City gets a glimpse of J Krishnamurti’s philosophy

Varanasi: The Krishnamurti Study Centre at Rajghat, where the renowned thinker and spiritual teacher J Krishnamurti lived during his annual visits to Varanasi, witnessed a special musical presentation by students of Rajghat Besant School on Monday to mark the inauguration of three-day event —‘The First Step is the Last Step’ based on Krishnamurti’s philosophy.
The exhibition, curated by the Krishnamurti Foundation of India, has been organised as a part of the year-long celebration of 125th birth anniversary of Krishnamurti (May 11, 2019- May 11, 2020). After the premier at Chennai on February 1, the exhibition travelled to Varanasi.
During the exhibition, visitors got an opportunity to visit Krishnamurti’s library, see his audio and video recordings and his research materials. The centre has a reading room facing the river, a video room, a silence room, a dialogue room, and a bookshop where Krishnamurti’s teachings are available in English and Hindi.
The exhibition invites the viewer to engage with themes that Krishnamurti frequently spoke or wrote about - fear, love, violence, death, religion, relationship and education, said joint director of Rajghat Education Centre Kumar Radhakrishnan. He said that it was felt that endeavour should be made to introduce Krishnamurti’s vision to a wider audience. following which the foundation is plannimng to make his teachings available on various digital platforms.
The Rajghat Education Centre, comprising of Vasanta College for Women, Rajghat Besant School and Achyut Patwardhan Rural School was established 90 years ago. The centre also offers a research scholarship programme for those wishing to research any aspect of Krishnamurti’s teachings, said Radhakrishnan. Theme study retreats and video screenings of Krishnamurti’s talks and dialogues on human issues are held regularly here.
The exhibition will conclude on February 19 with the presentation of a film, ‘Kannati Bimbam’, a documentary on the traditional craft of mirror making by Harsha Vinay of Alice Bonner Institute.