Krishnamurti to Himself

Krishnamurti to Himself, subtitled His Last Journal, is a book based on a spoken diary of 20th-century Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986). It discusses psychological, social and spiritual issues he addressed throughout his long career, and like previous diaries includes observations of nature remarked for their originality and nuance; it is however unique in being the only one of his works in this format. Originally recorded in 1983–84, it was first published in print in 1987.

Krishnamurti to Himself
dust jacket of first US edition with a photo portrait of Krishnamurti
First US edition
AuthorJiddu Krishnamurti
CountryUnited Kingdom and United States
LanguageEnglish
SubjectAutobiography, philosophy
Publisher
Publication date
1987
Media typePrint (hardcover, paperback)
Pages134 pp (first edition)
ISBN978-0-575-04060-1 (UK)
978-0-06-064877-0 (US)

About the work

The text was transcribed from audiotape recordings made by Krishnamurti at his home in Ojai, California.[1] He recorded the monologues while alone, at irregular intervals and occasionally in batches of consecutive days, between 25 February 1983 and 30 March 1984.[3] In print, the recordings are organized in twenty-seven dated sections of a few pages each; in two cases there are multiple recordings on the same date, published in separate sections. The transcription was minimally edited by Mary Lutyens, an authorized Krishnamurti biographer and longtime friend.

The work was reputedly prompted by the success of the previously published diary Krishnamurti's Journal.[4] Due to his advanced age, Krishnamurti opted to dictate the new diary instead of writing it, using a portable tape recorder.[4] Alternating between second-person and third-person narratives, and occasionally with the help of an imaginary conversation partner,[4] he delves on subjects that were common concerns during his long speaking career. Among them, the importance of right relationship, the unhealthy desire for identification, the significance of meditation, the dangers of conditioned thinking, and "the extraordinary simplicity of dying”.[2]

A commentator wrote that this and previous diaries are "worth seeking for the sheer power of the language alone"[5] while Lutyens stated in foreword, "The reader gets very close to Krishnamurti in these pieces – almost, it seems at moments, into his very consciousness. ... The gist of Krishnamurti's teaching is here, and the descriptions of nature with which he begins most of the pieces may for many,... quieten their whole being so that they become intuitively receptive to what follows."[4]

Publication history

The book was originally published in June 1987 by Gollancz in the UK, and by Harper & Row in the US. A trade paperback edition was published in the US in January 1993 by HarperOne . The editions' front covers feature an author portrait; as was the case with Krishnamurti's Journal, there is no table of contents, with the first dated section beginning immediately after the foreword by Lutyens.

Copyright was held by the Krishnamurti Foundation Trust, a UK entity. As of 2021, publishing rights were managed by Krishnamurti Publications, the global distributor of Krishnamurti works; the book was listed in their online trade catalog as available in several languages and dialects.[6]

Select editions

Reception

Soon after initial publication the work was noted by journals on philosophy and current affairs;[7] additionally, Krishnamurti's approach to choiceless awareness and to insight, as presented in this diary, has been commented upon in psychotherapy journals.[8] The book is one of the sources in a scholarly comparison of the Russian author Lev Tolstoy's ideas on consciousness with Krishnamurti's exposition of the subject,[9] and it has been cited in diverse works, such as in India-focussed sociocultural commentaries[10] and academic journal articles on feminist perspectives of health reform and globalization.[11]

The book is mentioned in newspaper articles discussing Krishnamurti's worldwide influence on education,[12] and has been a designated text in college-level courses on education and ecology.[13] Entries from the diary have appeared in the popular press,[14] while some readers of the work have remarked on its perceived soothing quality.[15]

See also

Notes
  1. Lutyens 1988, p. 75. One exception is the entry of 31 May 1983, which was recorded while at Brockwood Park in Hampshire, UK.
  2. J. Krishnamurti 1993, p. 134. Part of the final entry (30 March 1984, pp. 132–134). The recording of the entire entry, titled "The extraordinary simplicity of dying", was made available in an official podcast (KFT 2021, quoted excerpt is 1:15:32 in).
  3. Audio and other original Krishnamurti materials are collected in official archives (KFA n.d.); a segment of the first recording for 11 March 1983 (J. Krishnamurti 1993, pp. 17–19) is also available in an official podcast (see § External links, below); additional recordings have been published.[2]
  4. Lutyens 1987.
  5. Vas 2004, p. 17. Retrieved 2022-03-25 – via Google Books.
  6. Krishnamurti Publications, "Krishnamurti to Himself: His Last Journal". Retrieved 2021-10-04.
  7. Critical Inquiry 1988, p. 898; The Philosophical Review 1988, p. 457.
  8. Twemlow 2001.
  9. Prokopchuk 2021.
  10. Bharucha 2000, pp. 1098–1099, 1100.
  11. Anderson 2000.
  12. Rao 2005. By the Dean of Education at the University of Hong Kong.
  13. Boxley 2010, "Week 9: Krishnamurti on education and nature". The book was one of the reading materials for the academic year 2010–11.
  14. Tribune India 2001. Part of the entry of 26 April 1983 is quoted here.
  15. Kawauchi 2021, p. 16. "As I flip through, peace returns to my scattered, noisy heart, and I’m able to find my center again."

References
  • "The roots of heaven are in deep abiding silence" – From Urgency of Change: The Krishnamurti Podcast, as published at the Krishnamurti Foundation Trust YouTube channel. This excerpt is part of the original Krishnamurti recording for the first diary entry of Friday, 11 March 1983; it is included in "Episode 100: Krishnamurti on Silence" (published August 2021), at time 52:12 to 1:00:15.
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