A Timeless Spring

J. Krishnamurti's connection with the sacred city of Banaras in the north of India goes way back to 1910 when he visited it for the first time with his mentor Dr. Annie Besant. By 1928, he desired that land be bought along the hanks of the river for an educational centre. Rajghat, the site of the ancient city of Kashi, situated at the confluence of the Ganga and Varuna, is that land. In this place, Krishnamurti came every winter till his death in 1986. The setting is extraordinarily beautiful, and his writings included in this book convey the magic and poetry of the landscape.

A Timeless Spring is a book with a difference. It presents a historical record of Krishnamurti's relationship to a particular place and its people over many decades. Included are some of the great public talks given here, in this pilgrim city, on meditation, death, and creation. There are also dialogues with Sanskrit pundits and Buddhist scholars, which evoke the timeless quality of his Teachings. The section on education is very special, for his talks and discussions with students and teachers are simple and direct. Each of these sections carries the flavour of Krishnamurti's presence at Rajghat, linking myth and history with a vibrant present.

During his long and peripatetic life, J. Krishnamurti spent more than fifty winters in India, dividing his time between the large cities of Madras, Bombay and Delhi and his schools in Rajghat and Rishi Valley. A Timeless Spring- Krishnamurti At Rajghat is the first of a series of books intended to evoke the flavour of Krishnamurti's presence in the places in India to which he returned year after year. These books will provide a record of Krishnamurti's teachings in a specific locus, and highlight the universal as well as the particular aspects of these Teachings.

Rajghat is situated on the outskirts of the city of Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganga. Rajghat's classical past, its philosophical and religious traditions, its extreme conservatism, the beauty of its countryside and the poverty of its rural population, form the background against which Krishnamurti spoke- to students, and CO the public at large. Rajghat also provides the setting we several of Krishnamurti's reflections in his diaries and notebooks, selections from which are included here.

The selections in this book, taken largely from Krishnamurti's unpublished work, cover the period from 1955 to 1985. Selections from his writings on Rajghat are included to communicate his feeling for the place. Following this are samples of his talks with students, which show the delicacy and sensitivity with which Krishnamurti was able to pose eternal questions about the meaning of life to young minds. They are followed by illustrative samples of questions children raised with him.

**Contents and Sample Pages**