Friedrich’s Newsletter

Some News from the ‘K-World’

No 9 · Autumn 1995

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Dear Friends,

Lately I have been pondering a questionregarding this newsletter. Is it too personal?Should it be stopped, or can it beimproved? From the letters we get, it seemsthat people are happy to receive it, and thegeneral view is that there has been animprovement with each issue. The firstpublication was more of a circular tofriends to give them news of what hadhappened throughout the year. Later, Iadded a newsletter intended for a wideraudience. Derek Hook then suggested theaddition of some of my many photographs.With every edition the newsletter’s volumeincreased and finally, the circular letter to friends was discontinued. Soon the

Educational Supplement, edited separately,was added. In 1994, a German languageedition was printed and this year there willalso be one in French.

We are now planning to introduceanother supplement entitled The FirstStep which will directly address K’smessage, with particular emphasis onchanges in individual people’s understand-ing of life resulting from contact with thatmessage. Contents will include articles onthat together with such things as transcriptsof interesting dialogues, correspondencefrom readers on a specific topic and relevantK quotes. The First Step originates fromoccasional criticisms that the newsletter issuperficial and misses an excellent oppor-

Table of Contents

Dear Friends … (Friedrich Grohe) 2The Travelling (Friedrich Grohe) 4World Tour (Rabindra Singh) 6Saanen Gathering (Mary Cadogan) 81996 in Saanen (Gisele Balleys) 12

To Be Alone (Alan Rowlands) 13East of Eden (Javier Rodrigues) 18The Lake (Krishnamurti) 22A Religous Centre (Krishnamurti) 24News 26

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� The cover picture shows the Matterhorn taken from Rifflialp on an early morning inSeptember, 1995

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tunity to deal with truly serious issuesarising from the teachings.

Your comments on the newsletter andthis new supplement would be welcome.Although we appreciate all the positivecomments in letters that have come in aboutthe newsletter so far, in order to help with myquestioning process, please include cons-tructive criticisms as well henceforward.

On Living and Dying

On a walk the other day, we werediscussing the ongoing interest in reading Kafter having read and heard him so muchand for so many years already. I am inclinedto say that one does not have to readanything else after studying K, not evenbooks by K himself. Why then does itcontinue to be so fascinating to study theteachings? Is it because one is alwaysdiscovering something new?

Every year I have one or two favourite K books. This year it is “On Living andDying“ one of the theme books. I found hisunique use of the word “indifference” veryinteresting:

‘A mind that is indifferent is aware ofthe shoddiness of our civilization,shoddiness of our thoughts, the uglyrelationships, it is aware of the street, thebeauty of a tree, or of a lovely face, asmile, and it neither denies it nor acceptsit but merely observes – not intellectually,not coldly, but with that warm

affectionate indifference. But, you know,when you are indifferent, there is asweetness to it, there is a perfume to it,there is a quality of tremendous energy.(This may not be the meaning of“indifference” in the dictionary).’ (referpage 99).

The title of the book might suggest thatdying and living are separate but K developsthe theme that they are both connected withthe whole of life:

‘To understand death, you have tounderstand life. So can the mind bringdeath from the distant to the immediate?Do you follow? Actually death is notsomewhere far away, it is here and now.It is here when you are talking, when youare enjoying yourself, when you arelistening, when you are going to theoffice. It is here at every minute of life,just as love is. If once you perceive thisfact, then you will find that there is nofear of death at all.’ (refer page 8).

Concerning myself, I must say as ayoung man I was very much afraid of deathbut now at 66 years of age, with one foot inthe grave – asd younger people might see it– I feel no fear of it! I hope that what K saidto a man who claimed not to be afraid to die,does not apply to me: “You must be fed upwith life.”

On page 8 of the book “On Living andDying”, K continues:

‘To understand the beauty and theextraordinary nature of death, there must

be freedom from the known. In dying tothe known is the beginning of theunderstanding of death, because then themind is made fresh, new, and there is nofear. Therefore one can enter into thatextraordinary state called death. So, fromthe beginning to the end, life and deathare one. The wise man understands time,thought and sorrow and only he canunderstand death. The mind that is dyingeach minute, never accumulating, nevergathering experience, is innocent, andtherefore in a constant state of love.’

The Travelling

In 1983-84 when I first met K I startedtravelling to England, Ojai and India. I neverthought I would travel so much in my life. Totravel just for the so called pleasure oftravelling had never made much sense to me.

In 1984 Krishnamurti had made me atrustee of the English Foundation. In the firstInternational Trustees’ meeting at Brock-wood Park in which I participated, he sugges-ted that the trustees from all the Foundationsshould meet regularly to become friends.They should feel as one body and not asseperate Foundations. In this 1984 meetinghe also suggested creating a travelling fund.It should be used to enable the trustees tomeet for International Foundation meetings.People would thus get to know each otherwhich would make it much easier to worktogether. Already in 1977 and until the lastdays of his life he talked about the members

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of the Foundations travelling around actingas a liaison which would help to hold “thewhole thing together”.

The reason why I continue to travel is notbecause Krishnaji wanted it. It is because Isaw the importance of somebody goingaround somehow making a link between theplaces and bringing the people together. Thiswe do in the Sannen Gatherings which arethe largest international meetings in the Kworld. Friedrich’s Newsletter also serves thispurpose. K always insisted on the inter-nationality of his work which fits perfectlywith how I feel. If I may speak personally, asa young boy during the Nazi rule in GermanyI was very impressed when my father said, “Iam cosmopolitan”. This made sense to meeven then. Under Nazi rule it was verydangerous to say something like this.

After K’s death in 1986, I continued totravel every year to India, California andseveral times a year to Brockwood Park andGermany.

Dr Krishna from Rajghat also doessimilar tours. He visits the Krishnamurtiplaces and is frequently invited for confer-ences at schools in Sweden and at theTheosophical Society in Holland. He went tothe conference of the University of Mexicolast year and this year he even went to Korea.His report comes in the next newsletter.

My trip to Hawaii this year provides anexample of what can develop from thistravelling I do. From our friend Christian,

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A while ago it was suggested that I include a photo of myself for all those people whoreceive the newsletter but don’t know me, so this time there is one. Taken underespecially favourable conditions during the Saanen Gatherings last July, it is probablybetter than reality. (The photo is reproduced in the smallest size consistent with clarityso that my ego is not inflated by its appearance.) During this time, we often invitedfriends to my house in Rougemont and on this sunny day we had many luncheon guests.For this occasion I put on my best suit which had been especially made for my mother’s80th birthday. Since then I have had no other opportunity to wear it. For protectionagainst the strong sun, I wore K’s Basque beret which I had rescued from the dust anddebris caused by the transformation of the West Wing undertaken after his death. Beforelunch I took the opportunity to talk with as many people as possible, so I was the last tofind a seat. There was no space left at the table but I was glad to sit alone a while at mypond in the midst of the nature garden which gave the perfect background for thepicture. Vicky Donnelly, who used my camera to take this picture, has certainlycontributed to its success.

who runs Haus Sonne, I had heard and seenmany interesting things about Hawaii. As ageologist he first did scientific researchtours to Hawaii and then organised traveltours, which he recently gave up forecological reasons. Through his enthusiasmI became interested in Hawaii but wentthere only after receiving a letter fromRabindra asking for our Newsletter.Rabindra, together with his friends, isbuilding a small retreat in Hawaii. When I

did visit them in Hawaii this year I was soimpressed by the seriousness of him, hisbrother and their friends that I invited himto come with us to Ojai, Brockwood Park,Haus Sonne in Germany and Saanen. Thishas enabled him both to communicate hisideas and experience to others, and to learnmuch that is useful for his projected schoolin Guyana (South America) and study centrein Hawaii.

