such a state of stillness or quietness can be possible only when one develops a complete detachment from the material issues of life.

 

Even Lord Shrikrishna also advises a confused Arjuna similarly in the Bhagwad Geeta -- a mental stage beyond material definitions. That is, of course, a very difficult mission to fulfill. That is also the goal of life for sages in different philosophical disciplines or spiritual schools. Is it really, really possible to understand the “immeasurable”? -- one may ask. ‘Yes’, is the answer. But that answer is pre-conditioned by an extraordinarily quiet mind that does not even vibrate with any thought or its nuance. First achieve such a mind, and then align oneself with the “immeasurable”. That process -- of attaining such a mental state -- may take time. But once it is initiated, it brings an innate joy whose parallel is difficult to be found.