This Matter of Culture

By Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895 - 1986), edited by Rajagopalacharya Desikacharya (commonly D. Rajagopal) (1900–1993).

224 Pages | First edition 1964, reprinted in 1992 & 1994, this edition was first published in 2001 and reprinted in 2004 | Softcover | Krishnamurti Foundation India | ISBN: 8187326263.

This Matter of Culture consists of Krishnamurti's talks and discussions with the students, parents and teachers of the schools he founded in India, and has been chosen by Parabola Magazine as 'one of the hundred best spiritual books of the century'. Ever since it was brought out in 1964, it has been published world-wide in 22 languages and has remained a popular book on education. Here, Krishnamurti defines, in unmistakable terms, the real function of education, as also the purpose of human life:

'The function of education is to bring about a release of energy in the pursuit of goodness, truth, or God, which in turn makes the individual a true human being and therefore the right kind of citizen.'

'It is also our problem to find out what God is, because that is the very foundation of our life. A house cannot stand for long without a proper foundation, and all the cunning inventions of man will be meaningless if we are not seeking out what is God or truth.'

From Chapter XIII (p. 99):

" That is why it is very important that we should be rightly educated - educated not to be smothered by tradition, not to fall into the destiny of a particular racial, cultural or family group, educated not to become mechanical beings moving towards a predetermined end. The man, who understands this whole process, who breaks away from it and stands alone, creates his own momentum; and if his action is a breaking away from the false towards the truth, then, that momentum itself becomes the truth. Such men are free from destiny. "