Friedrich Grohe

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Travel Schedule 1995/96

Inspired by Raman who took it uponhimself to travel to Japan and other places inAsia last year using his own resources,Friedrich has decided to create anothertravel fund that will allow some of us to visita number of countries in the comingmonths. ln 1984, Friedrich created a travelfund to support international meetings ofthe trustees of the Foundations. Later hecreated a second fund to allow teachers fromthe K schools to visit each other on a teacherexchange program. Occasionally, studenttrips have also been arranged. The writerrecalls a luncheon at the Ojai Institute lastMay when the father of an Oak Grove schoolstudent, who had been one of theparticipants on a trip to India some yearsbefore, came up to Friedrich to thank him,in what seemed to me to be the mostheartfelt way, for creating that opportunityfor his daughter. He said that even though afew years had passed, she still speaks aboutIndia and the effect of the trip.

This year, the travellers will mainly beRabindra and Raman. Friedrich, Nick, Jurgenand others will join for part of the itinerary.

The tour begins with Rabindra’s trip tohis home territory in Hawaii via Ojai. Fromthere he goes on to Guyana where his familycome from. There he will investigate thepossibility of acquiring land for a futureschool and meet some K people to arrangepublic video showings.

Then in November it’s on to India toattend the gathering in Rajghat (Nov 16) andthe teacher’s conference in Rishi Valley(Nov 28). Friedrich and Jurgen joinRabindra in December to visit friends at theschools and centres in Bangalore, Madras,Rishi Valley and Bombay. Raman joins us inmid January for a brief stop in Singaporebefore we leave for Australia and New Zea-land. Friedrich will return to Europe fromIndia.

Bill Taylor, a teacher from Brockwood,and Nick, both originally from New Zealand,are making our travel arrangements forthere, and Donald Ingram-Smith will helpus with travel arrangements in Australia. Atboth places, meetings with the K groups andweekend gatherings are being planned. Thecore group of travellers will then go on toHawaii in March, Ojai in April, finishing upat Brockwood in May.

One reason for Rabindra’s initial visit toHawaii in November will be to arrangeaccommodation for the March visit. How-ever, the main reason is that we areorganizing a small K gathering of about 40people on the Big Island of Hawaii in March,the planning of which begins in Novemberwith John Farquharson of the K group there(See announcement on pg 31).

But what is the point of all thistravelling, meeting, discussing? The main

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reason is to make contact with people in theK world and to build bridges of commu-nication. However we also anticipate explor-ing together our understanding of theteachings with all the people we meet. Hereare some excerpts on the subjects ofdiscussion and dialogue from K:

“It is very difficult to discuss in thesense of exposing oneself. We mayintellectually, verbally exchange a fewideas. But it is quite another matter toreally expose ourselves, to be aware of thefact that we have committed ourselves tosomething, to a particular course ofaction, to see the limitations of thatpattern, and to find out by discussing,thinking it out together, how to break itup. Such a discussion would be highlyworthwhile, and I hope we can do it.”(Benares, 1960, Jan 31, Copyright KFA).

“I think that the word discussion israther misplaced. Discussion means ex-planation or examination through argu-ment, opinion against opinion, judgmentagainst judgment, one’s characteristicconclusions against another’s. I thinkthat word discussion we shouldn’t use, if Imay suggest. But rather use the worddialogue, which means converse together,talk over things together.” (Saanen, 1972,August 2, Copyright KFT).

“I do not know if you have everexamined how to listen, it doesn’t matterto what, whether to a bird, to the wind inthe leaves, to the rushing waters, or howyou listen to a dialogue with yourself, toyour conversation in various relation-

ships with your intimate friends, yourwife or husband. If we try to listen we findit extraordinarily difficult, because weare always projecting our opinions andideas, our prejudices, our background,our inclinations, our impulses, when theydominate we hardly listen to what isbeing said. In that state there is no valueat all. One listens and therefore learns,only in a state of attention, a state ofsilence in which this whole background isin abeyance, is quiet, then, it seems to meit is possible to communicate.” (Saanen,1967, July 9, Copyright KFA).

“But when I meet you to discuss, Iwant tension, you follow? So that youdrive me to understand it. You drive me,help me, put me in a corner, create acrisis in my life, so that I’ll be free of fear.How will you deal with it? If you say, ‘I’msorry, I can’t help you to end fear …because I have not ended my fear … butwe can have a dialogue about it, andtherefore let us go into it together, eachfeeling the urgency of ending fear, so we’llhelp each other to end fear’. Would yousay that? So there is no authority. I havenot ended my fear, you have not endedfear. By coming together, sitting quietly,having a dialogue every day or everyother day, we may help each other todissolve it. Then I know I am dealing withan honest person ... then my urgency willmake you urgent also. It will create anurgency in you.” (Int’l Trustees Meeting,Ojai 1977, Copyright KFT).

Rabindra Singh

Saanen Gathering

1995 marks two special anniversaries: itis of course Krishnamurti’s birth centenaryyear, and it is ten years on from the lastSaanen Gathering at which he spoke. It istherefore perhaps appropriate for this issueof the newsletter to reflect a little on thehistory of the Saanen meetings as well as onmy visit there this year with my hus-band.

To start with the present, I felt thissummer that the Gathering was particularlyfruitful and rewarding. When, afterKrishnaji’s death, the first of these informalmeetings took place some people weredubious about their worth. Would they, infact, become merely dried husks of thevitality of those tremendous talks anddiscussions which we had when Krishnaji

attracted audiences of two or threethousand to the tent? Or would they justbecome a focus of sentimental memories,or some sort of holiday-camp?

It seems to me that Gisèle Balleys andher dedicated band of helpers have created avehicle for serious exploration which is nowbeginning to achieve wide recognition andappreciation. I was struck by the fact that themeetings were well attended and that, likeKrishnaji’s talks had done, they were draw-ing in people of all ages from many parts ofthe world. The atmosphere was open, directand robust, and as well as the deepermeaning of the dialogues and of watchingKrishnaji’s video tapes, etc., there was thesharing of friendship as people walkedtogether in the mountains, ate and met

This picture was taken on a ski tour on Rodomont behind Rougemont, Bernese Oberland

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together at Le Rosey in Schoenried and, ofcourse, congregated in the house andbeautiful garden of Chalet Solitude in Rouge-mont. Walking through Saanen and Gstaad Iwas intrigued to keep encountering so manypeople who had come for the Gathering. Iwas impressed too by the fact that for lots ofthem this could not be classified as anostalgia trip, because they had only recentlycome across the teachings and this was theirfirst visit to any series of organised meetings.

The weather, too, seemed to be blessingus this year. My mind went back to my firstvisit to Saanen in the ealy 1960’s, when thesun shone every day, and also to Krishnaji’slast Saanen Gathering when he said:

“We have had most marvellous days,three weeks of it, lovely mornings, beautifulevenings, long shadows and the deep bluevalleys and the clear blue sky and the snow… So the mountains, the valleys, the treesand the river, tell us goodbye. Can we go onwith our questions?”

I feel that a great deal of the teaching issummed up in that quotation. Surroundedby beauty we respond to it but do not try topetrify the moment. We move on – awayfrom all the wonderful refreshment andrenewal of the Oberland and back to our‘normal’ lives – but still the questioningwhich has bought us all together continues.

