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RV78DS3 - Can you observe your thinking?
Rishi Valley, India - 7 December 1978
Discussion with Students 3



0:24 Krishnamurti: I wonder if you have thought any more or gone into the question of fear which we talked about the other day. Have you? Do you remember, we talked about it? Where is my friend? Come on, sir. I need support. Where is the other?
1:26 K: Good morning.

Student: Good morning. I was asking you, if I may, whether you have thought or talked over with your teachers about fear. Did you?

Many: Yes.
1:48 K: Yes?

S: Yes.
1:51 K: What was the outcome of your discussion or your talk?
1:58 S: We still have to practise it.

K: You couldn't practise it?
2:01 S: We have to practise it still more.
2:03 K: Now, what do you mean by practising? Repeating, repeating, repeating, repeating?
2:09 S: Yes.
2:13 S: Trying not to be frightened.
2:18 K: Trying not to be frightened. Do you try not to be frightened when you see a cobra?
2:27 S: No.
2:28 K: Do you try or just run away from it?
2:33 S: Run away.
2:35 K: Run away. So why don't you run away from fear?
2:39 S: We cannot see it. We cannot see any fear.
2:45 K: You are quite right. The snake is visible, but fear is not visible. So it is much more difficult to look at it, to observe it, to face it, to understand it – right? So, what will you do to understand, to face it, to look at it, to be completely... the inward nature of the thing – how do you proceed? Do you understand my question?
3:22 S: How to get rid of it.
3:24 K: Not only how to get rid of it, but how to look at it. First you must look at it, mustn't you? Before you can get rid of it, you must look at it. Right? Will you look at your fear? Will you? Do you know what it means to look at something?
3:49 S: Don't run away from it.
3:51 K: That is right – don't run away from it, don't suppress it, don't try to explain it, don't try to analyse it. You know what 'analyse it' means? The word 'analysis'? No?

S: To go into more details.
4:09 K: To examine it, to go into details about it. Don't do all that but just look at it. As I said to you the other morning, just look at a flower. You can tear it to pieces, then it is no longer a flower. But just look at it. In the same way can you look at fear?
4:35 S: We may not have the time, if somebody is doing something to you.
4:39 K: Yes. Somebody is doing something to you, then you get frightened. Now, can you watch that fear?
4:51 S: You will have to watch your thoughts all the time.
4:57 Narayan: You have to watch your thoughts all the time.
5:03 K: Who told you that?
5:04 S: I have tried it, but I keep slipping off from it.
5:09 K: So, you watch your thought. Right? Have you watched your thought?
5:16 S: Not too often.
5:18 K: Not too often. But have you done it at all, once or twice?
5:23 S: Sometimes, yes.

K: Yes.
5:29 K: When you have looked at your thought, what did you find?
5:37 S: I just understood myself.

K: What?
5:39 S: I understood myself.
5:45 K: You have a thought now, haven't you?
5:47 S: Yes.
5:52 K: Can that thought be observed? Go on, you are pretty smart. Go on, tell me. You are thinking now, aren't you?

S: Yes.
6:04 K: So, when you are thinking, can you observe your thinking?
6:08 S: Yes.

K: You can, can't you?
6:11 S: Yes, we can.

K: Yes. Now, wait a minute. What do you find when you observe your thought?
6:17 S: It is always running. It is always flying about.
6:19 K: Yes, it is always flying about. Can you look at one thought without letting it fly about?
6:30 S: I can.
6:32 K: You can. Can you do it now? Can you watch your thought as it comes into your mind? Can you watch it?
6:49 S: I can.

K: Yes? What do you find when you watch the thought?
6:56 S: You understand what you are thinking about.
6:59 K: Don't fiddle.
7:01 S: You understand what you are thinking about.
7:03 K: Now, wait a minute. Yes, you understand. Take one thought. What is your thought? Take one thought.
7:16 S: I looked there, the assembly. When I looked there, I thought about the exams, ICSE exams.
7:23 K: Now, you look at the assembly and you think about your exam. When you think about your exam, what is that thinking about exam? Have you listened to my question? He is thinking about examination – right? What is that thinking? Not about examination, but the very thinking.
7:59 S: Fear of the future.
8:03 K: Fear of the future.
8:08 K: Can you observe that fear of the future? The fear as it comes up. Have you ever seen a film in which a bud is flowering? Have you? They do it very, very slowly and it takes a lot of time, and then the flower comes out. In the same way, can you watch your thinking? Not about examination, but the thinking. Can you?
8:47 S: I have not tried.
8:49 K: Why not?
8:51 S: Not tried.

