Publisher's Synopsis
Introduction: The prominent philosophical quests that have engaged man since ancient times - besides knowing the world around him - are attainment of Freedom/Liberation/Moksha and understanding the Truth. Many great thinkers, spiritual leaders, religious heads, gurus and various texts have discussed these at length in many ways. Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986) has also discussed these in his unique way; the characteristic feature of his dialogues, discussions and writings is a universal appeal. Whatever he said was not confined to a particular class, group or society or to followers of a particular school of philosophy. He urged his listeners to understand the facts, the ground reality of life before entering into any kind of serious contemplation. Facts and thoughts merge beautifully in his reflections. What is the present day condition of man and the world? On the individual level his life is filled with stress, feeling of insecurity, fears of various kinds, constant rush, anxiety, fierce competition etc. and these are some of the marks of modern times. These, of course, are followed by a deep desire to free him from these tense conditions. On the social level we are facing fundamentalism, terrorism, violence, ideological tensions. Also, environmental issues, energy crisis, crunch of natural resources and grave economic conditions are shadowing our lives. Along with these, globalization is knocking at the doors and we have to prepare for the possible changes that will come with it. The whole world is coming together in some ways but the differences/chasms created due to class, caste, race, religion, nationalism etc are still strong. On this background, we need to understand man and the world in a different light. J Krishnamurti provides this understanding which is holistic in nature and not one sided or fragmentary. He has discussed various concepts like freedom, love, truth, hatred, death, mind, consciousness, meditation, time etc. His dialogues and writings show that it is impossible to study one of them in isolation since they are all interconnected. But, keeping in mind the limitations of a thesis and the need of the hour, I have chosen only four of them, namely, Freedom, Meditation, loveand Truth. According to him you can be free, meditation helps you there, and thenthere is love andunderstanding of truth,
