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RV78DS1 - Don’t compare yourself with anybody
Rishi Valley, India - 30 November 1978
Discussion with Students 1



0:00 This is J. Krishnamurti’s first discussion with students at Rishi Valley, in 1978.
0:10 Krishnamurti (K): Do I start now?
0:13 Student (S): Yes, sir.
0:14 K: Yes?
0:15 S: Yes, sir.
0:16 K: You are sure?
0:17 S: Yes, sir.
0:18 K: Thank you. What would you like me to talk about?
0:29 S: Will power, sir.
0:31 K: What?
0:33 S: Will power.
0:37 K: Which?
0:39 G. Narayan (GN): Will power. Will, will, will power.
0:42 K: Will power. By Jove! Will power, what else would you like me to talk about? We can talk about fear, we can talk about learning, we can talk about will power, we can talk about what you are going to do when you leave this place, we can talk about what your life’s going to be, how you are going to live it, and so on. What would you like me to talk about?
1:25 S: Sir, desire.
1:28 K: Desire? By Jove, you seem to have a lot of... You all understand English, don’t you?
1:42 S: Yes, sir.
1:44 K: Yes, sir? Right. Shall we start, if we may, this morning, what it means to learn, learn about desire, learn about fear, learn about will power, learn what your life is going to be later on when you get married or not married, when you have a job, and so on. So shall we talk about that? What it means to learn. Would you like to begin with that?
2:27 S: Yes… (Inaudible)
2:29 K: I know, but I am asking you. You will agree with anything, won’t you? (Laughter) Shall we start with that?
2:42 S: Yes.
2:43 K: Yes?
2:44 S: Yes, sir.
2:46 K: Right. What do you think is learning? What is implied in learning? What is the whole way of learning? The meaning of learning, the content of learning and why should one learn at all? You are following all this? So, first, let’s find out what is implied in learning. Not only mathematics and biology or science, physics, but also learning what the world is like. The world in which you are going to enter when you pass here, go away from here, college, university—the world outside you. What is implied in all that? So, to learn, first, doesn’t mean that you must learn, but you must understand how to listen, doesn’t it? Right? You can’t learn about anything—about the mountains, about the trees, about the waters, the flight of the bird or the beauty of the land, unless you see clearly, unless you hear, listen. So the first requirement in learning is to listen. Isn’t it? Would you agree to that? Right? Now, do you listen?, or you only partially listen. Your attention is somewhere else, and you casually listen. Right?
5:19 S: Sir, if we are interested, we listen.
5:24 K: If you are interested, you listen. Are you not interested in learning?
5:29 S: Some of us are interested in learning.
5:37 K: Yes. So I am saying, if you are interested in learning, the first thing is to listen, isn’t it? No? Agreed? Where are my two friends who used to come and sit here?
6:00 GN: They are writing exams.
6:02 K: They are at an exam?
6:04 GN: Yes.
6:05 K: They are not here?
6:07 GN: They are writing a public examination.
6:15 K: Poor chaps. (Laughter) Oh, I’ll miss them. Don’t you? So the first thing is to listen, isn’t it? If I want to learn from somebody—from your teacher, from your educator, from your father or your mother—or if you want to learn, you must listen to the bird, to the various sounds, mustn’t you? So you must find out, first, in order to learn, how to listen. Right? What does it mean to listen? Go on, tell me. You listen to that chap coughing. How do you listen to him? You are not only listening with your ears, but also you listen to the person who is coughing. Why he is coughing, is that irritation of the throat?, or just avoiding listening. You understand what I am saying? Right? You are following this? So, what does it mean to listen? Have you ever listened to your parents?
8:10 S: Yes, sir.
8:13 K: Yes? (Laughs) I doubt it. Have you ever listened to your educator, your teacher?
8:23 S: Yes, if we are interested, sir.
8:26 K: Ah no, not if. That’s just an avoidance. If I am interested, then I will listen. But I am asking you, do you listen to your teacher?
8:44 S: Not always, sir.
