Naksatras JKR

Meditation means awareness, to be aware, aware of what you are doing, what you are thinking, what you are feeling – aware without any choice, to observe, to learn. That is, be aware of one’s conditioning, how you are conditioned by the society in which you live, by the culture in which you have been brought up, by the religious propaganda – be aware of all that without any choice, without distortion, without wishing it were different. To be aware of all that is part of meditation, because out of this awareness comes attention – to be completely attentive. In that there is freedom. Observation is possible only then, to see things as they actually are, without distortion, so the mind becomes unconfused, clear, sensitive. Therefore, such meditation brings about a quality of mind that is completely silent. You can go on talking a great deal about it, but it will have no meaning unless you do it. By JK

Why should I know what other people have said? What other people have said, is me. What Freud said is me, but I don’t have to read Freud. So, if I know how to read this book of myself, I can throw everybody out of the window. But I don’t know how to read this book – I must find out. I can’t depend on anybody, or on my reading it, or on whether I can read it properly. I deceive myself because I am caught in the illusion of other people’s assertions. So, I must learn to look at myself, not through somebody else’s eyes. I must look at myself with eyes that are clear, which don’t belong to anyone, to any organisation, to any guru, to any religious book; otherwise, I’ll be back again in the same old world. By JK

To live a life in which there is no image mechanism at all is to have a mind that is completely free both consciously and unconsciously. BY JK

Disorder cannot be made into order, but the denial of disorder is the nature of change. The very denial is the change. The negation of disorder is the positive nature of change. That is, I see disorder in myself – anger, jealousy, brutality, violence, suspicion, guilt – you know what human beings are – I’m aware of it; the mind is totally aware of all this, which is disorder. Can it completely negate it, put it away? When it does put it away through negation, the nature of change is the positive order. The positive can only come through the negative. I see what nationalism, the division of religions, the separateness belief brings about – all conflict, disorder – I see that actually, feel it in my blood. And I put it away, not verbally but actually in myself. I don’t belong to any country, to any religion, no dogma, no belief. That negation of what is false, the nature of change, is truth. By JK

Inside you is greed. I would let it flower; not in action but let it flower, the feeling of it. Let it bloom completely. There is no need for the expression of it. I don’t suppress it, I don’t control it, I don’t alter it; I let it. Like a seed growing, I let it, and it will die of itself if there is no interference. By JK

If you have a motive, it will not be possible to have an insight, because the motive is born out of a concept, out of knowledge, out of the past. By JK

One has to understand how the mind is caught by words – by words, thought, the conflict of duality, wanting, not wanting – all that. When one has really, actually, understood, not verbally or intellectually, but actually stopped it, all that has come to an end, and then the fun of meditation begins. Then there is joy in it, which is entirely different from pleasure. By JK

To find out what is going on within ourselves, we have to listen very carefully and attentively, not only to ourselves but also to what the speaker is saying. By JK

Question: If the senses are not awake, why are they not awake? Why have we not truly awakened them? JK: Because nobody has said, ‘Watch.’ Everybody says, ‘Control the senses.’ Your conditioning has been control, control, control. Somebody comes along and says, ‘Don’t control, but observe with all your senses.’ To move from conditioning to non-conditioning is a battle. Why is there a battle, the conflict between this and that? By JK