S: We haven't yet tried it.
8:54 K: Try it – do it now. Take your time. Because it is very important to understand what is thinking. Not about something: not about your examination, about your parents, about your teachers, about what you are going to do the next moment, but the thinking itself.
9:19 S: What do you mean? I can't understand.
9:21 K: You can't understand it. I will explain. You can look at that boy and say, he is my friend, or you can think about your examinations – the thinking about it causes fear – or think about your home, and you would like to go home. So, all that thinking is about something. Right? Clear? Thinking about. I am asking you to find out what is thinking, not about. Have you understand my question?
10:07 S: Yes, you want to know what is thinking only.
10:09 K: That is right.
10:15 S: Thinking is actually just a movement of the mind, because the mind can't keep still at all so it keeps on moving about.
10:26 K: So you say that thinking is born out of the mind.
10:33 S: Yes.

K: You agree? Right.
10:36 K: Do you agree?

S: Yes.

K: All of you are listening?
10:39 Many: Yes.

K: Good.
10:45 K: So thinking is born out of the mind, and what is the background from which it is born?
10:57 S: Thought is always related to something.
11:00 K: I said thought is related to something.
11:03 S: Yes, you are always thinking about something.
11:06 K: Now, I am asking you to find out what is thinking only, as he pointed out, not about something.
11:15 S: It is your thoughts.
11:17 K: Pure thought which arises in the mind. Now, a flower grows out of the soil – right? Without soil there is no flower. So there must be a soil out of which thinking comes.
11:33 S: Your mind.
11:35 K: Wait. Have you understood my question?
11:37 S: Yes.
11:38 S: A base.
11:41 K: A base, a ground, a soil, a field out of which it can come. So, I am asking you, what is the field, the basis, the earth, the field out of which thought comes. Think it out very carefully.
12:08 K: You understand my question?

S: Yes.
12:10 K: What is the cause of thinking? Have you understood it?
12:17 S: Understanding.
12:18 K: No, listen carefully. The flower comes out of the soil. Thought comes out of some soil. What is that soil? Careful, think it out slowly, take time. Don't be impatient.
12:39 S: When a thing happens, then you start thinking about it.
12:43 S: When a thing happens, you think about it.
12:50 S: Memory.
12:53 N: He says the soil is memory.
12:57 K: Who says that? You say the soil is memory. By Jove. Is that right? That is right, isn't it?
13:10 S: Yes.
13:12 K: You saw the snake yesterday, you remember it, it is put in the mind, and you are thinking about the snake because you remember it. So thought comes out of memory.
13:30 S: Understanding.
13:31 K: That comes later. Just observe what I am talking. Not understanding. Understanding comes much later. The soil out of which thought comes, or arises, that soil is memory. Right? Clear? And what is memory?
13:59 S: Thinking about your past experiences. Knowledge about the past.
14:06 K: So, thinking springs, comes out of memory. Memory is the past experience. Now, the past experience is memory and the thought springs from memory, comes from memory. Now, what is experience?
14:37 S: Exposing yourself to something.
14:39 K: Exposing yourself to something. Go on, go into it. I am asking you – please some of you too, I am not talking to these two only.
14:57 S: You are involved in an incident which you think about.
15:00 K: You are involved in an incident. That is, you are driving a car and you have an accident. I hope not, but you may have an accident. That is an event. So experience is an event which has taken place in the past.
15:27 S: Yes.
15:29 K: You are clear? Right? You have understood? You are driving, you hit somebody, that is an experience. An experience is something which has happened in the past. Go step by step. The incident, the experience, the memory of that incident, the memory is the soil out of which comes thought. You have got it? Clear? So thinking is memory, is the response of memory. Response means coming out of – responding. I ask you a question and you respond. Right? So, the event, the experience, the knowledge of that experience, that is memory and from memory comes thought. You have got the sequence?
16:50 S: But don't you think we are living in the past world then?
16:54 K: You are living always in the past. You are quite right. Right?
17:02 S: But you need it. But you need the past.
17:04 K: You need the past. Where are you all brought up? You are all too smart for me. So, first understand how thought comes, how thought arises. An experience, like the car – the incident, the experience, the memory, the thought. Now, mathematics is sequence, isn't it? Sequence means order. Right? Have you got it? That is, the incident, the experience, memory, thought. Got it? You are clear. Right.
18:11 S: But when you see something for the first time and you are thinking about it, then what is it?
18:19 K: You do something for the first time...
18:24 N: When you are seeing something for the first time and you are thinking, what about it?
18:30 K: So you see something for the first time, that is an event, that is a happening, isn't it?
18:46 S: But you cannot relate it to anything else.
18:47 K: Yes.

