Krishnamurti in India

   The spirit of J. Krishnamurti is still very much alive in India.  There are a number of large and well respected children's schools and adult centres scattered throughout the country.  The interest in K is high and whatever events are held at these centres are always well attended.  In earlier years I had visited the Rajghat School just outside Varanasi for a week and the Study Center in Chennai.  This time Meghan and I spent a week at the Valley School just outside Bangalore and then went on to the Chennai centre.  We happened to arrive at the Valley School on the 25th anniversary of Krishnamurti's death and enjoyed a few special events such as a dance performance. The property itself is spread out over 100 acres of forest, including many walking trails and a small lake.  The school buildings are numerous enough to provide for about 400 students and the Study Centre has recently added twelve new and beautifully designed cottages for retreat accomodation.  The Study Centre is very active with regular video showings, discussions, and monthly retreats. 

   We attended a four day retreat entitled "What Does Fear Do To Us?"  It was very well organized and attracted eighteen people of all ages and six nationalities.  A combination of silent nature walks every morning, group dialogues, videos, writing exercises, art work, games, and time for rest and quiet reflection provided a variety of situations in which participants could look at themselves and explore the main topic of fear and how it related to themselves.   I find it's always an interesting challenge in the dialogue aspect of retreats for the group to maintain enough focus to go deeply into the exploration.  Of course each participant has his or her own experience of what significance such meetings have, but it seemed that everyone found meaning in the dialogues and in the retreat as a whole.  As mentioned in a previous blog, I found it to be a very strong experience.

 After the retreat we stayed on for a few more days and enjoyed the property, the library, and the company of like-minded residents, staff, and guests before taking a night train to Chennai.