Krishnamurti's Notebook

In the evening it was there: suddenly it was there, filling the room, a great sense of beauty, power and gentleness. Others noticed it.

— Jiddu Krishnamurti, Krishnamurti's Notebook, "June 18 [1961 New York]"[1]

Krishnamurti's first entry in this handwritten journal, quoted above in its entirety, is dated 18 June 1961, with the location given as New York City. He continued writing almost daily for nine months while at various locales; there are about 200 entries in total, almost all of them between one and two print pages in length. The last entry is dated 19 March 1962, at Bombay (Mumbai).[2][3] The published work is considered one of the few books that Krishnamurti actually wrote himself; the majority of his other books consist of edited or verbatim transcripts of talks, discussions and dictations, or are curated collections of excerpts from the same materials.[4]

The diary portrays Krishnamurti's world from the inside; according to a commentator, it provides a "panorama of the landscape of Krishnamurti's daily consciousness."[5] In particular, the diary describes Krishnamurti's experience of a nearly lifelong, often acutely painful condition he called the process, and manifestations of a state he refers to as the otherness – a state that often, but not always, appeared concurrently with the process.[6] As is the case with other Krishnamurti works, the entries often include his impressions of nature, individuals and society, the descriptions of which have a "poetic quality" according to some.[7][8]

The journal begins (and ends) without preamble; shortly before he started writing it, Krishnamurti, then in London, reputedly experienced a recurrence of the process during May and June 1961, witnessed by associates. In the time period covered by the diary, similar events were witnessed by other associates while Krishnamurti was in Switzerland in the summer of 1961; the diary and the events or states described, again reputedly perceived by others, continued upon his arrival to India in late autumn of the same year.[9]

The work was minimally edited for clarity and spelling by authorized Krishnamurti biographer Mary Lutyens, who provided the Foreword for the original edition (published 1976). In it she states, “In this unique daily record we have what may be called the well-spring of Krishnamurti's teaching. The whole essence of his teaching is here, arising from its natural source."[2] Elsewhere Lutyens writes, "apart from its content, it is an extraordinary manuscript, 323 pages without a single erasure."[10] She devoted a chapter to this book in the second volume of her biography of Krishnamurti, The Years of Fulfillment (published 1983). In it she mentions objections raised against the diary's publication by Krishnamurti associates who had read the manuscript and thought it presented a picture of Krishnamurti at odds with his public pronouncements; his responses to these objections are included.[11]

Lutyens had revealed the existence of the process in The Years of Awakening, the first volume of her biography of Krishnamurti (published 1975). This physical condition – which Krishnamurti and those around him did not consider as medical in nature – and experiences similar to the otherness, had reputedly originally appeared in 1922. At the time, Krishnamurti was associated with the Theosophical Society and the related World Teacher Project. The existence and history of these experiences had remained unknown outside of the Theosophical Society leadership and Krishnamurti's circle of close associates and friends.[12]

Roland Vernon, another of his biographers, states that previous attempts (by others), at revealing details from his past, including these reputed experiences, were suppressed by Krishnamurti. According to Vernon, Krishnamurti "believed, with good reason, that the sensationalism of his early story would cloud the public's perception of his [then] current work".[13] However, Krishnamurti often hinted at otherness-like states in later talks and discussions; [14] he was more expansive on the subject with close associates, also stating that the experience of the otherness continued as he was nearing death.[15]

Around the time of the diary's original publication – more than fourteen years after the final entry – Krishnamurti stated, "I did not write it for publication ... I have attempted to put into words the actual pain and sensation which goes with the heightened consciousness."[16]

The manuscript was entangled in personal and legal disputes between Krishnamurti and D. Rajagopal, Krishnamurti's erstwhile editor and business manager.[17] An agreement in 1974 regarding this and other Krishnamurti materials[18] allowed eventual publication, and the first edition appeared in May 1976 via longtime Krishnamurti publishers Gollancz in the United Kingdom and Harper & Row in the United States (see § Original edition, below).

The front and back covers of both impressions feature the same set of contemporary photographs of Krishnamurti. After the Foreword by Lutyens there is a table of contents labeled "Itinerary", listing the places the diary was kept. Copyright was held by the Krishnamurti Foundation Trust (KFT), a UK-based organization. A paperback edition was first published in the US by Harper's Perennial Library imprint in 1978.[19]

Following the discovery in the year 2000 of thirty-two additional diary pages,[3] the work was republished in an expanded edition (the "Full Text Edition") in 2003 by Krishnamurti Publications, the official publisher and distributor of Krishnamurti's works.[20] It includes facsimiles of original diary pages and an additional, edition-specific foreword; the updated "Itinerary" precedes both forewords. It features a photograph similar to the first edition's on the front cover (Krishnamurti alone in a nature setting); a 1935 portrait of his by Edward Weston is on the back cover. This edition's copyright was again registered to the KFT. It was followed by a paperback version in 2004.[21]

The work was first published in digital media in 2008, as a Kindle e-book release of the full text edition (see § Select editions). By 2010, print versions had several reprints, with the expanded edition offered in 13 languages and dialects;[22] around the same time, the work was made freely available as an electronic document through J. Krishnamurti Online (JKO), the official Jiddu Krishnamurti online repository.[23]

The full text edition was published by Blackstone Audio in 2017 as an unabridged audiobook read by Anthony Wren. It was released as a downloadable audio file (see § Select editions); a CD audio version of the audiobook, published by Made for Success, was released in the US in March 2018 via Blackstone Publishing.[22]

The Library Journal stated in review, "[Krishnamurti's] insights are, as always, written in plain, nonsectarian language, and give perhaps the best picture we have today of the life of the spirit outside a strictly religious context."[24] Publishers Weekly called the work a "luminous diary", and characterized Krishnamurti's teaching as "austere, in a sense annihilating."[8]

Kirkus Reviews described it as "More approachable, more intimate than Krishnamurti's didactic writings, this will speak ... to all readers with a feeling for the mystery of existence";[25] however, London's Observer thought it better suited to those already familiar with Krishnamurti's life and outlook.[26]

Krishnamurti was interviewed about the work by Gerald Priestland for the BBC Radio 4 program Chapter and Verse, which reviewed books of a religious or spiritual nature; the interview and book review was broadcast on the evening of 30 May 1976.[27]

The Guardian (London) carried a sympathetic report about the book in June 1976; the article was not exclusively focused on the Notebook, also describing Krishnamurti's life and philosophy.[16][28]

The reputed inner experiences as described in the diary and in Lutyens' biography aroused the interest of Krishnamurti's audiences. After their publication he was questioned by his listeners on the subject; he was generally dismissive of the importance of process-related events, stating that all discussion of mystical experiences was trivial, and, although he continued alluding to otherness-like states, he again avoided any elaboration.[29]

The book continued to attract attention, and favorable mentions, in the following decades. In its obituary of Krishnamurti, The Times (London), described it as "a remarkable mystical document",[30] while in 2006 the work was cited in a conference paper as "probably ... the most extensive documentation to date of a mystic's inner thoughts, perceptions, and sensations".[31]

Following this diary's original publication, two other diaries of his were published in book form: Krishnamurti's Journal in 1982, and Krishnamurti to Himself in 1987.[3]

• Jiddu Krishnamurti bibliography