S: At that time, that experience you cannot relate to anything else.
18:51 K: That is right. Seeing that thing for the first time and you remember it, the remembrance is the memory of seeing that and from that memory, thought comes. Got it? Even though it is the very first time. Right. Phew!
19:23 S: If you see a flower, the first time you are seeing a flower, you won't be able to relate that flower with anything else. If you have never seen a flower before, you won't be able to relate it to anything else.
19:36 K: Yes, that is right. But you think about it. You look at it, your mind remembers it, the remembrance is memory and thought.
19:48 S: Yes, that is later.

K: That is later.
19:54 S: If you think about that flower at that time there is no memory of it.
19:59 K: Of course there is.
20:01 S: You haven't seen the flower before.
20:04 K: You have never seen the flower before – right? Would you call it, if you have never seen it before, a flower? Answer my question. You wouldn't call it a flower, would you? So, you have learned something. Listen carefully. You see something for the first time, you can't name it, can you? The moment you name it, it becomes memory.
20:42 S: And you start thinking about it.

K: Yes. You got it? That is, anything you see for the first time, don't name it, but look at it. But the moment you name it, it is already a recognition. Therefore it is a memory. Got it? Right. So, either you think in sequence or you think disorderly, it is not in sequence. You have got it?
21:22 S: Do you mean to say every time we look at something, we have to look at it in a new way?
21:30 K: When you look at something, can you look at it as though for the first time. Can you look at that flower – no, I won't call it a flower – can you look at that colour, that thing there, and see it for the first time? Can you?

S: We have already seen it before.
21:51 K: Wait. I know, but just find out. Don't be quick in your answers. Can you look at that thing as though for the first time?
22:02 S: Why should we?
22:09 K: Why should we. Why should we look at something as though for the first time. What do you think? It doesn't mean I am taking time to think about it. What do you think?
22:34 S: So that you look at it properly.
22:39 N: He says, then you can look at it properly.
22:41 K: Quite right. You have learned something. That is, if you look at that thing, you have looked at it so many times, and therefore you say, that is a red flower, and move on.
22:55 S: Now I know that is a flower. If I go there and look at the flower properly, I am seeing a flower properly.
23:02 K: That is right. That is, if you look at a flower for the first time means to look at it without memory, without thought, just look at it – then it is the first time.
23:22 S: I know that is a flower.
23:24 K: Yes, don't call it a flower.
23:27 S: Okay.

K: Don't say okay.
23:31 S: But I know it already.
23:40 K: Now, you have sat beside me for the last three days, four days or whatever it is. I have looked at you. I know your name because Mr Narayan has told me your name, where you come from and so on. So, I have memory of all that – right? When I look at you all that memory is operating, memory is operating, so I never look at you, but memory is operating.
24:13 S: You never think.

K: You never see.
24:17 K: You understand? No, not quite. You don't.
24:29 S: You mean to say you don't see the person.
24:32 K: That is right. You don't see the person, but you see the memory. You got it? You understand what I am saying?
24:42 S: Yes.