I think that this continuing explorationand discovery are the keynote of the meetingswe now have in Saanen. When Krishnamurtimade the decision that 1985 was the last

time he would be there, he did not know thathe would die early in 1986; in fact, he wasplanning to hold meetings at Brockwood inthe autumn of that year. But life and the workmove on; there is no regular pattern and nowin different countries different events takeplace, all of which contribute to anenhancement of understanding and anextension of enquiry. At Brockwood theCentre has been established for individualstudy of the teachings; at Saanen there arethe Gatherings; in Ojai there are workshopsand seminars; in India there is a variety ofcentres and seminars. All over the worldthere are dialogue groups and video shows,sometimes attended by large numbers,sometimes only by a few people. And, ofcourse, there are the Krishnamurti schoolsin India, America and England.

Krishnamurti started the Saanenmeetings in 1961, when the work wasopening out and a new, younger audiencewas growing. Switzerland was reason-ably accessible to most countries, and, forso long having the reputation of neutrality, itseemed extremely suitable for an inter-national gathering. As we know this floweredfor 25 years, starting with a small meeting atthe Landhaus and moving on into thehandsome Buckminster Fuller geodesicdome, and, when that wore out, to othertent-structures which were capable ofaccommodating large numbers of people, aswell as various book and tape stalls.

There was something exactly appropriateto Krishnamurti’s teachings about sitting

together and communicating in a tent, andknowing that after many hours of intensediscussion there, the tent would bedismantled and taken away. However, in theearly 1980’s Krishnamurti discussed withthe Saanen Gatherings Committee andothers the possibility of erecting a morepermanent building on the field whichaccommodated the tent. It was felt thatpeople might find this more comfortable,especially in bad weather (of which Saanengave us a fair share over the years!).Krishnaji also felt at one time that a buildingon the site, surrounded as it was by so muchnatural beauty, might provide a place of re-creation for staff members of Brockwoodand other schools. In the end this did nothappen – but when I was at this year’smeetings, at Le Rosey and Chalet Solitude Ifelt that in a sense that proposed place ofrest and renewal had come about …

There is a great deal more that one couldwrite about Saanen – the beauty of thenatural scene, the sight and scents of theflowers and trees; the memories oftravelling there and back over so manyyears, in the company of Jane Hammond,with each of us festooned with a portabletypewriter, a tape-recorder and piles ofpaper, in addition to our personal luggage.From 1962, the second Gathering,Krishnamurti’s talks were transcribedimmediately after he had given them so thattranslators could quickly receive trans-cripts. Jane and I shared the transcriptionwork for several years; for many more, Janedid them single-handed. It is true to say that

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the vitality of the Gatherings at Saanen andthe support of friends who came thereregularly helped in no small measure toinspire the creation of the school atBrockwood. One remembers DorothySimmons, who once calculated that she hadactually spent several years of her life inSwitzerland (she used to arrive before thetalks began and stay for a week or twoafterwards), and her ever-welcoming camp-site base, right by – even perilously near to– the river’s edge.

So much hard work was done by somany to make the Gatherings possible, andalthough it is impossible to mentioneveryone I shall always recall the dedicationof Leon de Vidas, the first main organiser,and his successors, Edgar Graf and GisèleBalleys. Every year they performed the near-miracle of getting the tent up in time, seeingthat the seating was in position, that all theelectrics worked, that all the books, audioand video tapes were ready for sale – andthat a full team of helpers was sharing thework. Also there was the difficult business ofraising the necessary funds...

One could write a history of theGatherings – but for the moment perhapswe can simply express gratitude for theopportunity to take part in what continuesto take place at Saanen, and to ask ourselvesagain some of the questions which Krishnajiput to us at his last Gathering there. Heasked if, after twenty five years of themeetings, there was ‘any breaking of thepattern’ of each of us. He said:

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“Why do you come here? … Is itcuriosity? Is it the reputation the man, thespeaker, has built for the last seventy years?Is it the beauty of this valley – themarvellous mountains, the flowing riverand the great shadows and lovely hillside?… Is it that you are concerned with yourlife, the way you are living it, the problemsthat you have … and that you expect

someone to tell you how to to examine, whatto do? Is that the reason you are here? Or isit that one wants to see what one actually isas we are sitting here, examine that veryclosely and see if we can go beyond it – isthat the reason?” (Krishnamurti quotationsare from Last Talks at Saanen 1985,copyright KFT Ltd.)

Mary Cadogan

Solitary tree in autumn colours near Lauenen, Bernese Oberland, October 1995

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1996 in Saanen

Recently I was asked by a local why it isthat less people are coming to the Saanengatherings than in the old days. The persondid not know that Krishnamurti had died tenyears ago, and his question made me wonderinstead why there are still so many peoplewho attend the Saanen gatherings. In the lastyears there were around 200 people visiting,some just come for a day or a weekend, butmany stay for one to three weeks.

Why do people come? I asked myself.Because they remember the times when Kwas speaking in the tent? I don’t think so.Those memories are not enough to bringpeople here, and anyway there are manypeople who come for the first time. Becausethey want to meet others? This certainly isan important reason and the question thenis on what level we are going to meet.

There seem to be different motiveswhich make a person come to Saanen. The“inspector” comes to see if there is aflowering happening among those who areinterested in K. He usually leaves themeeting with a bag full of disappointmentand criticism. The “enthusiast” is delightedby the number of people and feels reassuredthat something is going on, that the word is

not lost. The “social one” likes to sharegood feelings and experiences with othersand fills up his address book. The “genuineone” comes because he was touched by abeauty and power beyond the words, eitherby reading books, watching videos or havinglistened to K himself. They are unclear whatspace they should give to that, uncertainabout the effects it could have in their livesand they are wondering how not to narrow itdown and lose it.

All those various characters are alsoalive in me and with this perception I ampreparing the 1996 Saanen gatheringaround the work of Krishnamurti. I want tocreate a forum in which we can explore ourconditioning and what is truly alive in us.This exploration is not done in an isolatedcorner of ourselves but with a wider sense ofbeing related with others, with nature andwith that which might be beyond.

The gathering will take place fromJuly 14th until August 3rd. Parallel to thethird week of this gathering there will be aspecial week for younger people under 30years of age. From July 20th to July 27th Iplan for the first time a week specially forparents with young children.

Gisele Balleys

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To be Alone

A rainy Sunday in Buchillon! What bettertime to put pen to paper? No cycling orswimming today, I think. I sit propped up inbed listening to the soothing patter ofraindrops on the skylights and hearing thebirds chatter outside. The birds here arejust delightful! The clock in the village hasalso been wafting its drowsy chimes.

I have been in ‘the little house’ almost aweek now and it has been a uniqueexperience. Never before in my whole lifehave I spent a period like this livingcompletely alone. Of course, I live alone inLondon but there are always people aroundand work to be done. This is different and Ifind I am liking it so much that I feel Icould have lived the life of Thoreau in‘Walden’. Perhaps that would have beenharder work! Here I don’t have to dig andhave everything I need; I am after all onholiday. It has been a very full year, withlonger working hours than usual, and anillness thrown in, so it is wonderful torecoup in these beautiful surroundings.But I hadn’t anticipated how good it is to bealone; I am almost surprised by it. Thissolitude has a marvellous quality; I canunderstand your naming your chalet that. Itis something to be prized.