8:46 K: Not always. When do you listen to him? Go on, tell me.
8:53 S: When we feel it is right.
8:59 K: Oh! (Laughter) You only listen to him when you feel it is right. Who decides what is right? You, your teacher, or your grandmother?
9:17 S: We ourselves.
9:21 K: You yourself decide (Laughs) when you should listen to your teacher. Right? Right? That means what? When you like to listen, right?, when it is suitable to listen, when it is convenient to listen, when it is satisfying to listen, is that it? Otherwise, you don’t listen. Is that it? Come on.
9:55 S: Yes, sir.
9:59 K: I want to tell you something unpleasant. Will you listen to it?
10:04 S: Yes, sir.
10:05 K: No, no you won’t. (Laughs) (Laughter) But if I say what a lovely person you are, you will listen very quickly, won’t you?
10:18 S: Yes, sir.
10:20 K: How beautiful you are, then you are all full of ears, aren’t you? Right? So, is that listening? That is, when it suits you, when you like it, when you are interested, when you are not frightened, then you say I will listen. But is that listening? Do you understand my question? Can I listen to you if I am frightened of you?
10:57 S: You could, sir. Out of fright you could
11:11 GN: He says out of fright you can listen. (To S) You go to him.
11:15 K: Come over here, old boy. What is this?
11:18 S: Out of fright you could.
11:19 K: Out of fright you can listen. But when you are frightened, can you listen?
11:26 S: You could.
11:28 K: You could, but you don’t. Do you? When I frighten you, threaten you, you are shrinking, aren’t you? You are nervous, and in that state you can’t listen, can you?
11:44 S: But when you get over that...
11:46 K: Ah, no, no, no. Not when you get over it. I am saying, in that state, when you are frightened, you can’t listen. Right? Right. That’s all. So, you can’t listen when you are frightened. Right? You can’t listen when something pleasant is being said.
12:10 S: You just mentioned that if you are frightened, if somebody praises you, you would listen then very well.
12:19 K: Now, which means what? When somebody praises you, you listen. What does that mean? That you only listen when it pleases you. Is that listening? When something is being said that you like, then you listen. I am questioning, I am asking you, is that listening? Or you are listening whether it is unpleasant or pleasant, when it is fearful, anxious, you are actually listening, aren’t you? Are you?
13:07 S: Sir, you are forcing yourself to listen.
13:09 K: What?
13:10 S: You are forcing yourself to listen.
13:13 K: You are forcing yourself. No, when you force yourself, can you listen?
13:18 S: No, sir.
13:19 K: No. So you are learning the art of listening. That when you are frightened you can’t listen, when you are forcing yourself you can’t listen, when you are threatened you can’t listen, right?, and you cannot listen also when somebody is flattering you or insulting you. So can you put away all that and listen?
13:54 S: How do you put it away, sir?
13:58 K: (Laughs) How do you put it away. You put it away, put all those away when you really want to listen. Right?
14:12 S: But that fear comes over you. You are afraid, sir.
14:31 K: Come over here.
14:32 S: You are afraid, sir.
14:33 K: Afraid. I said to you, just now, when you are afraid you can’t listen. Right? So, you say, how am I to put away all that, fear, not say I like to listen, but I can’t. So can you put all that aside? You can only put all that aside when you really want to find out what the other person is saying. Right?
15:04 S: Yes, sir.
15:05 K: You understand?
15:06 S: Yes, sir.
15:07 K: Now, can you do it?
15:10 S: I’ve never tried, sir.
15:11 K: You’ve never tried. Try it now. (Laughter) I say to you—what?, that you are not too clever. Will you listen to that?
15:36 S: I do.
15:38 K: No, no, wait, wait, Listen carefully. I say to you that you are not too clever.
15:44 S: Sir, you listen to that if you want to improve yourself, sir.
15:52 K: That is, when you want to improve yourself then you listen. Which means what?
16:03 S: We know that we are not good, sir.
16:08 K: (Laughs) Which means that you want to be better. Right? Why?
16:14 S: So that you can come up in life.
