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Krishnamurti's Notebook

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1976/2003 published diary of Jiddu Krishnamurti

Krishnamurti's Notebook
front cover of 1976 first edition with photo of Krishnamurti in a nature walkFirst edition (1976)
AuthorJiddu Krishnamurti
LanguageEnglish
SubjectAutobiography, consciousness, philosophy
Published
  • 1976 (1st edition) (UK: Gollancz, US: Harper & Row)
  • 2003 (full text edition) (US: Krishnamurti Publications)
Publication placeUnited Kingdom, United States
Media type
Pages
  • 252 (1st edition)
  • 387 (full text edition)
ISBN978-1-888004-57-1 (full text hardcover)
OCLC54040143 (full text edition)
LC ClassB5134.K75 A35

Krishnamurti's Notebook is a diary of 20th-century Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986). Written during 1961–62, it is best known for its first hand accounts of persistent, unusual physical experiences and states of consciousness, but also for poetic and penetrating descriptions of nature. It has been called "a remarkable mystical document" in press reports, while an authorized Krishnamurti biographer described it as containing "the whole essence" of his philosophy. Reputedly it was not intended for publication; the manuscript also became entangled in copyright and custody disputes. The work – one of few books Krishnamurti wrote himself – was eventually published in 1976 over objections of Krishnamurti associates. An expanded edition with additional material was published in 2003; it includes previously unpublished diary entries from 1962.

About the work

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 "

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 entries, often daily, for the next nine months while at various locales in the US, the UK, Switzerland, France, Italy and India. There are about 214 entries in total, almost all of them between one and two print pages in length; the last entry, written in transit from Bombay (Mumbai) to Rome, is dated 19 March 1962. 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 material from the same sources.

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." 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. As is the case with other Krishnamurti prose, the entries often include his impressions of nature, individuals and society, the descriptions of which have a "poetic quality" according to some.

The journal begins (and ends) without preamble; shortly before he started writing it, Krishnamurti reputedly experienced a recurrence of the process during May and June 1961 in London, 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. Throughout this period Krishnamurti continued with his regular schedule of public talks and discussions.

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, "[i]n 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." She adds elsewhere, "apart from its content, it is an extraordinary manuscript, 323 pages without a single erasure." Lutyens 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.

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.

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". However Krishnamurti often hinted at otherness-like states in later talks and discussions;  he was more expansive on the subject with close associates, also stating that the experience of the otherness continued as he was nearing death.

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."

Publication history

The manuscript was entangled in personal and legal disputes between Krishnamurti and D. Rajagopal, Krishnamurti's erstwhile editor and business manager. An agreement that cleared the way for eventual publication was reached in 1974, 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.

Following the discovery in the year 2000 of thirty-two additional diary pages, the work was republished in 2003 as the expanded "Full Text Edition" by Krishnamurti Publications, the official publisher and distributor of Krishnamurti's works. This edition appends the unpublished entries, numbering about 30, as they are dated (in 1962) immediately following the previously-published ones. There are also facsimiles of original diary pages and another, edition-specific foreword; the updated "Itinerary" precedes both forewords. The edition features a photograph similar to the original 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.

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; 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.

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.

Original edition

Select editions

Reception

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." Publishers Weekly called the work a "luminous diary" and characterized Krishnamurti's teaching as "austere, in a sense annihilating."

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

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 short interview and book review was broadcast on the evening of 30 May 1976.

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.

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.

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", 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".

Other diaries

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.

