Man is Not the Measure

“You raised a question: What is sacred? Without finding that, without coming upon it—not you finding it—without that coming into being, you cannot have a new culture, you cannot have a new human quality.” This remarkable statement dispels the widespread but erroneous notion that Krishnamurti was not a religious teacher but only a rational thinker or a modern intellectual. Over the years, in different contexts and in different words, he kept pointing out that man, with his limited intellect, is always making the mistake of trying to measure life—life which is limitless, immeasurable, incalculable. Can humanity, therefore, turn in a new direction, which is to ‘come upon something which is not man-made, which may be sacred’? This urgent demand of Krishnamurti finds novel expression in this book consisting of fifteen dialogues, held from 1977 to 1984 in Madras, Rishi Valley, Bombay, and New Delhi. The great religious teacher’s concern and compassion cover the whole field of human existence­, summed up in profound questions such as: Why is man still what he is after a million years? What am I? What is relevant in life? What price will you pay to end conflict and sorrow? What is the essence of a religious life?