There have been a few other surprises.One is, I am eating less. I thought I would bein danger of filling up the time – and myself– by eating more, but not so. It’s just as ona day in the mountains – one always seemsto need less than one expects. Probably a lotof our eating is social, or for comfort. Icertainly eat more heartily in London, oreven in Brockwood. “I suffer“, as one friendof mine remarked, “from a good appetite”.People think that because one’s face keepsgetting thinner one is losing weight, but ifthey were more observant they would seethat the opposite is true. It just goes on inthe wrong places – “slips down“, as anotherfriend put it.

I haven’t been out for a meal nor drunkany wine – things I have done on everyother visit here. After all, on holiday onecan allow oneself those small indulgences.Perhaps I will in Saanen. Here I don’t evenmiss those things – there is a curious senseof contentment and sufficiency, almost as ifone were being nourished by this solitude.It took me a few days to slow down. I kepton acting as if I were still under pressure.Now I’m beginning to enjoy a slowerrhythm and doing things, ‘mindfully’. I lovethat Buddhist idea – handling things with

In August this year Alan Rowlands, Brockwood’s music teacher since its inception,spent some time at Friedrich’s cottage at Buchillon. The following is from a letter hewrote to Friedrich at the time.

care and attention, moving rhythmicallyand not in a series of spasmodic reactions.It’s very much part of Alexander Technique,too.

You asked if I feel lonely. Not for aninstant, nor bored nor anxious. Anothersurprise, as I am no stranger to thosefeelings. Perhaps there were whiffs ofloneliness when I went to St Prex – seeingthe carefree young people or the happycouples. But not here. Apparently to feellonely one must be among people! ( And Iwonder how happy and carefree theyactually are – so much is to do with one’sown imaginings ).

Of course I am doing some interestingthings. I have set myself the task of learningChopin’s 24 Preludes to play at Sannen, andthey are a big challenge. This turns the timeinto something of a ‘busman’s holiday’, butI so enjoy it and have never done suchfruitful work at the piano as at Buchillon.They are marvellous pieces, full of imagin-ation and fire. It is a perennial wonder tome that the qualities they show, includingagitation, desolation, deep sorrow andraging fury, so undesirable in daily life, areso marvellous in the music. It expressesthose things but also, as David Bohm oncesaid, points beyond them. Beethoven canmark his music ‘klagend’, ‘ermattet’,‘beklemmt’ – the last things one wants tofeel in life – yet the effect of the music isennobling. How is it that art which seemsborn of sorrow can in the experience of it beso healing?

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I found your copy of The Ending of Timeupstairs and re-read it, very thoroughly thistime, making notes. It is an awe-inspiringbook, but it is delightful to see Dave Bohm’shumour coming out – I remember it so wellat Brockwood discussions. You see what Imean at the bottom of P237 – Bohm sayingthat whatever is being discussed thoughtwill always feel it can “make a contribution”and is only “ trying to be helpful”. I can justsee his lurking smile and twinkle when hewould say things like this. We should moreoften say to that little ‘voice-over’ in thehead, “OK, thank you for your contri-bution”, and pass on. K of course also saidthat one should look with humour and thatthe journey into oneself could be fun, but Ican’t help feeling that in practice he kept hishumour and his consideration of ultimatequestions in separate compartments. But atleast he and Bohm seem to be sharing alighter moment of some kind on the frontcover of The Ending of Time -I don’t knowhow Mark Edwards managed to get such adelightful shot.

Do we ever share our perceptions totally,I wonder? It is so difficult to know. We mayboth love Mozart, but I cannot be sure myexperience is exactly the same as yours. Wecannot even know, looking at a red rose, thatwe see the same colour. I said this recentlyto a friend whom I did not know to becolour-blind and he said, “you are quiteright, I don’t see it as red”. When can weshare something with absolute certainty?During sex? That area seems to worrypeople as much as anything – there is plenty

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of advice about it in the Sunday papers. Itseems that anything palpable, havingcontent, is very difficult to share completely.That suggests the question: can we share theimpalpable? – no content and nothing todisagree about?

Dangerous waters, perhaps. On a moremundane level, something very nice hashappened. After many years I have fallen inlove again – with a new piano piece. Iwonder what you thought when you readthat? An ex-student of Brockwood, GeorgeMathew from Trivandrum, once wrote methat he had fallen deeply in love (and herethought stepped in with its contribution,“atlast he has found a girl-friend”) with themusic of Elgar. Well I am besotted withFauré’s 5th Barcarolle. The symptoms aremuch the same – for the time being one canthink of nothing else and only longs to getback to the beloved object. I even camedown in the night to play it – now where elsecould you do that but in a little house in agarden!? Incidentally, George now has a girl-friend and I believe they are gettingmarried.

I am spending quite a lot of timeobserving things, including myself. I say‘including myself ’, but in a sense what elseis there? All one’s perceptions comethrough the medium of one’s own body andbrain. Perhaps I am getting a littlesolipsistic, being here alone. I used to berather fascinated with that philosophy –meaning literally, ‘I alone exist’. There is acertain ring of truth about it, though it falls

down in practice – you can’t go aroundsaying, “well, only I exist”, and then doingwhat you like (though I have done it once ortwice in dreams and very nice dreams theywere). The trouble is, the solipsist has notinvestigated the nature of the “I” which hesays alone exists. If he did, he might indeeddiscover that it doesn’t exist, at least not inthe way that he thought, and where wouldhe be? Nowhere, I suppose – probably abetter condition. A good word, nowhere.Didn’t K write in an early Bulletin, “getlost”? It rather fascinates me that this word‘nowhere’ can be made up of two otherwords, ‘now’ and ‘here’. Nothing more thana happy coincidence, I suppose, but if Ireally attend to what is given now and here,in terms of sense-impressions, thoughtsand feelings, I really can’t discover where“I” am, if anywhere. The English philo-sopher Hume said almost exactly the samething – that all he could discover was aconstant stream of perceptions andthoughts with no self or centre to relatethem to. Any imagined centre turned out tobe only another thought. It sounds sointelligent, but I gather there were somequestionable things about Hume’s life, andso there are about mine, so I’d better shutup. Dangerous waters again.

All the same, one must look at thesethings. It’s been said often enough – byPlato for instance: “the unexamined life isnot worth living”, and Pascal: “it is an extra-ordinary blindness to live without investi-gating what we are” – to say nothing of amore recent teacher! Shakespeare says (in

Measure for Measure) that man is “mostignorant of what he’s most assur’d, hisglassy essence”. Now what could that be? Ilooked up ‘glassy’ in a Shakespeare lexiconand it implies ‘clear’, ‘transparent’, likeOphelia in the ‘glassy stream’. David Bohmused to sometimes talk about the ‘essence’of the self, or even the quintessence, theessence of the essence. Thomas Traherneuses the word:

No brains nor borders in my soul I see,My essence is Capacity.

It’s all very puzzling. I am in this house,but my experience of the house is in myconsciousness. And where is that? Thatsounds as unanswerable as the little girl’squestion, “Mummy, where is the universe?”But I do know of another little girl whowrote this poem:

Have you ever felt like nobody?Just a tiny speck of air?With all those people round youAnd you’re just not there?

Is all this rather naïve? Or do we needthe simple vision of a child? I don’t think Iever told you of the delightful conversationthat Shakuntala, Narayan’s wife who used toteach English at Brockwood, once overheardin a Petersfield tea-shop. It went like this:

Small child (looking round at crowdedtea-shop): We are not people.Mother: Of course we are people.Child: No, we are not people.Mother: What are we then, if we arenot people?Child: We are nothing.

