Krishnamurti did not accept the
conventional meaning of religion
prevalent in society. He said that
temples, mosques and churches are not
religious places as no learning takes
place there. To him the real purpose of
religion is to come upon virtue, which is
not a set of prescribed actions but a state
of being in which there is complete
order in consciousness. To arrive at such
a state one has to observe the causes
of disorder in our consciousness by
watching it in the ‘mirror of relationship’.
Disorder in our consciousness in
the form of conflict, anger, jealousy,
enmity, hatred, fear, sorrow, guilt and
frustration arises due to various forms
of illusions in our mind. It can be ended
by discerning for oneself what is true
and what is false. Illusion is something
imaginary and has no real existence but
is accepted as fact by the individual.
This is a process of unlearning the false
and such learning may be termed as self-knowledge.
This is totally different
from the other kind of learning which
is the accumulation of knowledge and techniques. Self-knowledge is so-called
because it cannot be obtained from books
or teachers; it has to be learnt by oneself.
Krishnamurti emphasized that a
school must provide the ground for
both kinds of learning and help the
student to excel in both, namely the
understanding of the external world
around us as well as the understanding
of the inner world of our consciousness.
The true function of religion is to liberate
our consciousness from the disorders it
is prone to. Self-knowledge, he suggested,
is the key to wisdom as it ends the disorder
in consciousness. Such a learning
mind is the true religious mind and
not one which is burdened with only
knowledge or techniques. If a school
imparts knowledge that empowers the
individual to act in the world, then it
must also accept the responsibility to
enable the student to come upon wisdom
through self-knowledge. Krishnamurti
called this the ‘awakening of intelligence’.
Without wisdom, the power of knowledge
becomes dangerous since it can
be used to dominate, exploit or destroy others. He said there is no intelligence
without compassion and one is not truly
educated if one does not have love
and goodness, which flower through the
understanding of oneself.
Hence, the aim of a Krishnamurti
school is to nurture in the child excellence
in knowledge and skills, and
self-awareness in consciousness and
relationship. This he referred to as ‘the
art of living’. This requires tremendous
sensitivity, the perception of beauty
in every aspect of life and the capacity
for love and compassion. A school that
enables this is a religious space. Such a
place nourishes a learning mind interested
in discerning what is true and
what is false; it attracts the true pilgrim;
and it is a sanctuary for all life. Such
a vision requires a completely different
approach to education.
Such schools must be located in a
place of great natural beauty, with
trees, birds and animals coexisting with
human beings. Such an atmosphere is
conducive to sensitivity which is essential
for a religious mind. Sensitivity develops
through quietness and attention, and it
cannot be obtained through books or
thinking alone.
The student-teacher ratio must be
small so that personal attention and
care can be accorded to every student
in all aspects of life—physical, mental,
emotional and spiritual. The physical
aspect requires right diet, adequate
sleep, various forms of sports and games,
dances and exercises including yoga.
The intellectual aspect requires an
introduction to good literature, languages,
poetry, art, science, mathematics,
logic and reason, and knowledge of the
external world. The emotional aspect
demands sensitivity, self-knowledge,
friendship, cooperation with respect, and
affection. The spiritual aspect demands
enquiry, self-understanding, freedom
from self-centred activity, awareness,
sense of responsibility, care and compassion. All of these are a part of
flowering in goodness. The school must
provide activities and opportunities for
the development of all these aspects in
the child.
The relationship between the teacher
and student needs to be free from
fear. One establishes a relationship of
friendship, affection and mutual respect
and not of control through fear and
authority. The teacher encourages
enquiry and a learning mind, not only
in the academic curriculum but also
about society, about life, about rules and
structures and right conduct. A learning
mind is different from a knowing mind
or an intellectual mind. It is a mind that
senses and learns through watching,
listening, awareness and enquiry. It
has a harmonious blend of reason and
love. The teacher learns along with the
student. The teacher may know more about a subject than the student, but
he may not know what right living is.
There have to be forums where all
questions of life can be discussed in
a spirit of dialogue without anyone
dictating to anyone else. The state of our
society reveals that we have yet to discover
what right living is. A Krishnamurti
school can be regarded as an experiment
in right living in which all of us,
students and teachers, are learning the
art of living.
It follows that the school must
be free from comparisons, judgements,
punishments and rewards. The purpose
of evaluation is not to compare and
classify students as intelligent or dull
but to become aware of their actual
strengths and weaknesses, so that one can
accordingly help them to grow. There is
no such thing as an unintelligent child.
Intelligence manifests itself differently
in each child and we need to watch and
help the child in every direction. We are
all different from each other but no one
is superior or inferior to anyone else.
When we do not compare, there is true
equality and mutual respect. The role
of a teacher is thus not to judge and
criticize a student but to investigate
together with the child every aspect of
life in a spirit of friendship, and discover
the beauty therein. There is great beauty
in nature, in games and sports, in literature, in music and the arts, in
science and mathematics too. It is that
beauty which produces joy when we
engage in that activity. If one can feel
that beauty one is not bored and there is
no need to pursue pleasure as an escape
from boredom. Learning all this is to
come upon sensitivity which is the main
aim of both religion and of education.
It may appear that this is an impossible
task. But a religious mind does
not assess what is possible or impossible.
The political and business mind does
that. The religious mind is concerned
with right action, irrespective of whether
it succeeds or fails. It asks the ‘impossible’
question. In doing so one may not
attain the full vision, but it does not
thereby diminish the vision, which
organized religions have done, thus
betraying the teachings that lie at their
core. Let us not make the same mistake.