The Link #26 - Events and Announcements

February 23–25		The art of enquiring
March 23–28		Death
April 27–29		Ambition and the search for power
May 12		An introduction to Krishnamurti’s teachings
May 17-20		La responsabilité (in French)
May 25-27		Open dialogue
June 9		An introduction to Krishnamurti’s teachings
June 22–24		Prejudices and opinions
July 7		An introduction to Krishnamurti’s teachings
July 27 – August 1		Is it possible to end violence?
August 9 – August 12		Studying Krishnamurti’s teachings 20th Anniversary of the Study Centre at Brockwood Park
August 18		An introduction to Krishnamurti’s teachings
September 8		An introduction to Krishnamurti’s teachings
September 21–23		The meaning of beauty
October 26–28		Guilt
November 1-4		La violence (in French)
November 25–30		Bringing about a fundamental change in one’s life

While the Centre is open for most of the year for individual study, certain periods are set aside as Theme Weekends, Study Retreats, or Introduction Days for those who would like to share and pursue their inquiry with others in an atmosphere of openness and seriousness. These events are open equally to people who are acquainted with the teachings and to those who are new to them.

Theme Weekends and Study Retreats start on Friday at lunchtime and end after lunch on the last day. Introduction Days are one-day events (10.30am–5.00pm including lunch) that serve as a general introduction to the life and teachings of Krishnamurti.

For reservations and inquiries, please contact: The Krishnamurti Centre, Brockwood Park (see pg. 65); online bookings: www.krishnamurticentre.org.uk

Please note that the International Committees, Information Centres and study groups are also invited to inquire about using the Centre.

Annual Saanen Gathering 2007 in Switzerland

The dates for the 2007 Gathering will most likely be:

Parents with Children Programme at Chalet Alpenblick: 29 July – 4 August
Main programme at Rosey in Schönried: 4–18 August
Mountain Programme for Young People in Bourg St-Pierre: 19 –26 August

For information, please contact: Gisèle Balleys, 7a Chemin Floraire, 1225 Chêne-Bourg, Genève, Switzerland, Tel/Fax: [41] (22) 349 6674; giseleballeys@hotmail.com

Or, check the Classifieds at www.kinfonet.org.

Summer Work Party at Brockwood Park 2007

For 10 days in July you can help Brockwood Park with its gardening and/or building maintenance while also having the opportunity to explore Krishnamurti’s teachings with others. Mornings are for the work and the afternoons are unscheduled. From 4.00 or 5.00 pm there are dialogues or K videos.
For further information, please contact Yannick Benoit at Brockwood Park, or at facilities@brockwood.org.uk.

Oak Grove Teacher’s Academy 2007

“Can a teacher truly educate, that is help bring about intelligence in a student, without an understanding and awareness of his or her own nature? Join us as we explore Krishnamurti’s revolutionary approach to education, both as an invitation to self understanding and as a basis for classroom learning. This three-week, residential program offers participants a forum for philosophical investigation as well as the opportunity to look at the challenges of classroom implementation.” (See the article on pg. 35 of this Link.) In 2007, the programme will take place July 2–20.

For further information, please contact the KFA, or see their website: www.kfa.org.

Krishnamurti Summer Study Program 2007

The third annual four-week Krishnamurti Summer Study Program for college students in Ojai, California will take place in July 2007. It is “a sustained immersion into the life-changing teachings of Krishnamurti and an in-depth inquiry into the workings of the mind and the nature of thought. ... The goal of the course is to help students discover for themselves a new perceptual understanding of life based on fresh insights and self-knowledge gained directly through dialogue. Students will receive a syllabus and bibliography of all videos and books used in the course to help them apply for college credit, if they choose. In addition we ask that each student complete a paper before the end of the program that can relate Krishnamurti’s teachings to their personal lives or their college studies. ... We take students for regular hikes into the beautiful mountains and valleys, or on trips to the beaches of Santa Barbara and Ventura. At night we share ideas and insights from our readings of Krishnamurti’s books around a fire under the night sky.”

For further information, please contact the KFA, or see their website: www.kfa.org.

Annual Gatherings in India, USA, Thailand

These Gatherings are usually held towards the end or the beginning of the calendar year. As this coincides with the publication of The Link, readers rarely have time to plan to attend if they are relying solely on The Link for the information. We therefore encourage readers to check the relevant websites.

Krishnamurti Foundation India: www.kfionline.org
Krishnamurti Foundation of America: www.kfa.org
Krishnamurti Foundation Trust, England: www.kfoundation.org
Stream Garden Retreat Centre, Thailand: www.anveekshana.org

And, for announcements regarding these and many other activities in the ‘K world’, please regularly check www.kinfonet.org.

