The Rose J. Krishnamurti Gave Reza Ganjavi
Table of Contents
"Given enough time and the proliferation of egos, everything goes into its own opposite." Alan Kishbaugh
"The passing of Mary Zimbalist at KFA and Mary Cadogan at KFT initiated the avalanche of <> and the struggle for power in both organizations." - Ex-Trustee
"There's no trace of K in Brockwood and Ojai any more. It's replaced by egos like Jaap, Nasser, Raman and Rabindra."
“I am, of course, saddened by the state of the foundation, mirrored as it is in the neglect of the Grove. I take no joy in stating that I could see this coming as far back as 15 years ago. That the foundation has fallen into a fiefdom of personal ambition is most distressing.” One of J. Krishnamurti’s closest friends
ACCURACY IS IMPORTANT TO ME - so if you see any inaccuracies please contact me via email: https://www.rezamusic.com/about/contact
CONSIDER A DONATION - I did not do this for money but it's taken a huge amount of time, especially leading the investigation of KFT. If you find this valuable, and like to make a donation, it'd be appreciated. Please contact me: https://www.rezamusic.com/about/contact
DECADES AFTER HIS DEATH - KFA and KFT have engaged in behavior that K dreaded, and everything K warned about organizations have come true there, despite K's warnings. Some of this report is dedicated to pointing to those issues. Be careful not to shoot the messenger when the message points out bitter truth and well-researched opinions.
WHY LAST CIRCULAR? - It's related to my being so fed up with K's official work and what wrong direction it has taken it, despite years of warnings by him, all of which has fallen on deaf ears as convenience and love for money and power has overtaken philosophy (love for truth and wisdom). Could things change? Yes but unlikely.
Also See: Investigative Report On KFT/Brockwood Mismanagement: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/KFT-Mismanagement
By Reza Ganjavi [Most of this document has been published between 2015 and 2021. A few items were added later. The sections in this publication are not chronological.
This is my final circular as an attempt to close all files related to some pathetic organizations etc. around J. Krishnamurti which have been nothing more than a disgrace to him and a waste of time. Also covering positive aspects of his work and some fine people associated with it. I declare KFA and KFT - two of the three K foundations as absolutely hopeless. The fourth foundation (KFL) seems to have died out. And the "Fifth Foundation" (Friedrich Grohe's Gang) has turned out to be very problematic due to extensive research we conducted. Much more information follows.
~~~
For a period of several years I wrote circulars around the work of J. Krishnamurti - from philosophical ideas to commentary on his organizations, etc.
At some point the Friedrich Grohe Gang took over (via his employee Rabindra Singh and their poor choice as usual, Jaap Sluijter) the core of power at KFA and KFA which was already poorly managed, fast-tracked downhill and got doomed as a hopeless organization in my book.
At the end of 2020, I was called on to investigate disturbing reports at KFT (Krishnamurti Foundation Trust, UK). It took two years of investigation, as a part of a task force that included former trustees and close friends of Krishnamurti, former students, staff, parents, volunteers donors etc., and some seventy (70) testimonies, for us to get to the root causes of the issues, which turned out to be with a weak board of trustees, and Friedrich Grohe & his Gang, Again!
Research about KFT/ Brockwood Park School Mismanagement https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/KFT-Mismanagement
Friedrich Grohe has helped the foundations but I think he's hurt them even more. That's discussed extensively in this document: Friedrich Grohe and his Gang's Influence Mongering: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/grohe-gang-influence-mongering-at-krishnamurti-foundations
For now, let us say this is the final circular. Since the last circular in 2014, I've gathered material for a publication, but once I deemed KFA to be hopeless, the topic became non-time-sensitive and I was busy with other things -- but now it's time to empty my digital consciousness and move on.
I'm authoring multiple articles at the same time, such as these (see bottom of this file for a complete list).
This one which will be a collection of general notes on and around K's work;
A file on the history of my relationship with KFA and why I believe Jaap Sluiter is a disgrace to K.
