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SRF Walrus

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SRF Walrus > Treatment of Members/Monastics > Transcending Organizations
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Raja Begum Unregistered User (10/8/01 12:37 am) Reply	Transcending Organizations What follows is the speech made by Jiddu Krishnamurti in 1929 when he dissolved the Order of the Star. The Order of the Star was the organisation built around Krishnamurti by Theosophists who selected him at the age of 13 to be the vehicle for the return of the Christ, or Maitreya. He was raised accordingly, but after his enlightment, he refused the role that has been prepared for him, disbanded the organisation of which he was the head, and continued to teach on his own. His speech was made during the Dutch Camp of Ommen, in front of more than three thousand Star members, and with many thousands of Dutch people listening on the radio. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We are going to discuss this morning the dissolution of the Order of the Star. Many will be delighted, and others will be rather sad. It is a question neither for rejoicing nor for sadness, because it is inevitable, as I am going to explain.... I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. That is my point of view, and I adhere to that absolutely and unconditionally. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organised; nor should any organisation be formed to lead or coerce people along any particular path. If you first understand that, then you will see how impossible it is to organise a belief. A belief is purely an individual matter, and you cannot and must not organise it. If you do, it becomes dead, crystallised; it becomes a creed, a sect, a religion, to be imposed on others. This is what everyone throughout the world is attempting to do. Truth is narrowed down and made a plaything for those who are weak, for those who are only momentarily discontented. Truth cannot be brought down, rather the individual must make the effort to ascend to it. You cannot bring the mountain-top to the valley.... So that is the first reason, from my point of view, why the Order of the Star should be dissolved. In spite of this, you will probably form other Orders, you will continue to belong to other organisations searching for Truth. I do not want to belong to any organisation of a spiritual kind; please understand this.... If an organisation be created for this purpose, it becomes a crutch, a weakness, a bondage, and must cripple the individual, and prevent him from growing, from establishing his uniqueness, which lies in the discovery for himself of that absolute, unconditioned Truth. So that is another reason why I have decided, as I happen to be the Head of the Order, to dissolve it. This is no magnificent deed, because I do not want followers, and I mean this. The moment you follow someone you cease to follow Truth. I am not concerned whether you pay attention to what I say or not. I want to do a certain thing in the world and I am going to do it with unwavering concentration. I am concerning myself with only one essential thing: to set man free. I desire to free him from all cages, from all fears, and not to found religions, new sects, nor to establish new theories and new philosophies. Then you will naturally ask me why I go the world over, continually speaking. I will tell you for what reason I do this; not because I desire a following, not because I desire a special group of special disciples. (How men love to be different from their fellow-men, however ridiculous, absurd and trivial their distinctions, may be! I do not want to encourage that absurdity.) I have no disciples, no apostles, either on earth or in the realm of spirituality. Nor is it the lure of money, nor the desire to live a comfortable life, which attracts me. If I wanted to lead a comfortable life I would not come to a Camp or live in a damp country! I am speaking frankly because I want this settled once and for all. I do not want these childish discussion year after year. A newspaper reporter, who interviewed me, considered it a magnificent act to dissolve an organisation in which there were thousands and thousands of members. To him it was a great act because he said: "What will you do afterwards, how will you live? You will have no following, people will no longer listen to you." If there are only five people who will listen, who will live, who have their faces turned towards eternity, it will be sufficient. Of what use is it to have thousands who do not understand, who are fully embalmed in prejudice, who do not want the new, but would rather translate the new to suit their own sterile, stagnant selves?.... Because I am free, unconditioned, whole, not the part, not the relative, but the whole Truth that is eternal, I desire those, who seek to understand me, to be free, not to follow me, not to make out of me a cage which will become a religion, a sect. Rather should they be free from all fears - from the fear of religion, from the fear of salvation, from the fear of spirituality, from the fear of love, from the fear of death, from the fear of life itself. As an artist paints a picture because he takes delight in that painting, because it is his self-expression, his glory, his well-being, so I do this and not because I want any thing from anyone. You are accustomed to authority, or to the atmosphere of authority which you think will lead you to spirituality. You think and hope that another can, by his extraordinary powers - a miracle - transport you to this realm of eternal freedom which is Happiness. Your whole outlook on life is based on that authority. You have listened to me