K: No, be clear.
24:43 K: If you don't understand it, I will explain it ten times.
24:47 S: You don't see the person when you relate him to something, when you think about him.
24:52 K: That is right. That is, I am thinking about you, your name, where you come from, what does your father do, where is your town and so on, so I don't see you. If I don't go through all that, then I can look at you, can't I? You have got it?
25:11 S: Do you mean we don't study the person in the right manner if we have memory?
25:17 K: That is right.
25:20 S: You mean to say, no memory?

K: No, look, you have hurt me, suppose you have hurt me, called me a bad name or something, you hit me. So I have the memory of that. So when I meet you next time, I don't look at you, but I have the hurt, the memory of that hurt, so I never see you. You understand that?
25:47 S: We haven't been able to get over this.
25:49 K: No, I will show you how to get over it later. But first see, if you have hurt me and I remember that hurt and when I meet you next time, that hurt comes up, so I don't see you. Got it? Good.
26:11 S: What do you actually mean by seeing? Is that not a thought?

K: No.
26:18 K: I mean by seeing, I look at you.
26:22 S: No memory.

K: No memory. I look at you, I see what you are, I see your colour, I examine, I am looking at you, not looking at you through my memory of the hurt. You have understood it? Good.
26:38 S: Do you mean to say if a snake is going, I tip it, and it turns back and bites me and then I have got rid of the poison. And next time when I see it, do you mean to say I have to tip it again and see what happens?

K: Of course not.
26:51 K: That would be too stupid, wouldn't it?
26:54 S: Yes, then that memory...

K: Wait. So find out.
26:57 K: Find out what it means. That is, you have seen a snake, it has bitten you, and you have got over the pain, and again you are going along for a walk and you see that snake. And will you allow that to bite you?

S: No.
27:15 K: No, which means what?

S: Because of the past experience.
27:18 K: Wait, listen to it carefully. That is, you are still thinking from the past, aren't you? Now, is that the operation of intelligence?
27:37 S: Yes. But it also involves memory.
27:45 K: I know, you haven't understood my question. Even the old people don't understand this so take it slowly. I am going along for a walk, and I am not paying attention, and the snake bites me. The pain, the healing of the pain, and then it is memory. Memory is there – of being bitten, having pain, going to the hospital. The memory of all that is there. Now, next time I go out for a walk, I meet the snake. Can I look at that snake and not be frightened of it?
28:40 S: You can be, but...

K: No, not can be, but.
28:47 S: Do you mean that without memory you can conclude that the person is changing every time?
28:54 N: Do you mean that without memory you can conclude that the person is changing every time.
29:02 K: Quite right. You have hurt me, and I have memory of that. And next time I meet you, I look at you through that memory, but you might have changed. You might say, I am so sorry, I have hurt you, and you have changed, but I remember the hurt. So I have not changed, but you have changed. Right? You get the point?
29:47 S: The snake would not have changed mostly.
29:55 K: You are pulling my leg? Of course not, the snake is not going to change, because the snake is frightened of you as much as you are frightened of it, and it is the nature of the snake, it doesn't want to be hurt, therefore it bites.
30:22 S: So you avoid it.

K: Avoid it.
30:26 K: So what are we talking about now? Come back. I said to you, did you think about fear? Right? You have talked it over with your teachers, if you have. Have you? No? You haven't. Why not?
30:50 S: I just thought about it.
30:51 K: You thought about it, but you didn't talk about it. Good. Now, are you free of fear?
30:57 S: No.