A file on my involvement in the KFT mismanagement research, as an investigative journalist.
And much more...
The organization of this circular may not be optimal but like I said I'm fed up with the entire topic of how human greed and stupidity dragged down the work of a great man -- which is something K himself predicted but now we're witnessing it live!
December 2025: Francisco Mazza seems to have been appointed as the new Executive Director of KFA. I've heard that Jaap has been asked to be disconnect from KFA for a year. If that's true, there might be a ray of hope for KFA, but it'll take a lot of attention and lot of work to heal and clean the place from Jaap's "Directorship" disaster and the ego and attitude problems from A-Z that he had in his official role. Now with Jaap gone, and with Friedrich Grohe having passed away, therefore the "gang" naturally getting weaker since money for foundations from Grohe will probably dry up soon enough, there MIGHT be a ray of hope for KFA but that might be wishful thinking, especially since Rabindra is still at KFA. KFT is a lost cause in my opinion with Raman, Nasser, Mina etc. at the helm.
https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/meeting-j-krishnamurti-by-reza-ganjavi
When I first started reading K as a teenager (met him 15 times after finishing Think on These Things, shook hands several times with him, and he gave me a flower) -- I didn't want to have anything to do with people who were in K circles. As a teenager coming to this afresh, my sense was those people could only distract me from the exploration of this sublime, deep work.
Over the years, I came to meet a few lovely, genuine, deep people in the K circles, but the above paragraph proved to be true and the vicious, jealous, stupid people who hang out in these circles, including some who were "close" to Krishnamurti, wasted so much of my time and caused a lot of distress. But perhaps it was my dharma to go through that and document it for history. There is not a lot of documentation on how great teachings were corrupted over time, but history is full of such cases -- and the idiots around this work who simply do not have the education and wisdom to understand that, contribute to that decedent movement -- and that's particularly sad because K warned about it.
If he were a guru, a charlatan or even an ordinary person, we would expect his legacy to get corrupted, but K saw this coming, and warned about it -- yet -- desire for power, control over money, egotism, self-centered motives dominated the precious teachings, and that movement is so blunt and shameless to think it is helping or promoting the teachings. K made it very clear: to disseminate something you have to live it. He did not make a doctrine to live or disseminate -- he simply provided challenges and pointers which are stern, frank, blunt, painful at times -- big questions that require investigation that can be very disruptive to the very structure of the psychological sense of self and its greed. So it often takes the back seat. Not many have their eyes on the divine, as K would put it -- The divine not A divine or his divine or mine -- that which is beyond time and space, memory and desire, habits and preoccupations, suffering and sorrow, problems and obsession for conclusions -- that which is eternal, source of everything, and no human stupidity can disrupt its peace, quietness, grandeur.
Pictures I took during Krishnamurti's talks, and other K-related items from my archives.
We submitted our findings (a 330+ page report) to the UK Charity Commission, and a number of other UK Governmental regulators.
After two years of work (not full time, but still, a lot of work), for no pay, and having to endure KFT's idiotic attacks and empty threats and bogus police reports which the police didn't pursue obviously because KFT had no case (and it got proven that KFT lied to the police) and a recurring theme of dealing with a vicious group who's living so contrary to K's teachings, and is trying to hold to power and big money it controls at any price (see our 330+ page report to understand what KFT / Brockwood Park School was willing to do to people), I am so incredibly fed up with the entire official K world that I need a big break: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/KFT-Mismanagement
Many changes came as result of our investigation, both externally and internally as they tried to clean up their act, including changes in roles, in Board of Trustees, and even management change. Raman Patel was never keen on taking on such a front-facing role -- he preferred to pull strings from the background -- but after our report made it so crystal clear that Nasser Shamim was a total failure as an Executive Director of KFT, I believe to save face, Raman was made the Executive Director and came in the forefront, after being behind Nasser and supporting and empowering him for years. The save-face part was political as well since it was the Grohe influence via Raman who is part of the Gang as Grohe calls them, brought Nasser Shamim and Mina Masoumian to Brockwood, and the disaster that followed culminating in the collapse of Inwoods and firing of a very genuine, brilliant head of Inwoods whom the parents and children and the community absolutely loved.