16:21 K: (Laughs) Good Lord!
16:24 S: (Inaudible)
16:27 K: Now, wait a minute just listen. I am going to tell you something, just listen to it. Don’t agree or disagree, don’t argue, just find out what I want to say, will you? Find out what I want to say. I want to tell you, don’t compare, don’t compare yourself with somebody, right?, don’t compare whether you are better at your studies than somebody else; don’t compare yourself with somebody who you think is more clever, more beautiful, more intelligent, don’t compare at all with anybody. Have you listened to that? Have you?
17:36 S: Yes, sir.
17:38 K: You have. Now, will you stop comparing?
17:42 S: Sir, without comparing, you can’t learn an art, sir.
17:51 K: (Laughs) You can’t learn...?
17:55 S: An art.
17:56 K: What?
17:58 S: An art.
17:59 K: You compare, you’re saying, if you want to learn an art. Do you know what that word art means? Do you?
18:11 S: Yes, sir, it’s getting to know something new, sir.
18:18 K: No, art, that girl used the word art.
18:21 S: Yes, sir.
18:22 K: Now I am asking you, do you know the meaning? Not the picture, the painting or the statue or the—the word art, what does it mean?
18:34 S: Sir, to enjoy the beauty of something.
18:39 K: (Laughs) No, I understand that, if you enjoy the beauty of something, but I am not talking about the beauty of something, but the word itself.
18:52 S: Sir, the capability to create something. Sir, when you are capable to create something, then you have an art.
19:08 GN: If you are capable of creating something, then it is an art.
19:15 K: How will I explain? You know the word etymology? Do you?
19:23 S: No, sir.
19:25 K: That means finding the root meaning of the word—the root meaning, not about something. Do you understand? Do you?
19:37 S: Yes, sir.
19:38 K: The root meaning of that word means to put everything in its right place. That is the meaning of the word art. Right? Right? Have you understood? If you look into a good dictionary, etymological dictionary, it will tell you the word, derived from Greek and so on, that means to put everything—your socks, your shirt, your trousers, your thoughts, your emotions, your everything in their right place. Right? That’s the meaning of that word. So, the word art, meaning to put in its proper place, also implies to learn how to listen so that you put everything as you listen in the right place.
20:55 S: Does it mean having order, sir?
21:01 K: To have order. When you put your things in your room in proper place, that is order, isn’t it? But if you throw your things all over the place, that is disorder, isn’t it? (Laughs) So, can you put your emotions, your thoughts, your fears in the right place? I told you, please listen to what I have to say. I said, don’t compare. See what is implied. From childhood, we are taught comparison. We say you must be as clever as your brother, you must be as beautiful as somebody else, right?, you must be as tall as somebody else, or in school you get better marks than somebody else. So you are always being compared, and you learn to compare, don’t you? You’ve understood?
22:27 S: Yes, sir.
22:29 K: Why do you compare? I said to you, listen to it. Don’t say, ‘Oh, if I don’t compare, what will happen?’ First, listen to what is being said, learn about it and then argue against it or for it. But first listen. I say, don’t compare yourself with anybody. Right? You have heard that? Right? Now, why do you compare?
23:12 S: To find out who is better.
23:17 K: To find out if you are better. That is, you compare yourself with her, she is much more intelligent, more bright, more clever, and so in comparing yourself with her, you become dull.
23:37 S: Yes, sir.
23:40 K: But if you don’t compare, are you dull?
23:43 S: No, you are just normal.
23:45 K: Just listen, listen, listen carefully. You compare yourself with her. She is more clever, more this and that, and then in comparing yourself with her, you say, ‘By Jove, how dull I am.’ Right? But if you don’t compare, what happens to you?
24:08 S: You don’t say I am dull. You don’t say that you are dull.
