Simplicity of the Heart
- J. Krishnamurti
Simplicity of
the heart is of far
greater importance and
significance than simplicity
of possessions. To be
content with few
things is a
comparatively easy matter.
To renounce comfort, or
to give up
smoking and other
habits, does not
indicate simplicity of
heart. To put on
a loincloth in
a world that
is taken up
with clothes, comforts
and distractions, does
not indicate a free
being. There was
a man who
had given up
the world and
its ways, but
his desires and passions
were consuming him;
he had put
on the robes
of a monk,
but he did
not know peace. His
eyes were everlastingly
seeking, and his
mind was riven
by his doubts and
hopes.
Outwardly
you discipline and
renounce, you chart
your course, step
by step, to
reach the end.
You measure the progress
of your achievement
according to the
standards of virtue:
how you have given
up this or
that, how controlled
you are in
your behaviour, how
tolerant and kind
you are, and so
on and on.
You have learnt
the art of
concentration, and you
withdraw into a
forest, a monastery or
a darkened room
to meditate; you
pass your days
in prayer and
watchfulness. Outwardly you have
made your life
simple, and through
this thoughtful and
calculated arrangement you hope
to reach the
bliss that is not
of this world.
But is
reality reached through
external control and
sanctions? Though outward
simplicity, the putting aside
of comfort, is
obviously necessary, will this
gesture open the
door to reality?
To be occupied with
comfort and success
burdens the mind
and the heart,
and there must
be freedom to travel;
but why are
we so concerned
with the outward
gesture? Why are
we so eagerly determined
to give an
outward expression of our intention?
Is it the
fear of self-deception, or
of what another
might say? Why
do we wish
to convince ourselves
of our integrity? Does
not this whole
problem lie in
the desire to
be sure, to
be convinced of
our own importance in
becoming?
The desire
to be is
the beginning of
complexity. Driven by
the ever-increasing desire
to be, inwardly and
outwardly, we accumulate
or renounce, cultivate
or deny. Seeing
that time steals all
things, we cling
to the timeless.
This struggle to
be, positively or
negatively, through
attachment or detachment,
can never be
resolved by any
outward gesture, discipline
or practice; but the
understanding of this
struggle will bring
about, naturally and
spontaneously, the freedom from
outward and inward
accumulation with their
conflicts. Reality is
not to be reached
through detachment; it
is unattainable through
any means. All
means and ends
are a form of
attachment, and they
must cease for
the being of
reality.
About the Author:
Excerpted from J. Krishnamurti's Commentaries on Living.