Our analysis shed a spotlight on the root causes of this and other disasters in mismanagement at KFT / Brockwood Park (such as brutal firings of several people in such improper ways that would make K roll in his grave had he not been cremated!). And Nasser, Mina, Raman, Friedrich, and others such as Bill Taylor and Antonio Autor emerged as some of the central figures. But the buck stops at the top and Nasser and Mina and Raman emerged clearly as core causes of the mismanagement. So once "sugar hit the fan" by our investigative report -- and all the things they tried to sweep under the rug came out in the open -- to save face, Nasser was pushed to the background and Raman came forward, reportedly reluctantly. Neither Nasser was qualified to be the head of KFT, nor Raman is. But status quo has a way of giving itself continuity.
Several other changes came about which is in the investigative report.
Unfortunately the changes were not fundamental enough to uproot the problem because of the power of status quo. So at best Brockwood Park will be a mediocre school and KFT will be a hopeless, mediocre, self-centered, hypocritical organization which preaches dialogue but apparently dreads dialogue and accountability. The tragic part is K warned about this.
Both KFA and KFT went down the path of hopelessness, in my opinion based on deep analysis of the facts, because of the influence mongering, self-centeredness and incompetence of the Grohe Gang which emerged as a main power influence that led to serious governance issues, such as, for example, Raman Patel being head of KFT, who absolutely is not qualified in my view -- and catastrophic recruitments including of Nasser and Mina -- and Jaap Sluijter.
When we started our research into KFT / Brockwood Park issues we had no idea what, if anything we would find. A diligent, absolutely untainted and unbiased and impartial research led to several recurring themes, such as Raman's role and power at KFT while he held no official position... the rest is history and documented in the report: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/KFT-Mismanagement
I believe KFA and KFT will continue to be hopeless organizations, as long as the governance / power structure that got them into this mess, the status quo, is still there.
Article published in 2021: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/grohe-gang-influence-mongering-at-krishnamurti-foundations
Related articles:
This is what the moronic KFA has done to Krishnamurti (see picture to the right). They made this image as the thumbnail for their pathetic "immeasurable" video series which to me sounds like the guy who's editing designing and these videos is on drugs!
They've used all kinds of strange psychedelic sounding sound effects to distort Krishnamurti's voice and message with (both distortion of the voice, and the pathetic music). Everything K dreaded. They've also hurt his message, in my view, by their pathetic behavior, at times highly dishonest, which as K said is at the center of dissemination: right living. Lying is not right living, and even worse when you lie for wicked causes, for power games, etc.
This scary picture, a distortion of K's beautiful face, perfectly symbolizes how this horrible, hopeless foundation has distorted Krishnamurti's message -- yes the text are the same but as K pointed out you can do a lot to distort a teachings -- without distorting the text -- by dissemination without living it, and so many other things he asked of, e.g. having your priorities straight which some of the people in this "idiotic foundation" as K called them, do not seem to have.
~~~
A former Trustee and close friend of Krishnamurti wrote: "Thanks, Reza. Some 'artist' thought he was improving on an image of K. K's likeness cannot be improved upon. It is a magnificent, sublime face for the ages and telegraphs to the viewers just who he was and what he taught."
KFT is engaged in one of the worst things you could do to K! Poor Krishnamurti. Just when you thought KFT can't get any worse. They posted a fragment of K's quote about morality and duality, but that fragment did not make any sense and made K look stupid, and some people even responded saying no, K is wrong on that, but what K meant is stated in the full paragraph and not just one sentence.