for three years now, without any change taking place except in the few. Now analyse what I am saying, be critical, so that you may understand thoroughly, fundamentally.... For eighteen years you have been preparing for this event, for the Coming of the World Teacher. For eighteen years you have organised, you have looked for someone who would give a new delight to your hearts and minds, who would transform your whole life, who would give you a new understanding; for someone who would raise you to a new plane of life, who would give you new encouragement, who would set you free - and now look what is happening! Consider, reason with yourselves, and discover in what way that belief has made you different - not with the superficial difference of the wearing of a badge, which is trivial, absurd. In what manner has such a belief swept away all unessential things of life? That is the only way to judge: in what way are you freer, greater, more dangerous to every society which is based on the false and the unessential? In what way have the members of this organisation of the Star become different?.... You are all depending for your spirituality on someone else, for your happiness on someone else, for your enlightenment on someone else.... when I say look within yourselves for the enlightenment, for the glory, for the purification, and for the incorruptibility of the self, not one of you is willing to do it. There may be a few, but very, very few. So why have an organisation?.... No man from outside can make you free; nor can organised worship, nor the immolation of yourselves for a cause, make you free; nor can forming yourselves into an organisation, nor throwing yourselves into work, make you free. You use a typewriter to write letters, but you do not put it on an alter and worship it. But that is what you are doing when organisations become your chief concern. "How many members are there in it?" That is the first question I am asked by all newspaper reporters. "How many followers have you? By their number we shall judge whether what you say is true or false." I do not know how many there are. I am not concerned with that. If there were even one man who had been set free, that were enough.... Again, you have the idea that only certain people hold the key to the Kingdom of Happiness. No one holds it. No one has the authority to hold that key. That key is your own self, and in the development and the purification and in the incorruptibility of that self alone is the Kingdom of Eternity.... You have been accustomed to being told how far you have advanced, what is your spiritual status. How childish! Who but yourself can tell you if you are incorruptible?.... But those who really desire to understand, who are looking to find that which is eternal, without a beginning and without an end, will walk together with greater intensity, will be a danger to everything that is unessential, to unrealities, to shadows. And they will concentrate, they will become the flame, because they understand. Such a body we must create, and that is my purpose. Because of that true friendship - which you do not seem to know - there will be real co-operation on the part of each one. And this not because of authority, not because of salvation, but because you really understand, and hence are capable of living in the eternal. This is a greater thing than all pleasure, than all sacrifice. So those are some of the reasons why, after careful consideration for two years, I have made this decision. It is not from a momentary impulse. I have not been persuaded to it by anyone - I am not persuaded in such things. For two years I have been thinking about this, slowly, carefully, patiently, and I have now decided to disband the Order, as I happen to be its Head. You can form other organisations and expect someone else. With that I am not concerned, nor with creating new cages, new decorations for those cages. My only concern is to set men absolutely, unconditionally free.
xmonk Unregistered User (10/8/01 5:12 am) Reply	Transcending Raja Begum, you did it again!! Jiddu Krishnamurti's action, to disband his religion and release it's followers, was founded on complete spiritual insight. Thank you for sharing this priceless piece of information. Perhaps, now, many of those who have been fortunate enough to throw off the shackles of SRF will stop being concerned about trying to rebuild it. Perhaps they will understand that freeing themselves from that disgusting body is the first real step toward their spiritual growth, whereby they can pursue their PERSONAL relationship with God with no dogma, rituals, or any other of the hindrances to spirituality.
KS Unregistered User (10/9/01 6:47 am) Reply	Helping SRF I am beginning to see that perhaps recovering SRF is possibly not the thing to do. It is possibly just my ego trying to tell me that supporting them all that time was NOT a mistake and that I was not foolish in being deceived. It is hard to admit to myself. These board messages have been helpful. Thinking about it I am wondering why it would need to be recovered. The world doesn�t need SRF and it harms devotees more than it helps them. It is not creating examples, or realized yogis, and it certainly not a source of inspiration to those who come in contact with it. I have been those on this board urging people to help SRF, help it recover. I think I have been wrong. I am concerned for all those working there and of course the poor monastics still in the abusive grip of that environment. I�m not yet sure what my attitude should be there. Possibly the thing to do is the help the Transition Network as much as possible so that when people do leave they have an easier time of it. That is one positive thing we can do.
