i am not a practitioner of T.M. so i can not comment. He signals out this form of meditation. The meditation i practiced from Amma came without a cost and the cost of the meditation techniques by Yogananda were the price of mailing and printing. Krishnamurti speaks of the costs. What did he charge to see him? Krishnamurti asks the question what is the motive of meditation? My answer for me is happiness and i find happiness at various levels during meditation.
His 'technique' of walking is also used by Buddhists; 'walking meditation.' When one meditates the energy from the body withdraws and soul consciousness instead of body consciousness begins. Krshnamurti talks about stopping the mind from chattering. This is precisely what takes place while meditating deeply. 'If you listen to the mind rationally. When you listen to the mind it becomes silent. Scientists must have quiet minds while investigating. Can we do the same?'
'Begin at the rational level by walking, standing and sitting.' He says. i see nothing wrong with his 'technique' for listening to the mind and silencing it. However i would like to go beyond mind. For me this requires a tremendous stillness which cannot be accomplished by walking or standing. The breath actually is slowed down and may even be stopped. This is not possible for me while standing or walking. The physical body is still very active and requires maintenance at the very biological level while standing or walking with this bodily activity going on the mind becomes quickly distracted by sounds and the senses which are activated by pains, aches and changes in environment and sensory stimulation. Endless sensory information coming in at the conscious level while walking etc. distract the attention from focusing and interiorizing. Observing the mind is one thing but to still the mind is something entirely different.
My solution is to get beyond both the body and mind as much as possible and to focus without distractions from the environment. These distractions are quite obvious in the method Krishnamurti gives. While there is benefit in what he prescribes for observing the mind i see it as very limited as compared to being in meditation. It reminds me of hearing people try to tell me they are meditating while for instance fishing. It is quite evident they have had no real meditation; while they might have had a peaceful afternoon. We can speak of observing the mind which is a helpful spiritual practice. However when he compares a meditation technique with observing the mind he is missing a key point. That is that true meditation is more then observing the mind. It is only one part of the whole practice.
Me and Steve talked on the phone about meditation today. We were doing a bit of note comparing, and I told him how I thought that if we go into meditation looking for something to happen - a big payola - then meditation is not possible. Here is a video I saw recently of J. Krishnamurti saying much the same thing.
Time to watch: 20 minutes
