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Comment by juunpp | Hacker News Reader

Can we get some background on this?

In the late 1800's there was increasing interest in mysticism and eastern religions in the West. One lady, Helena Blavatsky an Ukrainian co-founded a movement called Theosophy which made it's way to India and merged with a mish-mash of Indian nationalists and Hindu philosophers around 1880-1890.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Blavatsky#India:_1879%E...

As a young boy JD Krishamurthy (born 1895 in south India) was picked by leaders of the Theosophical Society of India as a 'vehicle' for an expected World Teacher. JDK quickly gained a following and wrote profound philosophical books that people found hard to understand which only increased his popularity among those seeking Eastern mysticism.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti

Like many Indian godmen and spiritual entrepreneurs, JD Krishnamurthy set out for the most lucrative market for his work: California. He spent the rest of his life churning out psychobabble and settled in lovely Ojai valley (having an affair with his best friend's wife). For a sampling of JDK's profound wisdom you should check out his quotes [3].

Here's a sampling:

“One is never afraid of the unknown; one is afraid of the known coming to an end.” ― Krishnamurti

“Real learning comes about when the competitive spirit has ceased.” ― J. Krishnamurti

“Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay.” ― J. Krishnamurti

[3] https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/850512.J_Krishnamurt...

You left out the fact that JK rejected the notion of a world teacher and disbanded that particular association. He also rejected theosophy as a whole, and any organization that claims to know any such thing as a “Truth”.

It’s interesting that he would reject the money and power that came with it just because he didn’t believe in it. Most godmen and “spiritual entrepreneurs” wouldn’t.

Nevertheless, his writings are incoherent word soups and an utter waste of time.

Just because you can't comprehend something doesn't mean that no one can.

I can’t get into his writings, but I know others that do (and I am not talking about Naval Ravikant). So a waste of just our time, perhaps, and yet cannot be dismissed.

This lack of clarity in Krishnamurti's material was recognized even by David Bohm himself [1], but he also claimed that K made a great contribution to the study of consciousness.

See David Moody's The Unconditioned Mind, chapter 15.

> Having an affair with his best friend's wife.

Was that also part of his profound wisdom? kek

Thank you for the summary. The quotes certainly resonate.

Doesn’t sound like it. Seems like a cheap shot from the GP since I’m not sure what the relevance is.

No disrespect meant but this reminds me when I took a 7g mushroom dose. I felt like a capital G guru and my friends would come to me for wisdom.

It takes a lot of dedication to get there without drugs

Here is another quote:

"Do not repeat after me words that you do not understand. Do not merely put on a mask of my ideas, for it will be an illusion and you will thereby deceive yourself."

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