Freedom from the known - Jiddu Krishnamurthi - My experience

(Image taken from here)

I guess this is the first time I'm writing about a book here. Yes, I've started reading books and I wish I've done this a lot earlier. Now, I understand how books can be your best friends.

'Freedom from the known' by Jiddu Krishnamurthy is more than a book to me. There are very few books that have the power to change the way you look at life. This book is one such gem. My reading experience was beyond words. This is the first time I've felt that philosophy is not always dry, it can be interesting too! I struggled a bit to understand few passages, I had to stop, re-read, think, question myself, understand and proceed further.To understand this book one needs to read with deep concentration as there is constant self-questioning throughout this book. Though this book has 124 pages, the depth it carries is immeasurable. This book has a very deeper explanation for the nature of freedom, fear, love, society, pleasure, pain, religion, sorrow, death etc. I highly recommend everyone to read this book. I don't want to rate or review this book, as some books are meant just for reading and experiencing! :)

Sharing few lines from this book...

So what you really say is, “As long as you belong to me I love you but the moment you don’t I begin to hate you. As long as I can rely on you to satisfy my demands, I love you, but the moment you cease to supply what I want I don’t like you.” So there is antagonism between you, there is separation, and when you feel separate from another there is no love. But if you can live with your wife without thought creating all these contradictory states, these endless quarrels in yourself, then perhaps – perhaps – you will know what love is. Then you are completely free and so is she, whereas if you depend on her for all your pleasures you are a slave to her. So when one loves there must be freedom, not only from the other person but from oneself.

“The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.”

“Thought is so cunning, so clever, that it distorts everything for its own convenience.”

“When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.”

“Nature is busy creating absolutely unique individuals, whereas culture has invented a single mold to which all must conform. It is grotesque. ”