Raja Begum Unregistered User (10/9/01 1:00 pm) Reply	Reform or What? I say serve whomever you can. Solve a problem or two in the world and you're fulfilling the progressive urge of the universe. Reform SRF? Nice idea. However, SRF is made of people who may be comfortable with the status quo and may not want to change. Consider the organization a failure for some and not for others. Some devotees enjoy God all nice and neatly packaged like Coca Cola. Others find that spiritually debilitating. You and I eschew prefab formulas of the church and are looking for something unique, something which gives us the key, not to self-negation and standardization, but the celebration of a revealing integrated self that grows with each act of self discovery. The SRF way of life -- as taught by the present establishment -- numbs people to their own sense of authenticity. Sure, it SAYS "You are uniquely created by God." But in practice, it is threatened by the unique in people and would prefer to mold individuals into neat little "devotee" droids --- units who, much like pets or farm sheep, are predictable and easy to manage. What an irony. Didn't our guru admonish us to "sing songs that none have sung / think thoughts that never in brain have rung" Was our Guruji calling for a Noble New or a Noble Same? Though the spirit of the Noble New is being seriously curtailed in the SRF organization, some of us just can't allow ourselves to be stunted even for a nanosecond. Life is short. Guruji's presence still hangs out in the SRF churches as they remain today. But the format SRF is embracing is a serious dinosaur. Exasperatingly uninnovative -- a bland little church merely where people who need church can go. Of course, by virtue of kriya, it has a desirable product to offer, but those of us who dream of a vital, progressive gathering may need to look elsewhere or nowhere. It is at this point that I have no answers...but where our collective discussion must begin.
Kevin Registered User (10/9/01 8:02 pm) Reply	let it be Hi agree Raja Begum! I never thought any of us could change SRF drastically! Actually I find it a little arrogant! We can do our part and let it be.... if it is truly of interest to God or Master it will prosper in some form or another. If SRFers are contented with their organization who are we to change it for them? If the 'free thinkers' are such a minority we can just hope to have some influence but the majority has the right to its own beliefs and rules and regulations and pre-packaged religion. If we force it on them we would become just like SRF. There is room for everybody in this world. Kriya is available from different sources and even if it comes from SRF it doesn't mean we must adapt to all their social standards. Like most SRFers I thought SRF was the harbinger of a new way of being spiritual. Well, it turned out to be another religion! I can still use the good I learned from it , Kriya, and move on. Kriya and meditation are sacred tools, we should do without priests, rabbis or monks or intermediaries between us and God. That is what it is all about. Universal principles, meditation and God. All the rest will always be an obstacle and at time a support toward our goal. Some devotees NEED the prepackage deal.... let them enjoy it!
KS Unregistered User (10/9/01 8:34 pm) Reply	Let it be? To Kevin Arrogant to try to change SRF? I think it is cowardly not to try! Well, that is an exaggeration. But I do think we have some level of obligation to help our fellow devotees being hurt by SRF�s bad ladies. My view point is a little different. The simple church services are probably fine. They get people to church and there is a little benefit to that. I think the basic structure of SRF is probably fine too. A Board of Directors, monastics, and a central organization that makes some rules. It is not of great benefit, but not too bad either. They can publish books, etc... What I do object to and what I would like to see changed, is the mean and destructive attitude by the Matas (and associated bad ladies). This is not SRF. Their destruction of those around them, their abusive behavior, is not part of SRF. It is not part of the temple services. It is separate and should be erased. It is like some bad cops with the police department. The police department is not a bad idea, within boundaries. But bad cops are bad cops. That doesn�t mean the whole department is a bad idea.
PostMonk Unregistered User (10/10/01 9:22 pm) Reply	Let it be KS, you miss the point. Any central organization with "spiritual authority" will eventually be corrupted by ignorance and arrogance such as SRF has become in less than 50 years. I don't need or want some baboons in ochre robes making "a few rules" for me. I say, at most, let them print the books and then shut up. P.S. If I sound bitter, it is because I am.

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