"Morality implies duality – right and wrong, good and bad, etc. Following this approach, you will be lost. —Krishnamurti"
What a disgrace to take a substring of a quote which puts it totally out of context. You even have the nerve to put a period at the end of that phrase as though it was a sentence. Poor Krishnamurti in hands of these clueless people at KFT like Nasser Shamim, Raman Patel, et al.. K was profound. KFT is a disgrace. https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/KFT-Mismanagement
... exactly but KFT being as clueless and reckless as it is, in order to be sensational, takes a phrase of K out of context and puts it into a flashy headline and even has the never to put a period at the end as though it was an absolutely sentence. K warned about distortion, but for Nasser Shamim, Raman Patel, and other extensions of Grohe Gang who are running KFT, that doesn't seem to matter.
... KFT distorting K's work is not surprising.
... They took what K out of context and manipulated it (put a period) and distorted it. Not surprising.
--- They call this distortion dissemination.
... K did not mean that. KFA manipulated and distorted what he said. Not surprising.
... Ok course K clarified his own statement but this flashy manipulated quote by KFT distorts what he said and causes the kind of confusion you're experiencing. Shame on KFT.
Frank38: "Wow! This man was the epitome of stupidity and ignorance!"
Réza Ganjavi: Frank38, I sympathize with your frustration but it's not his fault - it's KFT's fault who manipulated what he said. It's one hell of a stupid, arrogant organization that is a disgrace to K. Get more insight into them here: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/KFT-Mismanagement
Paul Bouchard: "What a jackaxx , blind to the nature of compassion"
Réza Ganjavi: Paul Bouchard, I sympathize with your frustration but it's not his fault - it's KFT's fault who manipulated what he said. It's one hell of a stupid, arrogant organization that is a disgrace to K.
Joe Miller: "BS relativism. Cloaked as esotericism."
Réza Ganjavi: Joe Miller, There's no shortage of stupidity at KFT which is a disgrace to K and manipulates and distorts his statements.
And that KFA page has 236,000 followers!
Jaap Sluijter regularly sends around emails asking for money in the name of Krishnamurti. Poor Krishnamurti to have such a hypocrite use his name to collect money. I usually ignore his drivel. Let's look at a recent one:
Jaap Sluijter, the horrible executive director of KFA brought there by Friedrich Grohe's influence via Rabindra Singh (2) had developed a big appetite for KFA to collect millions in donor funds to buy Ojai Retreat to expand. In reality, I viewed this as Jaap's effort to expand his ego! Full story here: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/Why-Executive-Director-of-KFA-Jaap-Sluijter-Is-A-Disgrace-To-Krishnamurti
EXCERPT FROM Letter From Victim Of Jaap Sluijter's Abysmal Mismanagement is in this section:
Jaap Sluijter is on record for having said multiple lies in his position as the Executive Director of Krishnamurti Foundation America, and horrible cases of mismanagement of the KFA. I've documented some of these here: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/Why-Executive-Director-of-KFA-Jaap-Sluijter-Is-A-Disgrace-To-Krishnamurti
Congratulations to Friedrich Grohe's Gang for another disaster recruitment, based on the report that Rabindra Singh (Grohe's man) took Jaap to KFA and without the big money Grohe lineage support Jaap would have never found so much power, which made his mismanagement of the foundation even more harmful to K's legacy, in my opinion. Grohe Gang also had some other horrible recruitments at KFT which is illustrated in this investigative report:
https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/KFT-Mismanagement
News came that Jaap Sluijter, the horrible executive director of KFA is leaving. Great News! I heard that there were some serious complaints against Jaap, to at least one Trustee. And one person said: "They probably asked him to resign. Officially, he is stepping down."
So there was speculation that he may have been fired. That's not expected, given the Board of KFA is also hopeless, but even the speculation gave a ray of hope. I wrote to Karen Hesli, who is a senior member of the Board. I had recommended to the Board that they bring her in as a Trustee, and soon after that happened - years ago.
