The Link #23 - Announcements

Towards the end of 2002, and just after our last issue went to print, we learned of the death of Erna Lilliefelt. Erna was a Founding Trustee of the Krishnamurti Foundation of America and an active and effective member of the Trust Board until just a few years before her death. She played a crucial role in the recovery of assets for the benefit of the KFA around the time of its formation.

Erna wrote her private memoirs shortly before she died. In them she recounts a nice exchange that she had with K. At a private meeting with him in Madras in the early 1950s, he asked her why she had come to the Theosophical Headquarters in Madras. She replied that she had been concerned about something in the TS’s views as they were practised in Illinois, and the way they affected the people there. K then asked: If it didn’t make sense to you in Illinois, why did you think it would make sense in Madras? She goes on to state that after listening to K’s series of Talks in Madr as, she felt able to move on with a wonderful feeling of freedom from the burden of beliefs and concepts that had previously preoccupied her.

New Study Centre in Hyderabad, India

JK Centre, Hyderabad, is happy to announce that, after many ups and downs, its study centre project is approaching completion. An inauguration will be held in January or February 2004. The centre sits in beautiful surroundings of over 20 acres and is about an hour’s drive from the city. It will have a large K library-meeting hall and cottages for visitors. For further information, please contact Aparajita at 3-6-361/20, Behind Lady Hyderi Club, Himayath Nagar, Hyderabad 500 029; Tel: [91] (40) 322 4401, e-mail: jkchyd@india.com.

Teacher Vacancy at Inwoods Small School, Brockwood Park

Inwoods, a Krishnamurti primary school on the grounds of Brockwood Park, may have openings in the near future for full-time or part-time staff. People with a strong interest in K’s teachings and the education of childr en are encouraged to contact Inwoods via email at mail@inwoods.org.uk or by phone on +[44] (1962) 771 065.

Asian Committees Meeting Report

Among issues central to the role of the Krishnamurti Foundations as elucidated by Krishnamurti, the preservation and dissemination of the Teachings are some of the most important. As copyright holders to the entire original works of Krishnamurti, the Krishnamurti Foundation Trust Ltd. and the Krishnamurti Foundation of America have, one can surmise, a great deal to do with all that is happening with the Teachings worldwide. For various reasons, among them lack of resources and manpower, it has not been easy for the Krishnamurti Foundations to address this task comprehensively. As a result, they have not always been aware of the full extent to which the Teachings have percolated around the world, in what manner, by what means, and by whom.

Extra-constitutionally, members of the Link team emerged to fulfil this very important role of reaching out, documenting and providing valuable feedback to the K Foundations as well as to the various groups on all that is essential for them to know. Raman and Rabindra especially have been travelling across the world for the last several years, searching out such groups, meeting with them and, importantly, advising, assisting and networking these groups with one another. The synergy this valuable exercise has produced is already palpable.

The reports brought back from their travels show that Krishnamurti’s Teachings have reached very far and deep. Individuals and groups, called ‘Committees’ by the K Foundations, located in far-flung corners of the globe, are actively engaged in often isolated but passionate efforts to share the Teachings with fellow countrymen, battling great odds, overcoming trying obstacles and hardships. Needless to say, some of these hardships have, in fact, to do with the absence of contact with the rest of the ‘Krishnamurti world’, with which they, sometimes unknowingly, happen to share the same intent.

I feel that all these years of networking by the Link team, and their efforts to work with the K Foundations in recognition of the need and importance of reaching out to groups in more distant and isolated parts of the world, were responsible for bringing about the Asian Committees Meeting at the Quest Foundation’s Retreat Centre in Thailand last February. The KFT’s gesture of hosting it was the first proactive move from a K Foundation towards Asian countries.

For most countries that managed to represent their work at the ACM, the first feelings were those of surprise to learn that, unknown to one another, so much has been going on within this continent. The ACM was, in fact, the only existing common platform on which these Asian neighbours could meet, share and learn from each other’s experiences. Since much dissemination work has happened through translation, publication and distribution of K’s work, the KFT’s presence at the ACM was of special significance. Many related issues were discussed, new understandings were forged, and a common direction was found to bond the various groups in a shared agenda.

At the Quest Foundation, which has had close connections with The Link since its inception, Raman and Rabindra have been annual visitors and, in the last couple of years, active participants in its programmes, the Winter Gatherings and the Travel Dialogues in particular. The Link team has also been a steady financial supporter of specific activities of the Quest Foundation.

There had been difficulties between the Quest Foundation and the KFT, particularly in the context of translation and publication of Krishnamurti’s works in Thailand. This was due partly to the lack of knowledge and appreciation of the ground conditions in which Asian groups operate. The joint effort by the KFT and Raman and Rabindra has signified a real break-though and has gone a long way to resolving many of those issues. For us at the Quest Foundation, it was a godsend to be able to actually meet with Jaap and Kristy of the KFT, go through the necessary trust-building process in a friendly manner, and forge new understandings for the future of the work in Thailand.

The Asian Committees Meeting closed with concrete achievements for all groups — the Asian Committees, the Link team and the KFT — all of which are now tightly knit into one network of friendships and shared intentions. It will be invaluable for the Asian Committees Meeting to continue to take place as often as the groups can manage to come together.

Vikram Parchure, March 2003