K: Why not?
31:00 S: Because there is always a thought.
31:03 K: So you have found something. Careful now. Listen carefully. You have found, thinking brings about fear. Have you?
31:13 S: Yes.
31:14 K: Thinking about your examination makes you afraid.
31:19 S: Through memory.
31:20 K: No, I said listen carefully. Don't be too quick. Thinking about examination brings you fear. That means thinking about the future makes you afraid – right? So, can you stop thinking about the future: the roof might fall down, I might get hurt, and so I am frightened. I might die tomorrow, therefore I am frightened. So thinking about the future is the beginning of fear. Got it? Have you understood that?
32:13 S: Yes, but how could you stop thinking about it?
32:17 K: I am going to show you first.
32:20 S: If we have to stop thinking about the past and the present what is going to happen in the future?
32:27 K: I am going to show you. First understand the whole process of thinking. Then you can go into it much more. But first get the principle of it, the law of it, the sequence of it. You got it? Now, thinking about the future causes fear: thinking about death, thinking about the public opinion, what they might say, thinking about examinations. Therefore thinking about the future brings fear. Or thinking about the past, where you have been bitten by a snake, and therefore there is fear. Thinking about the future or thinking about the past brings fear. Understood this? Is this clear? Have you understood this? Really understood it? Not here, not verbally, but understand it.
33:38 S: You should be only in the present.
33:40 K: I am coming to that. Thinking about the past or thinking about the future brings fear. Right? Have you understood this? Understood it in the sense, like you have understood that is a microphone. As clear as that.
34:03 S: So when you don't understand something, then you are frightened of it.
34:08 K: That is right. That means when you don't look at it and examine it, you might get frightened about it.
34:16 K: So examination, looking at it now, does not cause fear. Go slow. Looking now – that is, you are not thinking about the past or the future, and therefore there is no fear. Right? So, first understand that law, the law means sequence, that thinking about death, thinking about what your father might say, thinking about your teacher, he might scold you, or thinking about a pain that you have had in the past and be frightened of that. So thinking about the future and the past is fear. Got it? Now, go very slowly. So we said, thinking is a happening, an event, experience, memory, thought. So, thought – listen carefully – thought is always the past. Right?
35:55 S: The future.
35:58 K: The future is what thought projects. You have got it? Understand this very clearly, then you will see what is involved in it: event, a happening, experience, memory – thought. So thought is the outcome of memory, which is the past. All thought is from the past.
36:36 S: It can be from the present also.
36:41 K: We will find out presently. First listen to what is being said: that thought which is born out of memory is always the past.
36:55 S: You have fear because you are careless.
37:04 K: Fear because you are careless. That is, careless is the state of mind when you have not understood the whole movement of thought. So, see clearly. Your thinking is always from the past.
37:35 S: Yes.

K: Clear?
37:41 K: And that thinking projects or sees the future. So thinking from the past goes through the present and becomes the future. Right?

S: Yes.

K: Clear?
38:01 K: So the question then is: can you look at something without this movement of thought?
38:12 S: I don't know how to do it.
38:13 K: Not what to do. I am going to explain it to you. Do you realise that you always live in the past? All human beings live in the past.
38:27 S: Yes.
38:29 K: Clear? Always the past: What my father said, what I did, what I should do in the future, which is, the future is the past. So, human beings, all human beings, live in the past.
38:49 S: Not only that, we learn about the past also.
38:53 S: We learn about the past also.
38:59 K: You are learning about the past now.
39:03 S: We have history.
39:06 S: History. History is about the past.
39:10 K: No. Just listen carefully. What is History?
39:15 S: Learning about the past.
39:16 K: Learning about the past. Learning what?
39:22 S: About ourselves.
39:27 S: She says, about ourselves.
39:30 N: Learning about ourselves.
39:32 K: About yourself. That is, history is the story of man and woman. Right? So man and woman have created this society. Sorry, I mustn't complicate it. So learning about man and woman is history, which means learning about yourself, because you are the result of the past. So, when you study history, you are learning about yourself – your violence, your anxieties, your fears, your wars, your kings, all that you are learning. Right? My Lord! May I take a few minutes?
40:40 S: What do we get by learning about the past?
40:44 K: What do you get. What do you mean get?
40:50 S: It just satisfies man's curiosity. It just satisfies man's curiosity and learning.
40:57 K: Yes. It satisfies his curiosity about what he was, what his great grandfathers did, what his great, great, great grandfathers did. He is curious to know what human beings were like, what human beings are now and if they don't change, what they will be.
41:19 S: What is curiosity?
41:22 K: What is curiosity.
41:25 S: Wanting to know about something.
41:28 K: That is right, wanting to know about something. Now, just stop a minute. I am asking you, have you seen how fear is born: thinking about the past, thinking about the future. Is it possible to stop thinking about the past or the future?
42:04 S: Then we have to live with a blank mind.
42:08 S: Live with a blank mind.
42:10 K: Live with a blank mind – what does that mean?
42:13 S: You don't know anything about it.
42:16 K: No, you know about everything, you know a great deal. How can you have a blank mind?
42:22 S: Then it is from your memory.
42:28 K: No, listen carefully. You haven't listened. I am asking you something – if you don't mind, if I may ask you. Have you understood – from your heart, not from just words – from your heart have you understood that thinking about the past, thinking about the future, brings fear?
42:53 S: Yes.
42:58 K: To be free of fear, what is implied?
43:03 S: You should not think about the past or the future.
43:04 K: That is right: to be free of fear is not to be involved in the past or in the future. Can you do that?
43:16 S: I don't know.
43:18 K: You don't know. Do it. That is, don't think about the past or the future which brings fear. Therefore, to have no fear is to be free of the past and the future. Got it? Can you be free of the past – past pain, past hurts, past memories, and the thinking from the past to the future brings fear, therefore there is no thinking of the past or the future.
44:07 S: So we have to look at everything in a new way.
44:09 K: First get the principle, first. Understand this first, and then you can apply it. You have discovered something, haven't you? That thinking itself is fear.
44:28 S: That is because...

