Theos-Talk Archives (March 2004 Message tt00734)

John and Ariel,

I am not interested also in speculating about Krishnamurti's inner 
life, after he himself said "nobody knew what went on." But I find 
interesting that in some passages of HPB's writings she expresses 
viewpoints which are similar to Krishnamurti's teachings. I know that 
serious students of her writings may frown upon at this suggestion, 
so I collate some of the relevant passages of HPB's teachings below. 
I also would like to suggest that a relentless denunciation of the 
conditioning that keeps the human in bondage is one of the central 
aspects of Krishnamurti's teachings, which deserve the attention of 
students of Theosophy. 


"The first necessity for obtaining self-knowledge is to become 
profoundly conscious of ignorance; to feel with every fibre of the 
heart that one is ceaselessly self-deceived." (BCW, vol. 8)


"He must endeavor as much as possible to free his mind, while 
studying or trying to carry out that which is given him, from all the 
ideas which he may have derived by heredity, from education, from 
surroundings, or from other teachers. His mind should be made 
perfectly free from all other thoughts, so that the inner meaning of 
the instructions may be impressed upon him apart from the words in 
which they are clothed." (ESTS, Preliminary Memorandum, 1888; BCW, 
vol. 12) 


"Every such attempt as the Theosophical Society has hitherto ended in 
failure, because, sooner or later, it has degenerated into a sect, 
set up hard-and-fast dogmas of its own, and so lost by imperceptible 
degrees that vitality which living truth alone can impart. You must 
remember that all our members have been bred and born in some creed 
or religion, that all are more or less of their generation both 
physically and mentally, and consequently that their judgment is but 
too likely to be warped and unconsciously biassed by some or all of 
these influences. If, then, they cannot be freed from such inherent 
bias, or at least taught to recognise it instantly and so avoid being 
led away by it, the result can only be that the Society will drift 
off on to some sandbank of thought or another, and there remain a 
stranded carcass to moulder and die." (Key to Theosophy, Conclusion)