See also

Notes

  1. J. Krishnamurti 2003, p. 2.
  2. ^ J. Krishnamurti 2003, p. iii, "Itinerary".
  3. ^ Lutyens, Mary. Foreword. In J. Krishnamurti 1976a, pp. 5–6. Retrieved 2023-01-24 – via Wayback Machine (original from JKO "legacy" website). The first seventy-seven pages of the manuscript are in a small notebook and the remainder in a larger, loose leaf book. The published work includes several brief editor-inserted clarifying footnotes and annotations. The first edition's final entry was dated 23 January 1962 at Delhi; the locale is listed as New Delhi in the expanded edition.
  4. ^ McCoy 2003. The previously unpublished diary entries of the expanded edition were dated 24 January to 19 March, 1962.
  5. Lutyens 1988, p. 3; Martin 2003, p. 10.
  6. Moody 2015.
  7. Lutyens 1983, pp. 7, 68, 71. The process consistently involved headaches of varying severity. Spinal discomfort, starting at the base of the spine, was more frequent in the early occurrences, which included additional elements and symptoms. The whole experience was reputedly often accompanied by heightened (in a few cases, seemingly extreme) sensitivity to the environment and to external stimuli. [Emphasis added.]
  8. Lutyens 1976a; Holroyd 1991, p. 46; Moody 2015. The otherness is alternately called by Krishnamurti benediction, immensity, presence etc. [This and all similar emphasis added.]; Holroyd 1991, p. 47. "The benediction literally discloses reality, in the sense of making manifest that which is closed off and hidden from the partial and limited awareness that human beings accept as normal"; Moody 2015, p. 150. "[Krishnamurti] ascribes to this quality a sense of overwhelming power, something impenetrable, vast, innocent, and untouchable"; prior to starting the diary Krishnamurti referred to this state in notes that were eventually included in the second volume of his Commentaries on Living book series (J. Krishnamurti 1958, § "Immensity" pp. 241–242. Retrieved 2023-10-20 – via J. Krishnamurti Online).
  9. Holroyd 1991, pp. 44, 47–48.
  10. ^ Publishers Weekly 1976. Positive brief review of the original US edition.
  11. Lutyens 1983, pp. 107–108, 112, 116. Some witnesses were initially alarmed by the events. An associate who was present in London wrote to D. Rajagopal, Krishnamurti's then–business manager asking for guidance, and another in Switzerland contemporaneously described the witnessed events in her diary; Jayakar 1986, pp. 244–245. Impressions of an Indian associate regarding diary entries and reputed related incidents at Rishi Valley, Andhra Pradesh.
  12. Lutyens 2003, p. 210; Lutyens is referring to the manuscript published as the original edition (McCoy 2003); Mary Zimbalist, Krishnamurti's personal secretary and close associate, quoting from her 1974 notes states in her memoir that the manuscript comprised 363 pages (Zimbalist 2014, "Issue 29". Retrieved 2021-08-30); Krishnamurti manuscripts and other original works are part of the official Krishnamurti Archives, set up by the Krishnamurti foundations (KFA n.d.).
  13. Lutyens 1983, ch. "10: Krishnamurti's Notebook" pp. 107–119. "One or two people ... were averse to its publication. They feared it would dishearten K's [Krishnamurti's] followers. He maintains that human beings can transform themselves radically, not in time, not by evolution, but by immediate perception, whereas the Notebook shows that Krishnamurti is not an ordinary man transformed but a unique being existing in a different dimension from ordinary humanity. ... His reply was, 'We do not all have to be Edisons to turn on the electric light.' Later he was to say to a journalist in Rome, who suggested that he had been born as he was and that therefore others could not attain to his state of consciousness, 'Christopher Columbus went to America in a sailing ship; we can go by jet'" (pp. 118–119); Krishnamurti also used the Columbus metaphor in answer to audience questions about his reputed inner experiences as related in Lutyens' The Years of Awakening (J. Krishnamurti 1975, 2 min 35 s in, 8 min 27 s in. Retrieved 2023-01-23. Official transcript ¶¶ [3], [12]).
  14. The Times 1986; Vernon 2001, p. 228; Krishnamurti allowed information about the process and other details of his life to become public knowledge through Lutyens' biography, which included extensive descriptions of the first such occurrences (Lutyens 1975, chs. "18: The Turning Point" – "21: Climax of the Process" pp. 152–188 [cumulative]).
  15. Vernon 2001, pp. 227–228.
  16. J. Krishnamurti 1960, ¶ [34] (end paragraph); J. Krishnamurti 1963, ¶ [27]. " ... [T]here is that state ... ".
  17. Some discussions with close associates are summarized or excerpted in Lutyens 1983, pp. 186, 224–231; Jayakar 1986, pp. 293, 364, 391–392, 409, 438–440; Zimbalist 2014, especially "Issue 29" forwards, contains numerous references; in such discussions, Krishnamurti is reputed to have often made tentative or ambiguous statements about his inner experiences and aspects of the otherness: "I don't know, and I don't ask" (Zimbalist 2014, "Issue 34". Retrieved 2021-08-30); reputedly he once said of his Notebook manuscript, "It's not my book. I didn't write it." (Zimbalist 2014, "Issue 31". Retrieved 2021-08-30); he believed that these experiences would stop once his physical condition deteriorated to the point where he could no longer travel and hold talks, and was mystified by the reputed continuing presence of the other, perceived while an invalid, days before his death (Zimbalist 2014, "Issue 89". Retrieved 2021-10-01).