Dear Karen. I suppose Jaap was fired - he'd never quit such a lucrative position. There's a ray of hope for KFA after this big news. Many had lost hope. But Rabindra needs to go too if there's any hope for KFA to cure itself from the Grohe Gang infestation (Jaap was a part of the extended gang and would have never gained so much power without that political support). Regardless, congratulations. Jaap was bad news and for too long. I vowed not to step in that place as long as was around and had no hope he'd ever let go. Good job trustees [if he has been fired]. Kind Regards. Reza
A former Trustee who can't stand Jaap for very good reasons, wrote: Wow—there is a god after all. Amazing.
Another former Trustee wrote: Good news for KFA !
Not knowing the exact fact, I must reiterate that these are speculations, but coming from people whom I know would not just make up things, but they could still be wrong. So take this as merely hearsay. I heard that there was some disagreements with Jaap, and also that some Trustees stepped down. We don't know any details but it seems there was some dissonance within the Board - and possibly discontent among some donors.
Official news came that he has stepped down - or rather, announced that he will. Some still speculated that he may have been fired. At KFA "stepping down" doesn't always mean much. Mark Lee had stepped down or was supposed to, many times too but he just couldn't let go from the power. One Trustee I will not name here said Mark is like a snake who keeps coming back. In Persian the analogy is being like a place's chandeliers, which always stay. And he did despite serious shortcomings for the role as Trustee. He was ousted as Oak Grove School principal years before.
KFA started search for Jaap's replacement. Then I heard that Jaap is not leaving for good and wants to still stick around and do some things - not surprising, given: giving up so much power is not like Jaap, and other benefits he may derive from being involved. A former Trustee strongly advised against that. Clarity of roles is essential. A former executive director hanging around is not a good thing.
I encouraged a friend, and former intern at KFA to apply for the job. I think he did.
I also asked another friend who is very qualified for the job but he wrote: "Thanks for the suggestion but it's not in the cards for me. I hope they find someone that has a good heart and is deeply into the teachings and that can turn that place around. Many blessings."
Then I heard probably one of Jaap's subordinates may become Executive Director which means Jaap can still call the shots. We'll see. Upadate: I heard Francisco Mazza has become the new Executive Director. Some felt he doesn't have the qualifications. I don't know his background. I have had some interactions with him and he seems like a decent man. The risk from a distance seems to be too much proximity with Jaap and his ways. But I also heard Jaap is to be kept disconnected from KFA for a year so that Francisco can find his own way -- if this is true, then that's good news. The farther Jaap is from KFA the better.
A friend of K wrote: "It seems that Jaap does not want to really leave, he just wants to stop all the administrative work. He wants to continue as a consultant on a reduced salary. I have said to everyone possible (not that many) that this is a bad idea: it is a “rule” of organizations that once the person in charge leaves, he is gone completely. I have heard of organizations that make it a practice that when anyone in a position of authority hands in their notice to leave, they clear their desks that day and don’t come back."
Jaap would never have that role at KFA if it weren't for Rabindra (of Grohe Gang) and the rest of the downhill slide is history. Fancy looking visuals is not a measure of success except in the eyes of the superficial mind, and simpleton mindset which has taken on a dominating role in this so called "K world" -- that phrase itself was born in the same space and I found it divisive since day one (I remember exactly when and how that phrase was born)...
Jaap gutted K's spirit in my view, by going against the essence of K's view on dissemination (which is the main role of the foundations today, since preservation is mostly done): "living it". When you don't live it, the spirit is not there - not literally, but perhaps also literally!
Any good candidates in mind to run KFA? There's an opportunity to rescue the "idiotic foundation" as K called it, and rightly so - since it seems there's a ray of hope now that Jaap is finally gone, Thank God!
Oh these ones are hanging on to the power and money like... That's why their rhetoric about inquiry, welcoming hard questions, etc., is all nonsense. As soon as they sense their power and position is being questioned they rotate into a brutal beast. All their talk about K is superficial. Jaap himself is on record for pushing a lie in his role as Executive Director, knowing it's a lie, in order to achieve wicked results. Compare that to Krishnaji spending a lifetime speaking about the sanctity of truth.