24:12 K: Yes. You don’t say you are dull, you are what you are. Right? Have you learnt that? Because if I compare myself with her, she is more beautiful, more clever, more this and that, I make myself dull and then I struggle to be like her. Right? Are you following this? I struggle. Where there is struggling, comparing, I am not better, I try to imitate her, right? You are following this? Where there is imitation, there is not the capacity to learn. I wonder if you understand all this. If I am imitating, I am not learning, I am just imitating. But if I don’t imitate, I learn. I learn and find out why I imitate, why I compare myself, and I see, through comparison I have made myself small, ugly, dull. If I don’t compare, then I learn about myself. Do you understand? (Laughs) No, you don’t. See this is a difficult thing because all people do, compare, socially, intellectually, in art, in everything they do, they are comparing—I am not as good as that person.
26:07 S: Sir, do you mean that all positions are given because of comparison?
26:13 K: All?
26:14 S: Positions.
26:16 K: Possessions.
26:17 S: Positions.
26:18 K: Positions, quite right. Position means power, doesn’t it?
26:24 S: No, that is not meant to be.
26:31 K: First see. If you are a Governor, you have power, if you are a very rich man, you have power. So, where there is comparison, you are also seeking power, position, status. (Laughs) It is too much for you, poor chaps.
26:57 S: Desire, sir.
27:00 K: Desire, you want to talk about it? (Laughs) Have you understood this one thing? Don’t compare at all. Have you listened to this?
27:20 S: Yes, sir.
27:22 K: And do you see the reason why you shouldn’t compare?
27:24 S: Yes, sir.
27:25 S: But sometimes you judge yourself to be weaker than someone else.
27:27 K: What?
27:29 S: Even if you don’t compare, you judge yourself to be weaker than someone else.
27:36 K: That’s right. But if you don’t compare, are you weaker?
27:40 S: I don’t know, sir. (K laughs)
27:45 S: Nobody would know.
27:48 K: Try it, do it.
27:51 S: Sir, then you isolate yourself from others.
27:58 K: You isolate yourself from others if you don’t compare? Why shouldn’t you isolate yourself? What’s wrong?
28:09 S: You feel away from the world, sir.
28:12 K: Why shouldn’t you be away from this stupid world? (Laughter)
28:16 S: Because we don’t feel it is stupid. Because of comparison, we don’t feel it’s stupid.
28:22 K: That’s right. So, if you don’t compare, then you learn why you shouldn’t compare, what is involved in comparison, so you don’t compare with anybody. Now, can the teachers here—listen to me, can the teachers here not compare you with somebody else?
28:46 S: No, sir.
28:47 K: Can they say you are not studying as well as somebody else, giving you better marks.
28:56 S: They could say.
29:01 S: They do it, sir.
29:04 K: They don’t?
29:05 S: They do.
29:06 K: So they are not comparing, or forcing you to compare, are they?
29:10 S: They themselves are comparing.
29:18 K: Quite right. Quite right. I compare myself as a teacher, if I am a teacher here, I say, ‘I wish I had a better house’, because somebody else in the place has a better house. Right? ‘I wish I had more money than the other man.’ So we are all—that’s what I am saying. We are educated right through from childhood till we die, always comparing, comparing, comparing. Right?
29:52 S: Do you compare yourself with anyone, sir?
29:57 K: Good! (Laughter) Do I compare myself with anybody. Is that it?
30:02 S: Yes.
30:03 K: No. (Laughter)
30:05 S: How do you say no, sir?
30:06 K: Because I know. I’ve done it! I don’t compare myself with anybody.
30:11 S: Sir, how do you prove it, sir? (Laughter)
30:19 GN: How do you prove it.
30:20 K: Go on, don’t be afraid.
30:21 S: How do you prove it.
30:22 K: How do I prove it? I don’t compare. There is no question of proving it. Have you understood what I am saying?
30:28 S: Sir, you do not compare yourself with anybody, but all others compare you with others and give you a status. (Laughter) (K Laughs)
30:44 K: You heard what he said? I don’t compare myself with anybody but others compare themselves with me and therefore give me status. That is stupid if they do that. Because I say, don’t compare. Right? But if others do it, what am I to do? (Laughter) You are going to compare, aren’t you? Will you stop comparing? If you don’t, you give the other person status. Will you stop it?