Announcements

New Initiatives in India

The All-India Teachings Dissemination Project
In 2005, the Krishnamurti Foundation India (KFI) launched a project for making Krishnamurti’s teachings available as widely as possible, and to a new readership, within India. The project stemmed from the feeling that a lasting base for dissemination can be laid only by ensuring that any serious seeker anywhere in the country has free and easy access to K books (rather than CDs, DVDs or websites, given the general circumstances in the country) in both English and regional languages. (The term ‘easy access’ was defined as the availability of K books within an hour’s bus ride of any house.) It was possible to contemplate this thanks to India’s having a large number of public libraries; however, since it was difficult to get the libraries to purchase the books, the only option was to donate them.

The Dissemination Project set about doing this first in the east and northeast of the country. Within ten months, it had created ‘a network of K libraries’ in ten states. Later, the project moved to the south and west. By the end of 2006, it will have completed its work in the largest part of the country, namely the Hindi-speaking states of the north.

Questions like these should be asked of each of us involved in the work around the teachings of Krishnamurti because if they are not asked, and asked seriously, then an institution will be founded that will be no different from any other. You will spend all your efforts fundraising, managing property, maintaining an institution; worse still, you will develop an institutional mind. Can you from the very beginning, from this the first day, be so clear and passionate about your intent that even if you are here for fifty years you will be clear? How is that possible? How is that done?

In each state, the target libraries at town, city and district levels were carefully chosen to ensure adequate membership and usage. Two sets of books were donated, in English and the language of the region – hand-delivered by a group of young people. They briefed the librarians about the scheme and the value of the donations, and then put up posters in the libraries to inform the members. The posters also served as an introduction to Krishnamurti. This was the first – and passive phase – of the project.

The next phase was to ‘activate’ the library network, which meant informing local people about the availability of the K books in nearby libraries. This was, and is, being done by publishing the addresses of the libraries in KFI’s English and regional-language newsletters. On completion of the project, a directory of the libraries will be produced for reference and kept in Krishnamurti study centres and schools, as well as published online.

Recently, the aim of the project was extended to the rest of the Indian sub-continent. Nepal has been brought within the scheme, and plans are being developed to cover the other countries, as well: Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Thank you and all good wishes.

Newsletters
The KFI recently launched two newsletters, in the south Indian languages of Telugu and Malayalam, on the lines of the newsletter in Tamil launched six years ago. They have the common aim of making K’s teachings more available to the poor, semi-educated people in rural towns and villages. The newsletters include translations of K talks, writings and discussions, as well as information about new K books and DVDs. They do not include articles or interpretative studies about K, nor give emphasis to K’s life or organisational matters. Published three times a year and mailed free of charge to individuals and institutions, the newsletters have evoked a very positive response, and the readership keeps growing.

Subsidised Editions
The popularity of the newsletters has prompted the KFI to launch another scheme, the aim of which is to make a few K books available at the lowest possible price. The chosen books are those that seem to be most understandable to someone reading K for the first time: Freedom from the Known, Beyond Violence, and Education and the Significance of Life. They are being sold for Rs 20 each (less than half a US dollar), with the normal price being three or four times that. Another book, The First and Last Freedom, is being sold at the subsidized rate of Rs 50. These books are in great demand, which means that they are being sought out by an entirely new readership.

Resident Students’ Scheme
A project in operation for many years now is the Resident Students’ Scheme, the aim of which is to enable serious people from any part of the world, especially the young, to take time off to delve deeply into Krishnamurti’s teachings and to re-examine their lives. Resident students stay at the study centre on the beautiful campus of Vasanta Vihar, the KFI headquarters, for three months, during which time they can make use of the library there, take part in dialogues, and also engage in some activity of their choice. There is neither a fixed programme nor any expectation of results from the scheme.

Support
All of these projects run solely on the financial support provided by generous donors – from within and outside India. For more information, or to make a donation, please contact: Krishnamurti Foundation India, Vasanta Vihar, 124 Greenways Road, Chennai 600 028, India; kfihq@md2.vsnl.net.in.

Publications

The KFT and KFA have published a new edition of Krishnamurti’s extraordinary Notebook that includes a completely new section of recently discovered, originally hand-written, manuscript pages, an excerpt from which appears in this Link. Please order by going to the website http://www.pathless.com

Published annually by the KFI, the Journal of the Krishnamurti Schools goes in depth into innovations in the Krishnamurti schools and into Krishnamurti’s approach to education. To order, please contact the KFI .

Obituaries

We are sorry to have to announce the death of Shigetoshi Takahashi. He was the head of the Krishnamurti Center of Japan for many years and was instrumental in seeing that Krishnamurti’s books were translated into Japanese.

We are also sorry to have to announce the death of Donald Ingram Smith. He was the long-time president of Krishnamurti Australia and the author of The Transparent Mind – a Journey with Krishnamurti, an excerpt from which was published in our last issue.

Finally, we are also sorry to have to announce the death of Padma Santhanam. She was a long-standing trustee of the Krishnamurti Foundation India and had a keen interest in education. She was a founder, friend and patron of The School – KFI – Chennai.