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Naïvety or simplicity? I don’t know, but Ionce saw an excellent distinction betweenthe two words: “Naïvety implies a certaininadequacy of response, whereas simplicitydenotes a singular directness of response”.Well put, isn’t it? It’s clear it’s the latter weneed. Perhaps we can indeed “turn againand be as little children”, turn our intentioninward with the simple vision of a child,uncluttered by the intellectual fog andsophistication of adulthood. And then whatdo we see?

Perhaps Shakespeare, who seemed toknow everything, saw this too. Hamlettalked about the possibility of being“bounded in a nutshell” and in the samebreath being “king of infinite space”. AndRichard II, who had suffered greatly, says atthe end of the play:

A man …With nothing shall be pleas’d, till he beeas’dWith being nothing.

This response is very peaceful, especiallyat night, as it now is. A house has a life of itsown and when things quieten downoutwardly it becomes more alive. Thequality of the light changes and things beginto speak – not that one hears a sound, butthey are eloquent with their own presence.It is not dependent upon their arrangementor intrinsic beauty. It is like a still-lifepainting: what appeared random nowreveals perfect order.

Alan Rowands

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The driver held up a brochure showing Kwalking with open umbrella in the sun. Theyhad come to pick me up at the airport aftera long flight from London via Dubai andwith a six-hour wait in Colombo. I was hit bythe humid heat of the tropics, and thewithered hand of an old beggar womancame through the lowered window of the car

as we were about to leave for the city. Thecows were lying down on the road,peacefully ruminating or else grazing on themedian. The thatched huts by the Adyarriver and the very somnolence in thesunlight conveyed the strangeness of theland. Still in a daze, I felt the quiet thrill ofhaving started on an adventure. It was, after

Rhododendron behind Yewfield, Lake District, June 1995

Journey to the East of Eden

all, my first ride through the streets ofMadras.

I went to India with the intention ofstudying the teachings and making asserious a reflection on myself as possible.KFI had put together what they called theResident Student Scheme, which offered ayear’s scholarship to people interested inexploring a different way of living. It waslimited to four people a year in residence atVasanta Vihar. I had heard of it in 1991 or‘92, while still a teacher at Brockwood, andapplied to the KFI: they extended aninvitation to join them and I took thisopportunity to deepen the inquiry in afriendly and leisurely atmosphere.

The expression ‘to study the teachings’tends to ring false in the ears of most peoplededicated to this exploration. It soundsacademic, intellectual, and therefore devoidof substance. This attitude appears to bederived from K himself, who apparentlyconsidered all such things meaningless.This aversion to the intellect goes togetherwith the fear of interpretation, whichgenerally means the making of theories. Butthere are simpler ways of looking at it.

In the introduction to the secondvolume of Letters to the Schools, Kindicates what he means by studying. Hepoints out that the letters are not to be readcasually but rather in the careful way onewould study a flower. ‘One must give time toit, enquire into it without acceptance; livewith it for some time; digest it so it is yours

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and not the writer’s.’ In Mary Lutyen’s TheOpen Door, K invites people to talk freelyabout the teachings: ‘Discuss, criticise, gointo it. Read K’s books and intellectuallytear it to pieces. Or intellectually go with it.Discuss. That’s not interpretation’. Furtheron in the same book K drew an outline ofactivities proper to a study centre: ‘1) Lookat trees, nature, be aware of everything. 2)Study K’s teaching to know (even intel-lectually) all he has said. 3) Are youinterested in all this? If not, do your job aswell as you can but ease out.’ So studyingthe teachings involves dedication of time, athorough acquaintance with its contents,an intellectual dissection, and a testing ofone’s seriousness. It is this seriousnesswhich justifies the intellect and dissolvesthe danger of interpretation.

I had been a student and I was then ateacher at Brockwood. I had had consider-able exposure to the teachings throughreading and listening to K himself. I haddiscussed, or attempted to discuss, theirmeaning and implications and participateddirectly in the educational process, which isone of the most practical testing grounds ofthe teachings. However, I felt the need todelve deeper into them, into their contentsand into myself. Time and experience hadbrought about an awareness of a series ofrepeating crises at the centre of which lay habitual patterns of thought andunexamined and unconscious assumptions.The opportunity to spend time doing justthis sort of exploration was an offer Icouldn’t refuse.

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The programme left me completely freeto schedule my time and go about it in myown way. I had a mind to concentrate on K’sproposals for a holistic education, butinitially the process of my own self-exploration took precedence. The lovelygrounds of Vasanta Vihar were an invitationto spend long hours sitting outside insilence. I did this assiduously and itgradually brought about a deeper quietness.Inwardly I had many unfinished things todeal with. I had brought along a number ofunresolved conflicts in my minimalbaggage. The past was alive with contradic-tions, endarkening the present. So the firsttask was to experience all this out, invite it,live with it intensely, without solutions.Every emotional upheaval, intellectualchallenge or deepening of attention was anopportunity for self-discovery. This is whatwe experience in daily life, with alternatingmoments of sensitivity and confusion,affection and struggle. In the absence of anypressing external demand, these pheno-mena become the real substance of one’slife. When outward time is in abeyance, thepsychological is cast into high relief.Sensing, thinking, feeling and acting are nolonger instrumental but acquire a newrelevance and fascination of their own,become self-reflective, indicative of what weare.

The studying consisted of exposingmyself as widely as possible to all theliterature and tapes available as well asholding regular discussions with the otherresidents. I was often struck by some salient

point or other. I noted them down and thenreflected on their implications inconnection with my own state at the time.This inquiry was just as important as thelistening and the reading. It was part of themirroring. Normally one’s thoughts areconcerned with other things and seldom dowe allow ourselves to rise above theimmediate and take a long view. In this wayour very thinking remains bound to athoroughly fragmented reality and we find itdifficult to carry out a meaningful andcoherent inquiry into the human condition.The teachings challenge us to become awareof our thoughts and how these arise inresponse to that challenge. One must havethe space in which to unfold them safely,without further contradiction.

As a practical contribution to the place, Itaught history for a while to the fourLadahki children being educated there anddid some transcribing and text verificationfor the Archives. Eventually I becamecoordinator of the Forum for New Education(FNE), a small division of KFI at VasantaVihar set up by Sri Rajesh Dalal. The FNEorganized meetings with teachers andstudents, mostly of different colleges inMadras but also of other interestedinstitutions, in an attempt to exploretogether K’s views on education. It alsopromoted a series of cultural encountersamong the residents in which a broad rangeof topics of individual interest was sharedand discussed. Once a year it conducted aSummer School, two weeks of dialogues andworkshops for KFI teachers. This work on

education was in keeping with my specialinterest in this area of the teachings. I wasable to visit the different KFI schools andattend their educational conferences.Everyone is aware of the difficulties ofbringing about a holistic education but farmore work needs to be put into it. There’sstill a good deal of confusion on suchquestions as discipline, the place of know-ledge, conditioning, freedom, competition,and so on. Undoubtedly a lot of work isbeing done and the task is uphill, especiallyin a country like India.

Travelling through the subcontinent, Iwas able to take a look at that ancientcivilisation fallen into the sere. Theproblems of the Indian society areoverwhelming, starting with the population.The undeniable gentleness and dignity ofthe people flounder in the face of thepervasive corruption. It seemed to me that acultural continuity of four thousand years isfast coming to an end. It won’t be able towithstand the pressures of Westerninfluence nor its accumulated internalcontradictions. For me, the vast and all-too-human canvas of India was one moreinstance of the deepening crisis of our time.