31:31 S: It’s hard, sir. Very hard.
31:37 K: Very hard. Why?
31:41 S: In the examination they are doing that.
31:45 K: That’s what I am saying. In examinations, in schools, all through life, they are comparing.
31:53 S: Sir, comparing itself is a habit, sir.
31:58 K: Yes, it is a habit. Don’t fall into that habit.
32:01 S: Sir, but we are taught to, sir. We are taught to compare.
32:09 K: Tell your teacher don’t compare.
32:12 S: Sir, do you think she will listen to us?
32:17 K: She is asking, do you think the teacher will listen to you? Of course they will, if he is intelligent, he will listen to you.
32:29 S: Sir, you are here now, you tell us not to compare. Now, you will be going somewhere else. Then, we will be doing our schooling. And when we do our schooling we have tests, exams everything. So if I am to stop comparing, I cannot do these exams. Or rather if I do these exams, nothing.
32:49 K: Find out whether it is possible to study without examinations. Poor Narayan! (Laughter) There is that Mrs Major, she is going to teach you biology? Right. Can you teach without comparison?
33:24 T: I do try, but at times I do slip up and I invariably...
33:30 K: You see, you see, then, when she slips, tell her not to slip. (Laughter)
33:39 S: We ourselves slip, sir.
33:42 K: Wait, wait. So you are learning from her, and she is learning from you.
33:48 S: We cannot...
33:49 K: Listen, listen, old boy what I said. The relationship between the teacher and you—she knows more than you do. Right?
34:05 S: Academically.
34:07 K: Academically. (Laughs) (Laughter) By Jove! You are a big man. Academically you know more than he does. Now, she is teaching you about biology, and she is giving you marks, right?, and gradually helping you to pass that examination. Now, can she teach you without the idea of examination?
34:49 S: If there was no examination, sir.
34:54 K: Oh, yes. Lots of schools, lots of colleges are saying examinations are futile. They are dropping them.
35:04 S: There is no aim.
35:09 K: There is no aim?
35:11 S: According to what you mean.
35:14 K: No, no, look. Why should there be examination if you are learning?
35:17 S: Learning in the sense?
35:21 K: Learning biology. Why should you have examinations at all? You are learning.
35:27 S: To test yourself.
35:29 K: You test as you are learning. Not at the end of your school, you are testing what you are learning every class, so that there is not an end. You are learning all the time.
35:50 S: How do you test yourself, sir?
35:53 K: What?
35:54 S: Without examination.
35:55 S: Yes, sir, without examination.
35:56 K: How do you test yourself without examination. You mean to say examination is going to tell you how you have learnt?
36:04 S: Maybe, sir.
36:06 K: Listen carefully, you are too quick. Find out. You are all so used to examinations. That’s your tradition, that’s your habit, and when you question that, you say yes, what shall I do, you get nervous, frightened. When I was learning, when I was at school in England, I never passed one examination. Right? I went through all the examinations, but I couldn’t—I sat in the hall without writing a thing.
36:44 S: Sir, were you not frightened at that time?
36:48 K: Yes, I was frightened, nervous, anxious, and I couldn’t pass. (Laughter)
36:56 S: Sir, sir...
36:59 K: Does that mean I am stupid?, because I didn’t pass examinations?
37:06 S: No, sir.
37:08 K: Right? So you will find out how to study or the teacher how to teach you without comparison, without giving you marks.
37:18 S: Sir, there is no use writing an examination at the end of the school because just before the examination you start mugging up the things.
37:33 K: What?
37:34 S: You start learning the things, sir, just before the examination.
37:35 K: (Laughs) You start learning before the examination, is that it?
37:36 S: Yes, sir. You learn by heart.
37:38 K: (Laughs) Quite right.
37:39 S: And by-hearting everything.
