During the last decade of his life, Krishnamurti urged the Krishnamurti Foundations in India, England and America to start study centres for serious adults, as he felt that most people in the modern world, being caught in their routine of office and home, do not have the leisure to delve into his teachings and take stock of their lives. However, he made it clear that studying his teachings is neither an intellectual exercise nor a theological pursuit, its sole aim being to bring about a deep, religious transformation in oneself. His vision of a study centre, his concern over its aesthetics and its inwardness, the responsibility of the hosts and the guests, the quality of dialogues, the nature of the religious mind, all these and many more form the contents of this book, which is of special relevance to those visiting these study centres.
Jiddu Krishnamurti lived from 1895 to 1986, and is regarded as one of the greatest philosophical and spiritual figures of the twentieth century. Krishnamurti claimed no allegiance to any caste, nationality or religion and was bound by no tradition. His purpose was to set humankind unconditionally free from the destructive limitations of conditioned mind. For nearly sixty years he traveled the world and spoke spontaneously to large audiences until the end of his life in 1986 at the age of ninety. He had no permanent home, but when not traveling, he often stayed in Ojai, California, Brockwood Park, England, and in Chennai, India. In his talks, he pointed out to people the need to transform themselves through self knowledge, by being aware of the subtleties of their thoughts and feelings in daily life, and how this movement can be observed through the mirror of relationship.