In Sartre’s play No Exit, one of thecharacters says that ‘Hell is other people’.That means there is no escape fromrelationship and relationship generallyimplies conflict. But a more fundamentalchallenge is to live with oneself. In any case,the conflicts one has with others are moreoften than not internal dissensions. Every

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day brings its challenge, its disturbance, itscrisis. An incident elicits a reaction thatleaves a painful or pleasant residue onwhich our further acting and thinking arebased, but now with a time gap, with thedoubt cast on it by our limited motive andthe changing nature of reality. Theseincidents reveal what we are, the nature ofour fears and desires, our capacities andconceits. But there is a choice of qualitieswhich we identify with or dissociateourselves from. Thus a division is created, aresistance to seeing ourselves as we are.This is why living with oneself is no easytask, because it means to be without choice.

We are all experts when it comes todiagnosing other people’s ills and others areconstantly telling us what and how we are.We may be shocked, flattered or leftindifferent by what they say, but seldom dowe see what they are pointing at. This mirrorcan also be unreliable, for they have theirown distorting self-serving motives. It isquite another matter to see oneself as oneactually is. It can be just as disturbing aswhat other people tell us but it has a qualityof freedom. (That is, if we don’t bring choiceto bear on it.) It is like the pain of a rottentooth and that caused by the dentist whoextracts it. After all, inwardly no change cancome about until we see for ourselves. Hellis not primarily other people, then, but thisindemic lack of proprioception.

Getting to know oneself meansencountering and tracing out one’s historyand its implied compulsion to repeat itself.

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The self is the sameness in time of particularmental contents reiterated by a collectivelyshared structure of thought. The habitualpattern of the contents points to theunderlying structure and to the fundamentalperception that psychologically we are thepast, with its interweaving accumulation offact and fantasy. This inquiry brings about anawareness of the critical importance ofthinking in our lives. We tend to believe thatwhat goes on in the privacy of our heads isour own business and does not affectanything or anyone. However, a little obser-vation shows that our thoughts function likecause and effect, they shape our relation-ships and have tremendous consequences.This insight is essential if we are to beresponsible human beings and create a neworder in society. We are each other’s fate, forbetter or for worse, in sickness or in health,as in marriage. We children of Cain are ourbrothers’ keepers. And this means watchingout for the delusion of the observerprojecting the observed.

My journey to the East lasted twentymonths and it is impossible to recount thewhole of it in a few pages. I was able to

expose myself to further teachings, toexplore my own character and background,and to take a look at the ancient cultures ofIndia and Sri Lanka. I am grateful to the KFIfor this unique opportunity. It seemedsomewhat ironic that I should have to go toIndia to find such leisure to dedicate to this,but their valuation of time has not yetreached the level of our mercenaryobsession. I would recommend such ajourney of self-discovery to anyone whoneeds to make deep reflection on his life,wants to immerse himself in the teachingsand is willing to stand alone in the midst ofan alien culture. This is no panacea nor arethere any guarantees. Only a chance ofchoiceless freedom, whose root meaning,according to the Oxford Dictionary, is love.And, indeed, when the mind is clear there isa simultaneous opening of the heart.

There is much more to tell, naturally.Perhaps one of these days, under thedelicately blue autumnal skies on theAtlantic seaboard, sitting with friends in adistant village round an open fire, one coulda long tale unfold, but this one has endedand the rest is silence.

Javier Gómez Rodrigues

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The lake was very deep, with soaringcliffs on both sides. You could see the othershore, wooded, with new spring leaves; andthat side of the lake was steeper, perhapsmore dense with foliage, and heavilywooded. The water was placid that morningand its colour was bluegreen. It is a beauti-ful lake. There were swans, ducks, and anoccasional boat with passengers.

As you stood on the bank, in a well-keptpark, you were very close to the water. It wasnot polluted at all, and its texture andbeauty seemed to enter into you. You couldsmell it – the soft fragrant air, the greenlawn – and you felt one with it, moving withthe slow current, the reflections, and thedeep quietness of the water.

The strange thing was that you felt sucha great sense of affection, not for anythingor for anyone, but the fullness of what maybe called love. The only thing that matters isto probe into the very depth of it, not withthe silly little mind with its endlessmutterings of thought, but with silence.Silence is the only means, or instrument,that can penetrate into something thatescapes the mind which is so contamin-ated.

We do not know what love is. We knowthe symptoms of it – the pleasure, the pain,the fear, the anxiety and so on. We try to

solve the symptoms which become awandering in darkness. We spend our daysand nights in this, and it is soon over indeath.

There, as you were standing on the bankwatching the beauty of the water, the oneissue that would solve all human problemsand institutions, man’s relationship to man,which is society, all would find their rightplace if silently you could penetrate into thisthing called love.

We have talked a great deal about it.Every young man says he loves somewoman, the priest god, the mother herchildren, and of course the politician playswith it. We have really spoilt the word andloaded it with meaningless substance – thesubstance of our own narrow little selves. Inthis narrow little context we try to find theother thing, and painfully return to oureveryday confusion and misery.

But there it was, on the water, all aboutyou, in the leaf, and in the duck that wastrying to swallow a large piece of bread, inthe lame woman who went by. It was not aromantic identification or a cunning ratio-nalised verbalisation. But it was there, asfactual as that car, or that boat.

It is the only thing which will give ananswer to all our problems. No, not an

The Lake

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answer, for then there will be no problems.We have problems of every description, andwe try to solve them without that love, andso they multiply and grow. There is no way toapproach it, or to hold it, but sometimes, ifyou will stand by the roadside, or by thelake, watching a flower or a tree, or thefarmer tilling his soil, and you are silent,not dreaming, not collecting daydreams, orweary, but with silence in its intensity – thenperhaps it will come to you.

When it comes, do not hold it, do nottreasure it as an experience. Once it touchesyou, you will never be the same again. Let

that operate, and not your greed, your angeror your righteous social indignation. It isreally quite wild, untamed, and its beauty isnot respectable at all.

But we never want it, for we have afeeling that it might be too dangerous. Weare domesticated animals, revolting in acage which we have built for ourselves –with its contentions, wranglings, itsimpossible political leaders, its gurus whoexploit your self-conceit and their own withgreat refinement or rather crudely. In thecage you can have anarchy or order which inturn gives way to disorder – and this has

Trees on Krishnamurti’s round walk of his last years at Brockwood Park, May 1995

been going on for many centuries,exploding, and falling back, changing thepatterns of the social structure, perhapsending poverty here and there. But if youplace all these as the most essential, thenyou will miss the other.

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Be alone, sometimes, and if you arelucky it might come to you, on a falling leaf,or from that distant solitary tree in an emptyfield.

J.Krishnamurti(Copyright KFT)

A Religious Centre

It must last a thousand years, unpolluted,like a river that has the capacity to cleanseitself; which means no authority whatsoeverfor the inhabitants. And the teachings inthemselves have the authority of the truth.

It is a place for the flowering of goodness;a communication and cooperation not basedon work, ideal or personal authority. Butcooperation implies not around some objector principle, belief and so on. As one comesto the place, each one in his work, workingin the garden or doing something, maydiscover some thing or fact as he is workingand he communicates this and has adialogue with the others there – to bequestioned, doubted and to see the weight ofthe truth of his discovery. So there is aconstant communication and not a solitaryachievement, a solitary enlightenment orunderstanding. It is the responsibility of

each one of us, if he discovers somethingbasic, anew, to treat it not as personal but assomething for everyone there.