37:40 K: I know, I know a boy, he liked to play games, golf specially, and he took a lot of books to the country in England, and he was studying for law. And he used to play golf all day. Never studied. So on the day of the examination in London, he came up and went into the library, looked up a few law books, and he read something about it, went into the hall of examination, and the questions were exactly what he looked in that half an hour before. So he was able to answer, and pass. (Laughs)
38:29 S: Sir, but that won’t happen always, sir.
38:36 K: Quite right, don’t risk it. (Laughs) (Laughter)
38:44 S: Sir, now we are going into the hall, nervous, everything. How do we do it?
38:53 K: That is why, it is all wrong, wrong to be frightened. That is why I am saying, asking the teachers and you, to get rid of this habit of examinations, marks, comparison. Which means learn, learn not in order to pass examinations, learn. You understand what I am saying?
39:22 S: Yes, sir.
39:23 K: Is that very difficult?
39:25 S: Can be, sir. Can be if we don’t try.
39:28 K: Now, will you do it?
39:30 S: I will try to.
39:32 K: No, (Laughs) don’t try, do it. Can your teachers, who are there, looking at me and some of them there, will they stop comparing?, and help you to learn?
39:47 S: You better ask them, sir.
39:51 K: I better ask them. (K Laughs)
39:59 S: Sir, they themselves were taught to compare.
40:05 K: So, what happens? They themselves are comparing with themselves, with somebody else, and they are educating you to compare yourself with somebody else. So look what has happened. The teacher compares himself with somebody else and helps you to compare you with somebody else. So what is the relationship between the teacher and you? You understand my question? When the teacher is comparing and you are comparing, what is your relationship?
40:38 S: Both of them compare, the teachers and the students.
40:54 K: Then, so you are both alike, aren’t you?
40:56 S: Yes, sir.
40:57 K: So can you learn from each other not to compare?
41:04 S: Sir, the teachers and the students alone cannot do it because even the parents have taught us to compare.
41:22 S: The teachers themselves cannot do it because they have been taught to compare.
41:30 K: The teachers themselves cannot do it because they have been taught, educated to compare.
41:34 S: No, sir. Even our parents have a hand in that, because they also compare.
41:36 K: What?
41:37 GN: Parents also compare.
41:38 K: Parents.
41:39 GN: We are being trained by our parents.
41:40 K: We are being trained by parents, by governments, by priests, by educators, by your grandmother, by your neighbour, to compare. Right? So, can you stop comparing?
41:48 S: Sir, if you stop, the society won’t stop comparing.
41:52 K: Let society go hang, can you stop comparing yourself.
41:59 S: Then they will throw you out of the society, sir.
42:03 K: You are not listening to what I said. First I said to you, please listen. That means find out what is implied in imitation, what is implied in comparison. Right? Find out, learn about it and then act, and then don’t compare. Perhaps then you will be extraordinarily bright. (Laughs)
42:36 S: But that is again comparing.
42:39 K: Ah, no, I said, probably (Laughs) you will be very alert. Will you do it? Will you? Why are you taking time?
43:07 S: I don’t know how to answer.
43:15 K: You mean, you may do it and you may not do it.
43:18 S: I know what to do.
43:20 K: Then do it! Now, have you learnt this morning, first of all, to listen? Have you learnt that?—to listen: to your friend, to that bird, to the wind, to the teacher, to your mother, just to listen.
43:57 S: Partially, sir.
44:01 K: Then you are not listening. If you listen partially, you are not listening, because from childhood we never learn how to listen, right?
44:20 S: We cannot put all the blame on somebody.
44:25 K: Quite right. You cannot put the blame on somebody. So don’t put the blame on somebody, but listen. Right? So, have you learnt that this morning? Just to listen—to that cow, listen to your friend, not partially, completely.
44:55 S: Sir, but if your friend says something bad, do you have to listen to that also?
45:03 K: If your friend says something bad, must you also listen to that? Of course, listen.
45:09 S: Sir, but we learn something bad, sir. But we don’t want to learn something bad.
45:16 K: I may tell you something bad, but listen to it. I may be stupid, it may be wrong.
45:23 S: Sir, by listening, you feel hurt, sir.
