On Education

This book is the outcome of talks and discussions held by J Krishnamurti with the students and teachers of Rishi Valley School and Rajghat Besant School. Krishnamurti regards education as of prime significance in the communication of that which is central to the transformation of the human mind and the creation of a new culture. As the topics in these stimulating talks and discussions reveal, he questions the very roots of our culture so that a comprehensive view on education emerges.

Krishnamurti's challenge is addressed not only to the structure of education but to the very nature and quality of man's mind and life. Unlike all other attempts to salvage or suggest alternatives to the failing education system, his approach breaks through the frontiers of particular cultures and establishes an entirely new set of values. To Krishnamurti, a new mind is possible only when the religious spirit and the scientific attitude form part of the same consciousness. While he gives emphasis to the cultivation of the intellect, he lays far greater stress on a heightened critical awareness of the inner and outer world.

J. Krishnamurti (1895 - 1986) is regarded as one of the greatest philosophers and religious teachers of all time. For more than sixty years he travelled the world over, giving talks and holding dialogues, not as a guru but as a friend. His teachings are not based on book knowledge and theories, and therefore they communicate directly to ,‘ anyone seeking answers to the present world crisis as well NI as to the eternal problems of human existence.

THIS BOOK IS the outcome of talks and discussions held in India by J. Krishnamurti with the students and teachers of schools at Rishi Valley in Andhra Pradesh and Rajghat at Varanasi. These centres are run by the Krishnamurti Foundation India, which was set up to create a milieu where the teachings of Krishnamurti could be communicated to the child. Krishnamurti regards education as of prime significance in the communication of that which is central to the transformation of the human mind and the creation of a new culture. Such a fundamental transformation takes place when the child, while being trained in various skills and disciplines, is also given the capacity to be awake to the processes of his own thinking, feeling and action. This alertness makes him self-critical and observant and thus establishes an integrity of perception, discrimination and action, crucial to the maturing within him of a right relationship to man, to nature and to the tools man creates.

There is a questioning today of the basic postulates of the educational structure and its various systems in India and in the rest of the world. At all levels there is a growing realisation that the existing models have failed and that there is a total lack of relevance between the human being and the complex, contemporary society. The ecological crisis and increasing poverty, Foreword hunger and violence, are forcing man inevitably to face the realities of the human situation. At a time like this, a completely new approach to the postulates of education is necessary. Krishnamurti questions the roots of our culture. His challenge is addressed not only to the structure of education but to the nature and quality of man's mind and life. Unlike all other attempts to salvage or suggest alternatives to the educational system, Krishnamurti's approach breaks through frontiers of particular cultures and establishes an entirely new set of values, which in turn can create a new civilization and a new society.

**Contents and Sample Pages**