K: Wait. Have you understood that? That thinking itself is a movement of fear.
44:45 S: Yes. You can continue thinking if you can think only about the present instead of thinking also about the past.
44:59 K: Yes. So, how can you think about the present? Because thinking is memory which is the past. So if you think about the present, it is still the movement of the past. Right? You know, this involves – you may not be able to do it – this involves real meditation. This is the the real nature of meditation. I won't go into it, but I am just telling you. If you have understood that the past and the future contain fear, thought itself is fear-making. Therefore when there is fear, there is no love.
45:54 S: Yes.

K: You have understood? Therefore thinking is not love.
46:04 S: Why must we love each other?
46:11 K: Why must we love each other. Why do you think you should – not must. Why do you think one must have love?
46:25 S: No coordination.
46:31 K: That is, if you have no love, are you saying there is no coordination, there is no harmony.
46:39 S: Yes. Everybody will be thinking differently.
46:41 K: Yes. Have you found this out?

S: Yes.
46:47 K: Which means you love people.

S: Yes.
46:54 K: Do you love your father and mother?

S: Yes.
46:59 K: Of course?

S: Yes.
47:02 K: But you are frightened of them, aren't you too?

S: At times.
47:06 K: At times. So, can love and fear go together?
47:14 K: Answer my question. Get the principle.

S: They cannot.
47:17 K: Therefore, when you have fear, there is no love. So hate, anger, jealousy, envy
47:33 S: Can't go with love.

K: Deny love. Right? If you are jealous, you can't love. If you are frightened, you can't love. If you hate, you can't love. And love is necessary because without that you have no harmony in life, as you call it, coordination.
48:06 S: But sometimes if your father beats you, you forget it and then again...
48:14 N: When your father beats you, you forget it and then again you love him.
48:20 K: When your father beats you, you forget it and again love him, but you have the memory of that beating, haven't you?
48:33 S: Only for some time.
48:37 K: You only have it for some time. During that time you don't love him.
48:42 S: Yes. But that is not always, that is very few times.
48:50 K: Does your father beat you?

S: No.
48:51 K: No. Good. Don't be beaten by anybody. Don't allow it. If anybody tries to beat you, say, sorry, sir, don't beat me.
49:08 S: By the time you say that...