45:28 K: (Laughs) So by listening you feel hurt, therefore you don’t listen.
45:34 S: No, sir, only bad things. If you listen to bad things, then you feel hurt about it.
45:38 K: Why do you get hurt? If I tell you you are stupid, why do you get hurt?
45:45 S: I feel bad about it.
45:48 K: Why?
45:49 S: You feel you are not it. K Wait, go step by step. If I say something to you which you don’t like and you get hurt, why do you get hurt?
45:58 S: Sir, because you are criticising, sir.
46:01 K: I criticise you and you don’t like it. Why don’t you like it?
46:04 S: You are comparing yourself.
46:07 K: No, no. I criticise you. I say you are not clean, you haven’t washed properly.
46:16 S: Your ideas about yourself are disturbed.
46:21 K: No, old boy, I say to you something unpleasant, right? Why do you get hurt? Why don’t you listen and find out if what I am saying is true or false? (Pause) This is too much for an early morning probably. Shall I stop?, or would you like me to go on? All: Go on, sir.
47:01 K: Why do you want me to go on, because you want to avoid your class? (Laughter)
47:06 S: Because we can learn more.
47:10 K: Don’t stop, because we can learn more. Are you learning now when I am talking?
47:18 S: Yes, sir.
47:19 K: Which means what? That you are not going to compare.
47:26 S: Yes, sir.
47:33 S: If the teacher teaches you to compare, should we really listen, sir?
47:41 K: If a teacher tells you to compare, should you listen? I should. I would listen to him and say, ‘Sir, I think it is wrong to compare.’ Stand up to the teacher.
47:53 S: Sir, if you stand up...
47:55 K: Wait, wait, have you understood what I said? Will you do it?
48:02 S: Yes, sir.
48:04 K: That means, if I am your teacher and I say look, you are not as good as the other boy, will you tell me, ‘Sir, I have learnt why we should not compare.’ Will you tell the teacher?
48:21 S: Sir, no but...
48:23 K: Wait, wait, wait, I have asked you a question. Will you do it?
48:30 S: Yes, sir.
48:32 K: You are not frightened?
48:33 S: Sir, I will feel frightened because the teacher...
48:36 K: Ah, that’s just it, that’s just it. Because you are frightened, you won’t listen, and therefore you are comparing. If you say, ‘I won’t compare because I see the stupidity of it, it is not intelligent, so I won’t compare.’ Then if the teacher understands this and you understand it, it’s finished. We will have a different way of studying. You understand? There may be no examinations at all.
49:17 S: Sir, sometimes you are forced to do public exams. You are forced to do public exams.
49:23 K: Then you may be able to pass exams quite easily. (Laughs)
49:27 S: What do you mean, sir?
49:28 K: What do I mean? If you have been studying all the time, learning, learning, learning, then examination becomes very easy.
49:54 S: Sir, is it right to keep telling yourself not to compare, and to listen, and those kinds of things?
50:01 K: What is that?
50:03 S: Is it right to keep telling yourself not to compare and to listen and everything.
50:09 K: Don’t tell yourself not to compare all the time. It is so—don’t compare. You don’t say to yourself that’s a cobra and keep on saying that’s a cobra, you run away from it. (Laughter)
50:44 S: Don’t you think we need some help, sir? People who don’t want to compare, don’t you think they need help?
50:58 S: Don’t you think they need any help, any encouragement?
51:03 K: No. If you don’t compare, and I compare, I am your friend, you tell me about it. Say, ‘Don’t compare, see, it is absurd, that leads to stupidity.’ Now, it is nearly time for me to stop. Shall I stop now? Will you do something? Sit absolutely quiet? (Laughs) Will you? Stop fiddling with your fingers, put up your legs and sit up. Sit absolutely quiet, without moving your fingers, without moving your eyes, and without having any movement of thought. You understand? That is, your mind is always chattering, isn’t it? Right?
52:21 S: Yes, sir.
52:22 K: So, find out why it chatters, and see if it can be stopped. Just be absolutely quiet. (Pause)
53:24 Right, sirs.