  18. ^ Neustatter 1976. "A ... personal document ... in which he [Krishnamurti] describes the acute physical pain he suffers as a result of attaining higher consciousness". Report on the original UK edition.
  19. Vernon 2001, pp. 223–227.
  20. Lutyens 1983, pp. 199–200. D. Rajagopal had copyright for Krishnamurti's works (pp. 98–99, 151), and was in possession of the manuscript until the 1974 agreement.
  21. Several extracts from unrelated "Krishnamurti notebooks" had been published prior to the 1974 agreement, according to a detailed Krishnamurti bibliography (Weeraperuma 1974, pp. 51, 53); similarly unrelated, the Commentaries on Living book series (1956–1960) is subtitled "From the notebooks of J. Krishnamurti" (J. Krishnamurti 1958, title page); extracts from another "Krishnamurti’s notebook" were published around the time of the agreement (Weeraperuma 1998, pp. 24–25, 26).
  22. Lutyens 1975, p. x; J. Krishnamurti 1976a, edition notice, Foreword pp. 5–6, "Itinerary" p. 7. The Krishnamurti Foundation Trust is one of several official Krishnamurti-related organizations; the 1st Perennial Library edition paperback (OCLC 4799556), was a reprint with alternate cover design.
  23. Krishnamurti Publications 2009, p. [2].
  24. J. Krishnamurti 2003, edition notice. The edition's "Itinerary" (p. iii) adds several pages to the range of the previously-final section ("New Delhi"), plus a new section (the 10th, "Bombay") covering the two additional months of diary entries and related occasional editor notes; fascimiles are of items at the Krishnamurti Archives (KFA n.d.).
  25. ^ Krishnamurti Publications 2009, p. 12. See WorldCat search link for information on editions and reprints. Retrieved 2015-12-16; Gollancz published a "Revised edition" in 1985 (with unspecified revisions, ISBN 978-0575037632) featuring a portrait of Krishnamurti on the front cover. It was listed on Amazon UK as a 256-page paperback ("Krishnamurti's Notebook Paperback – 29 Aug 1985". Retrieved 2015-12-22 – via Amazon UK); the unabridged CD version of the audiobook (ISBN 978-1538587775) was published in a 9-disc package (Blackstone Wholesale 2021, "Krishnamurti's Notebook", § "Details". Retrieved 2021-09-30).
  26. ^ A snapshot of the JKO document's pages [JKO document no. 80] was archived from a "legacy" version of the official repository in December 2012. See Krishnamurti's Notebook at the Wayback Machine (archived 2012-12-26). However as of April 2022 the work was not available at the contemporary version of the repository.
  27. Bagby 1976. Positive review of the original US edition.
  28. Kirkus Reviews 1976. Positive review of the original US edition.
  29. The Observer 1976. Neutral mini-review of the original UK edition.
  30. Zimbalist 2014, "Issue 41". Retrieved 2022-02-23. Mary Zimbalist in her memoir quotes contemporary notes: "... the Guardian book review department rang up asking to interview him about The Notebook.... The BBC is sending down a Radio 4 interviewer to interview him. Krishnaji [Krishnamurti] asked, 'Why are they interested?' He brushes aside the obvious replies." Zimbalist states that Krishnamurti was dubious about the quality of BBC's interview; she dismissed the 1976 broadcast as "a nothing". It was published in February 2024 as "Audio | J. Krishnamurti – Brockwood Park 1976 – Krishnamurti interviewed by Gerard [sic] Priestland on YouTube. Retrieved 2024-02-14 – via J. Krishnamurti Official Channel.
  31. Krishnamurti was aware of The Guardian article, which an associate termed "undistinguished", and decided to review the book himself; he then dictated a review, "laughing as he went along" (Zimbalist, Mary. "Appendix 3: § About Krishnamurti's Notebook – A Book Review". In Grohe 2014, p. 100. Preamble to Krishnamurti's review); the review was partly reproduced in Lutyens' The Years of Fulfilment (Lutyens 1983, pp. 88, 212–213).
  32. J. Krishnamurti 1979a, 1 h 9 min 42 s in. Retrieved 2024-08-05. Official transcript: "In your Notebook sir, you make mention of a process"; J. Krishnamurti 1979b, 34 min 40 s in. Retrieved 2022-08-05. (Official transcript ¶ [23]); J. Krishnamurti 1983; J. Krishnamurti 1985, 21 min 7 s in, 40 min 11 s in. Retrieved 2022-08-05. (Official transcript ¶¶ [9], [17]).
  33. The reaction of some readers elicited comments from Krishnamurti and associates. In 1977 meetings with trustees of the Krishnamurti foundations, he remarked about the untoward effect the Notebook's publication had on some people in India, and concurred that in general, it had "set off ... [a]ll sorts, [of] crazy [people]" (J. Krishnamurti 2011, chs. "1. You Have Drunk at the Fountain", "4. Can this Be Kept Alive Flowering Forever Timelessly?").
  34. The Times 1986.
  35. Daniel 2006.

References

  • Neustatter, Angela (19 June 1976). "Krishna Murti (right) is the guru who, since cutting loose Anne Besant and theosophy 50 years ago, has preached transcendental development without building a commercial empire". The Guardian. London: Guardian News & Media. p. 11. ISSN 0261-3077. ProQuest 185873254. [Variant spelling:] Krishna Murti.
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