K: No, just listen carefully.
49:13 K: You understand? Beating is very wrong, especially when you are young, you are sensitive – you mustn't be beaten.
49:24 S: No hurting when you are young.
49:27 K: Yes.
49:33 S: That is not being carried out anywhere.
49:41 K: That is not being carried out anywhere. Which means what? That you are beaten.
49:47 S: No, the scolding. Scolding is enough. It hurts more than beating.
49:51 K: That is right. Don't allow to be scolded. It is wrong to be scolded.
49:58 S: They are doing it for our own good.
50:02 K: I beat you for your own good? I am angry with you.
50:07 S: So you don't do the mistake again.
50:10 K: Don't accept being beaten, scolded. It makes you insensitive.
50:18 S: But we can't control the other person's tongue.
50:21 K: You can. You tell him – don't scold me, sir.
50:26 S: He does not have to listen to you.
50:30 K: He will, if you mean it.
50:34 S: How does he find out you mean it?
50:36 K: By your voice, by your gesture – sorry, sir, I am not going to allow you to beat me. Listen. Do it!
50:50 S: He could do it forcibly, if he wants.
50:53 K: If you want to do it, you will do it. Right? If you think it is wrong that you should be scolded, stand up and say I won't have it.
51:10 S: If he still doesn't care and beats you up?
51:16 S: He does not agree to what you say, and he beats you, then what do you do? You cannot do anything to him.
51:23 K: Wait, don't say you cannot do anything. You say, I won't be beaten, and he beats you. Then go to Mr Narayan and say, sir, this has happened.
51:36 S: If my mother hits me, I can't go to Narayan.
51:56 K: If your mother beats you, take her hand and say darling mother, don't beat me.
52:05 S: She might beat me once more.
52:06 K: Will you do it?
52:10 S: Yes, sir, if she hits me.

K: That is right. Do it. Mummy darling, don't beat me. Then she will understand that it hurts you. You understand? Then the mother becomes sensitive.
52:30 S: Yes.

K: You understand?
52:45 K: The other day – day before yesterday, when we met here – I asked if you would kindly sit still. And somebody, that gentleman asked me – I am afraid rather cynically – why should we sit still? And one of the girls, I don't know who it was.
53:08 S: That girl.
53:09 K: That girl said, to gather energy.
53:14 K: Do you agree to that.
53:17 S: No, I don't.

K: Why not?
53:20 S: I think energy comes to you when you are relaxed.
53:24 K: That is the whole point, sitting quietly relaxes you.
53:32 S: He means to say we are forcing ourselves.
53:34 K: No, don't force yourself. If you want to sit still, sit still. Here, when I ask you to sit still, if you don't feel like it, don't sit still, just walk away. Right? Do what you think is right – you follow?
54:04 S: If everybody does what he thinks is right, there will be a lot of commotion.
54:10 K: Quite right. If everybody does what he thinks is right, there will be a lot of confusion. Now, what is right?
54:20 S: Nobody knows.
54:22 K: Nobody knows. So, as nobody knows, everybody is doing the wrong thing.
54:30 S: We don't know, sir, we can never find out.
54:35 S: Sir, do you know what the right thing is?
54:41 K: Do I know what is the right thing. Right with regard to what?
54:47 S: Right action as you say it.
54:49 K: Right action.
54:50 S: Where do you draw the line?
54:53 K: I am going to show it to you if you are interested in it, and not cynical. You see, that is one of our calamities. As we grow, in schools, when they grow beyond 13, 14, they grow into all kinds of troubles, problems. They become rather hard, cynical, and you know rather, snooty, worldly. What is right action. Is it right action – we haven't time, I am just going to point this out to you – is it right action when it is based on prejudice?
55:42 S: No, sir, I don't mean that way.
55:44 K: Wait. We are going to find out, go slowly. If I am prejudiced and I act according to that prejudice, is that right action?

S: No.
55:53 K: No. If I have opinions, is that right action?
55:58 S: No.

K: If I say, I believe, and act from that belief, is that right action?
56:05 S: No.

K: No, sir.
56:08 K: So, opinion, belief, prejudice, any action born out of that is not right action. You have learned something, haven't you? So right action is when there is no belief, when there is no prejudice, when there is no opinion. Leave it at that. I am here for the next fortnight, so we will go into it further. Is that all right?

S: Yes.
56:45 K: Do you want to sit still? I am asking you. That gentleman is there, I am asking him, do you want to sit still? If you don't, please get up and go. Right. Nobody is going to scold you – at least I won't. And don't be scolded by anybody.
57:47 All right.