It is not a community. The very word‘commuity’ or ‘commune’ is an aggressiveor separative movement from the whole ofhumanity. It is essentially a religious centreaccording to what ‘K’ has said aboutreligion. It is a place where one is not onlyphysically active, but there is a sustainedand continuous and so a movement oflearning; and so each one becomes theteacher and the disciple. It is not a place forone’s own illumination or one’s own goal offulfilment, artistically, religiously, or in anyway, but rather for sustaining and nourish-ing each other in flowering in goodness.

There must be absolute freedom fromorthodoxy or traditional movements, abso-

The following was noted by Sunanda Patwardhan at Visanta Vihar in January, 1984.It was not from a recording nor was it written by K, but was the writer’s transcriptionof what K said.

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lute freedom from all sense of nationalities,racial prejudices, religious beliefs andfaiths. If one is not capable of doing thiswith honesty and integrity, he had betterkeep away from this place. Essentially onehas the insight to see that knowledge is theenemy of man.

This is not a place for romanticists,sentimentalists or the emotional. Thisrequires a good brain, which does not meanbeing intellectual but a brain that isobjective, fundamentally honest to itself andhas integrity in word and deed.

A dialogue is very important. It is a formof communication in which question andanswer continues till a question is leftwithout an answer. Thus the question issuspended between the two personsinvolved. It is like a bud which, untouched,blossoms. If the question is left totallyuntouched by thought, it then has its ownanswer because the questioner and theanswerer as persons have disappeared. Thisis a form of dialogue in which investigationreaches a certain point of intensity anddepth which then has a quality whichthought can never reach. It is not adialectical investigation of opinions, ideas,but rather an exploration of two or moreserious good brains.

This place must be of great beauty withtrees, birds and quietness, for beauty istruth and truth is goodness and love. Theexternal beauty, external tranquility, silence,may affect the inner tranquility, but the

environment must in no way influence theinner beauty. Beauty can only be when theself is not; the environment, which musthave great wonder, must in no way be anabsorbing factor like a toy with a child.Here, there are no toys but inner depths,substance and integrity that are not puttogether by thought.

Also, knowledge is not beauty. Beauty islove and where there is knowledge there isno beauty.

The depth of the question brings its ownright answer. All this is not an intellectualentertainment, a pursuit of theories. Theword is the deed. The two must never beseparate. Where the word is the deed, that isintegrity.

Intelligence can only be where there islove and compassion. Compassion cannever exist where the brain is conditioned orhas an anchorage.

A collection of mediocrities does notmake a religious centre. A religious centredemands the highest quality in everythingthat one is doing and the highest capacity ofthe brain. The full meaning of mediocrity isa dull, heavy brain, drugged by know-ledge.

The flowering of goodness is not an idealto be pursued or sought after as a goal in thefuture. We are not setting up an Utopia butrather dealing with hard facts. You can makeall of this into something to be achieved in

the future. The future is the present. Thepresent is the past and the future, the wholestructure of thought and time. But if onelives with death, not occasionally but everyday, there is no change. Change is strife andthe pain of anxiety. As there is no collection,accumulation of knowledge, there is no

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change because one is living with deathcontinuously.

The first stone we lay should bereligious.

J. Krishnamurti(Copyright KFT)

Salvador, the former capital of Brazil, isa city of four million people situated intropical splendour on the picturesque Bayof All Saints, 1,000 miles north of Rio deJaneiro. The day after our arrival, we hadour first meeting in a large hall of themunicipal Center of Education (Centro doTreinamento). We had brought along Kbooks and audio cassettes in Portuguesewhich we exhibited on a table in front of thehall, and of which we sold quite a few to theseventy to eighty participants. The theme ofthe meeting was “What is our responsibilityas we face the crisis in the world and withinourselves?” We showed the first of the 1984Ojai Talks which addressed this vitalquestion. Fifteen people participated in thedialogue meetings.

One of our organisors had suggested that we might show parts of a K-video on alocal educational TV channel (TelevisaoEducativa 2). One afternoon we went to thestudio, and it was a bit of a shock when wewere unexpectedly informed that there wasa free slot on the early afternoon newsprogram and that two of us would beinterviewed. It was another shock when itwas decided that Rachel and I shouldappear in front of the camera – live! – to beinterviewed by a man and woman newsteamfor a ten-minute segment. Although mycommand of Portuguese is ratherincomplete, I managed to provide someinformation about K, his work and theSchools. Halfway through the interview, weshowed a portion of the video “Problems of

News

The Krishnamurti Centenary in Brazil

Rachel Fernandes, Jandira Hollerbach, Ari Carneri, of the Brazilian KrishnamurtiCommittee (ICK), and Michael Krohnen arranged a four-day seminar on Krishnamurtiin Salvador, Bahia from June 26 through 29, 1995. The following is Michael’s report.

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Living”. It was a relief when our threefriends, who had watched the interview on aTV set outside the news room, congratulatedus afterwards on the presentation.

The same evening, a three-person news-team unexpectedly came to film ourdialogue group in session. They were fromthe national “O Globo” TV network, thelargest in Brazil. After filming the group indiscussion and taking shots of some of theslides of Krishnamurti, the lady reporterproceeded to interview Rachel and myselfabout Krishnamurti, education andRachel’s school in Tiradentes. It was twodays later, shortly after lunch, that our hostsexcitedly called us to the TV set. There wewere, on the one o’clock news. I was gladabout the beautiful shots of K, but a bitapprehensive to see and hear myself inPortuguese. But my friends assured me thatI came across intelligibly.

On our last evening in Salvador, we wereinvited to a discussion on education at thehome of a well-to-do lady. After beingintroduced to the doctors, lawyers andjournalists who were to participate in ourdiscussion, we were deeply shocked whensuddenly the light went out and our hostessstarted a long, ritualistic prayer. Ourapprehension intensified when the chapnext to her, a doctor, started gyrating hishead and shaking his outstretched arm.Then he proceeded to channel a “cosmicmessage” which he proclaimed with a loud,unworldly voice. Despite our misgivings, wetried to keep a straight face and not run

away, which wasn’t easy. Once the lightscame on again, somebody asked me to talkabout K. For a moment I felt paralyzed andhad to struggle to overcome my resistancebefore I could speak with some dignityabout K and his work.

Throughout our meetings in Salvador,we found it a great challenge to make clearthat K and the teachings have little ornothing to do with the Theosophical Society,or with any other guru or belief system.There seemed to be a prevailing tendency towant to group K with all sorts of otherphilosophers or would-be spiritual teachers.Especially people associated with the TSliked to promote the claim that K was reallyone of theirs. All we could do was to state thefact that he had fully disengaged himselffrom the TS over 60 years ago and that hehad refuted all forms of organized belief andspiritual authority (including his own).

Once back in Tiradentes, we set oursights on the next project – the Gathering atthe K-Center in Tiradentes on July 20 – 24.The center building adjoins Rachel’sclassroom and was built to be used only forK work. For the last two years, however, ithadn’t been used at all. So I suggested that adialogue meeting take place there. We agreedon the theme of “Order and Freedom”, witha maximum of 20 participants. There was agood response. Rachel had chosen textextracts and videos from Saanen, Brockwoodand Ojai which were used during themeeting.

Micheal Krohnen

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German Committee Meeting & School Project

Beautiful autumn weather accompanied this meeting during the last week of October(21-29) at Haus Sonne in the Black Forest. The meeting was open to anyone interested andapart from the Committee members there were around twenty people – nine of them for thefirst time – who attended the video showings and dialogues, and went on the beautiful walks.Manfred Schneider had selected video passages on certain topics of ten to fifteen minuteslength which were an excellent starting point for inquiries and exchanges throughout theday.

