The Link #23 - Dear Friends

In several of the most recent issues of The Link, we included articles about Brockwood Park School. We feel it is important for this wonderful school to be well supported, because it is a fundamental part of Brockwood Park as a whole, which in turn is the centre for interest in Krishnamurti’s teachings in Europe. The school continues to need more students, and perhaps you know of someone who would like to attend. Or perhaps you could help one of the young people who would like to study there to be able financially to do so. Also, there are often openings for skilled staff members.

Now, and in the coming Links, we are moving on to include at least one article per issue about the K schools in India, each of which is full of vitality and very interesting. We are starting with the oldest one, Rishi Valley School. K once told me that when he first visited the place with Annie Besant, he asked her to buy the whole valley. He very much liked the great banyan tree there, and it indicated that there would be underground water available. They started the school under very rudimentary conditions, and K told me: We slept on the floor! K remained involved with the school to his last year, attending a teachers’ conference there in 1985. He also held lovely discussions with the younger students, and these were recorded on video and are available. During the last International Trustees Meetings with K present, held at Brockwood Park in 1984, K asked Radhika Herzberger, then Director of Studies at Rishi Valley and now overall Director, to promise by shaking hands with him that she would see to the establishment of rural ‘satellite ’schools for the valley. As you can see in the article on page 55, Radhika’s promise was entirely fulfilled. The students of Rishi Valley School are now even in contact with the villages in the valley through exchanges and visits.

Recently I had some correspondence with Alain Naudé, who was K’s secretary for several years in the 1960s and helped to introduce K’s teachings into American universities. There is a book entitled Talks with American Students from this time. Alain told me a funny story about something that happened between K and Maurice Friedman, a Polish engineer who went to India and became a sannyasin, then spent much time around K and participated in dialogues with him in the 1940s. Maurice absolutely wanted K to be his guru, and of course K refused. But after a long time of Maurice insisting and insisting, K finally said: Okay,I am your guru.You have to obey your guru. I tell you, you should never have a guru!

This winter I will be spending some time in Ojai, partly at the KFA’s Krishnamurti Retreat, to see old and new friends from the Foundation and Oak Grove School. We enjoy meetings over brunch with as many people as possible, bringing together those who usually meet only in the work place but who enjoy coming together in this way as well. This is how we met Patrick Foster, who wrote the article on page 41. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the work of a K school.

Friedrich Grohe, September 2003

P.S. Until last year, it was difficult for us to receive donations towards the cost of The Link because of high bank charges on foreign cheques. Now, those who would like to help can donate securely online via credit card; to do so, please go to www.kinfonet.org. You can also help by reading The Link online at www.kinfonet.org or by printing it out from there rather than receiving a hard copy by post from us. If you would like to remove your name from our mailing list, or add the names of friends, please contact us. Many thanks.