Krishnamurti held a series of talks in the autumn and winter of 1982-83 in New Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai and Mumbai. Among the subjects discussed in this compilation are: Where there is a cause, there is an end. Is there psychological evolution? What is a religious mind? In ending there is a new beginning. From very ancient times, human beings have been taught to regard thought as the most powerful and perhaps the only instrument they have for dealing with life. Krishnamurti shatters this dearly held notion by declaring that the instrument of thought produces havoc within individuals and in the world at large. Thought, no doubt, has helped man to progress in functional areas, and it has its rightful place there. But in the psychological realm, the solutions it offers only create more problems. Developing this theme in this book, Krishnamurti shows how the instrument of thought is inadequate in tackling the basic emotions that generally underlie individual and collective action - violence, hurt, conflict, insecurity, pleasure, fear, sorrow and so on. He explains, in different contexts, how thought itself creates and sustains these problems. 'So is there a new instrument totally different from thought', he asks in these series of talks given in New Delhi, Calcutta, Madras and Bombay between October 1982 and January 1983.
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.