The main topics for the Committee work related to K publications and the German SchoolProject. The Committee members expressed their satisfaction with the current strategy thattwo reknowned German publishing houses ( Koesel and Fischer) are each continuing topublish one new K book every year. Two professional translators who are also both familiarwith the teachings – Mrs Anne Ruth Frank-Strauss and Mrs Christine Bendner – are availablefor these tranlations.

The latest development of the school project was introduced by Brigitte Wiechert, amember of the German Committee and mother of a daughter currently studying atBrockwood. Brigitte herself works in adult education and started – with the support of thefederal government – two adult schools in the area of professional education. The presentschool project of course is a totally private endeavour. It began about a year ago and nowthere are more than twenty people working at it, among them two teachers and five parents.The fundamental structure and the philosophy of the school, which is based onKrishnamurti’s teachings, have already been worked out. The project is now in the verycritical phase of securing the necessary finances and purchasing or renting a suitableproperty. The school will be located in the Frankfurt area and will be a day school which thefounders are hoping to start in autumn 1997 with two teachers and a class of around twentystudents at standard five. Every year another class will be added up to standard twelve.

A more detailed report is intended for the next edition of this newsletter.

Jurgen Brandt

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Awareness and Ecology

Another outcome of the German Committee meeting was an in-depth discussion onecology. Christian Leppert – who runs Haus Sonne – talked with us about how the teachingshad influenced him over the last 25 years and described how awareness arising from themhas made him especially sensitive to modern man’s and his own carelessness towards thenatural world. Since then he has changed his lifestyle, his habits and his thinking and hasbecome a specialist in environmental matters.

In K circles one often hears the view that a change in conciousness is the real issue andthe environmental problems are only symptoms. This is probably correct, but it can tooeasily serve as an excuse for an indifference/ignorance towards the ecologic effects ouractions have here and now. To live with and not against nature is not merely a technologicalmatter but challenges us on all levels of our being.

Christian has been invited to give a four day workshop on this topic at Brockwood ParkSchool in February 1996.

Jurgen Brandt

East view from Haus Sonne, Black Forest, on an early September morning, 1995

Krishnamurti Association of Russia

One guest invited to the German meeting at Haus Sonne was Vladimir Riapolov fromSochi who’s luggage came packed with jars of excellent homemade jams and honey. Heshowed us the latest photos of the newly built centre at Krasnaya Polyana in the Caucasusnear Sochi. With the donations received this year they were able to finish the outside walls,install all the windows and finish the inside of three rooms and the big yoga and gymnastichall. They will need another $30,000 to $50,000 to complete everything.

Vladimir told us that the situation in Russia is still very difficult. Every time he leavesRussia he feels he is leaving behind an all pervading psychological pressure resulting fromthe material and legal disorder and insecurity in his country. Nevertheless the work of theassociation is going on well, more people than ever are calling the office in Sochi and morepeople are visiting the centre, where Vladimir lives and works with seven other people. Hesees such contacts to be the result of the work done in the previous years: twelve books havebeen translated and published, thirty-two videos with Russian translations exist, and theaddress list of the association now contains three thousand addresses. Every year four to sixseminars and gatherings are organized and many contacts with the education departmentsof universities have been established.

The group at Krasnaya Polyana invites people from other countries to come and visit andshare. They feel these contacts are essential. This year they had six long term guests,including three former Brockwood students who were involved in projects – James, Hilkka,Stephanie – and Sarish from CFL in India. Two former Brockwood staff members had alsovisited: Paul Herder was involved with lectures at teachers’ colleges and universities, andLorenzo Castellari was again a teacher at this year’s summer school. Both have writtenreports on their activities for previous newsletters.

As a result of the appeal in newsletter no.7 for financial help for the Russian project, wereceived almost $3,000. The money was used to help finish the new house and to buy a setof videotapes for the K group in Siberia. Thank you very much to all those who contributed.

Jurgen Brandt

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Gathering in New Zealand

The Krishnamurti Association of New Zealand has organised two short study gatheringsfor February 1996, one in the North Island and one in the South. As with former gatheringsthere will be no formal structure, apart from meal times, but there will be every opportunityfor participants to engage in serious enquiry, both alone and with others. A comprehensivelibrary of Krishnamurti’s books and tapes (video and audio) will be available at bothgatherings. Vegetarian meals will be provided and the venues themselves offer exceptionalnatural beauty with easy access to bush walks. The gatherings have been timed to coincidewith the visit of a group from Europe and America. They include trustees of Brockwood ParkSchool and KFI, and several former and current staff of Brockwood: Derek Hook, KabirJaithirtha, Raman Patel, Nick Short, Rabindra Singh, Bill Taylor and Vicky Donnelly.

THE TAUHARA GATHERING (North Island)Arrive: Mid-afternoon 9th Feb. (Friday)Depart: Mid-afternoon 11th Feb. (Sunday)Cost: NZ$115 all incl.For information & Registration, write to:

Warwick BradshawP.O.Box 3057Ohope, Bay of Plenty/NZ

THE RAINCLIFF GATHERING (South Island)Arrive: Mid-afternoon 23rd Feb. (Friday)Depart: Mid-morning 26th Feb. (Monday)Cost: NZ$60 all incl.For Information & Registration, write to:

Averil Harrison23 Sinclair StChristchurch 9/NZ

Gathering in Hawaii

From March 17–30, 1996 a gathering of people interested in exploring the message ofKrishnamurti will be held at the Punaluu Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii. The main themeof the gathering is “Our Relationship with Nature”. With unlimited opportunities for quietsolitude there will also be optional daily events in the morning and afternoon includingvideos, dialogues, discussions, mountain hikes, beach explorations and excursions todifferent parts of this diverse island. Accommodation will be at the Punaluu Resort, which issituated in a remote section of the Big Island, at private homes or a beach campsite. Pricesrange from US $ 30–$ 60 per person per night including vegetarian meals. For informationcontact the office at Rougemont (address on last page) or call John Farquharson at 808-929-8608 in Hawaii.

Rabindra Singh

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This newsletter was written in collaboration with Nick Short and Jurgen Brandt, compiled and edited

by Jurgen and printed by TYPOAtelier Gerhard Brandt in Frankfurt. Photographs were taken by me unless

stated otherwise. Whoever wants to reproduce extracts is welcome to do so, with the exception of

reprinted letters and copyrighted articles. Anyone may obtain additional copies of this or previous

newsletters free of charge by contacting me:

Secretariate Friedrich GroheChalet SolitudeCH-1838 RougemontSwitzerlandPhone: (41)-29-4 94 46Fax: (41)-29-4 8762

This newsletter is printed on chlorine free paper.

The A G Educational Trust

In March of this year the Charity Commissioners in the UK gave their approval to theregistration of a charitable trust in the name of the A G Educational Trust.

The intention behind forming this trust was to provide a formal vehicle for the donationsand general support previously made available by myself and my own organisations. Whilethis Trust can only operate in respect of educational projects, this represents a substantialpart of the total support provided, and its existence means that long term continuity ispossible.

The Trust’s budget for 1996 is already allocated, but people seeking support from 1997onwards for educational projects which are informed by K’s teachings are welcome to applyto the trustees. There are specific criteria for the Trust’s support which need to be met, so itis desirable for any applicants to obtain this information before requesting assistance. Thisis best achieved in the first instance by writing to my office at Rougemont whose address ison the back page of this Newsletter.

Friedrich Grohe