The Beauty of the Mountain

This memoir is a unique documentation of traveling and learning with Krishnamurti. From the author's Introduction to The Beauty of the MountainThis book came about because Krishnamurti asked the people who were working with him…if we could convey the perfume of what it was like to be around him…A friend once asked me what had touched me most about the teachings. After some reflection I realized it was something Krishnamurti had said during a public talk and also in one of the discussions with David Bohm included in The Ending of Time. It was: Love has no cause.When people now ask me what Krishnamurti was like as a person, my first reply is that he was full of love and affection. It is clear to me that he lived what he was talking about. He was incredibly attentive and considerate and of course radically insightful. But I'm wary of reducing it, which is why I am including here virtually everything I remember - so one can get a general impression without (hopefully) my circumscribing it. The following excerpt from the book Questions and Answers led to the title The Beauty of the Mountain. It begins with a question that I could see myself asking Krishnamurti. Shall I talk about your teachings?Krishnamurti: All the religious preachings of the priests, the gurus, are promulgated by fragmented human beings. Though they say, "We are high up," they are still fragmented human beings. And the questioner says: I have understood what you have said somewhat, partially, not completely; I am not a transformed human being. I understand, and I want to tell others what I have understood. I do not say I have understood the whole, I have understood a part. I know it is fragmented, I know it is not complete, I am not interpreting the teachings, I am just informing you what I have understood. Well, what is wrong with that? But if you say: "I have grasped the whole completely and I am telling you" then you become an authority, the interpreter; such a person is a danger, he corrupts other people. But if I have seen something which is true I am not deceived by it; it is true and in that there is a certain affection, love, compassion; I feel that very strongly - then naturally I cannot help but go out to others; it would be silly to say I will not. But I warn my friends, I say, "Look, be careful, do not put me on a pedestal." The speaker is not on a pedestal. This pedestal, this platform, is only for convenience; it does not give him any authority whatsoever. But as the world is, human beings are tied to something or other - to a belief, to a person, to an idea, to an illusion, to a dogma - so they are corrupt; and the corrupt speak and we, being also somewhat corrupt, join the crowd.Seeing the beauty of these hills, the river, the extraordinary tranquility of a fresh morning, the shape of the mountains, the valleys, the shadows, how everything is in proportion, seeing all that, will you not write to your friend, saying, "Come over here, look at this"? You are not concerned about yourself but only about the beauty of the mountain. Questions and Answers, pp. 63-64 © 1982 Krishnamurti Foundation Trust Ltd In these recollections I would like to share with my friends, and whoever else may be interested, the beauty of the mountain. Friedrich Grohe, Rougemont, Switzerland