In this context, only possibility for change would be for international trustees to rise up but nobody wants to rock the boat. We saw that with the KFT scandals. So status quo, in its mediocrity, carries on. No sign of supreme intelligence in those corners: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/KFT-Mismanagement
Very disturbing story - another case of Jaap going against core of K's teachings.
Jaap the self proclaimed K steward is now a K interpreter in a sense of the word which helps me really understand why Krishnaji warned so much about interpretation, by an apparently chaotic minded person who is paid to "disseminate" K, without living it: "When I read K I somehow want to make it more accessible or put it into different words or to make it more visible. In that light I'm standing here to somehow make more visible what he's talking about".
Full story here: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/Why-Executive-Director-of-KFA-Jaap-Sluijter-Is-A-Disgrace-To-Krishnamurti
Also see my article "Impressions of The Netherlands" which shows Jaaps' horribleness is NOT because he's Dutch, contrary to what Karen Hesli said or was told that he's authoritarian and heavy handed etc. because he's Dutch, and that The Netherlands is authoritarian and hierarchical which is not true.
But perhaps there is some truth to cultural influence in Jaap's brutality which is so contradictory to K's teachings and ethos. But rationalizing his behavior by saying it's because he'd Dutch is not fair and accurate. I looked into the subject in this article on The Netherlands: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/essays-and-short-pieces/impressions-of-the-netherlands
I came across this online:
[This was not written by me. It has spelling and typographic errors but here it is in verbatim form - but I deleted some potentially defamatory remarks]
"The Krishnamurti Foundation of Ojai, California was formed to disseminate the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti a world renowned teacher and preserve his home as a retreat. However, the new director [Jaap Sluijter] with the help of the board of directors uses foundation funds <>, something Krishnamurti was opposed to. $400000 of dwindling funds were used to build a yoga facility without bathrooms or utilities , something the local community has in abundance, and other frivolous projects Krishnamurti would oppose. Meanwhile, the buildings and his [Krishnamurti's] home where [were] badly damaged due to poor maintenance and neglect . While it says your donations can go to education, books, or maintain the property, the fine print says the funds are to be used at the total discretion of the director [Jaap Sluijter], which <>. <> are disgusted with the mismanagement of the Ojai California foundation and are rightfully withholding support. Krishnamurti was one of the greatest thinkers of his time and would be appalled at what has transpired in his name. If you wish to support his teachings buy books and materials and donate them to schools and prisons. Do not support the directors lavish lifestyle and foolish /failing <>. Little of your donations <>."
Years ago someone from Australia sent me a digital version of an excellent dialogue between Dr. Bohm and Dr. Suzuki which is apparently recorded in Canada. I have the email thread that shows that he sent me the video, which I knew nothing about previously. Our email exchange also included a key figure in the Dr. Bohm world who had struggled to get any response from people who made the video -- and he really wanted the video to get out into the public sphere. I could not locate the video on YouTube or any such site, so I posted it on YouTube, without monetization on, since it is an educational, non-commercial video; and naturally I have not made any money from it, not even one penny. I only shared it as a public service. And it has been very well received. It has had over 300,000 viewers, with lots of interesting discussion among the 400 comments people posted. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-jI0zzYgIE -- while you're there, feel free to subscribe to my channel.
Strangely, someone wrote to me today, effectively claiming that he had only copy of that video that existed in the universe (which is very hard to believe to be true -- imagine: a professionally produced video between two leading minds of the world, and only one copy existed in the whole world, on one VHS tape, and it was supposedly in a house in a small town in California that is rented to tourists, just laying around. Hard to believe!
The guy said that the VHS was taken by someone. He had no evidence to show who took it. He has no list of visitors and dates of visit to the house that he manages! He has no idea about the time-frame, date, year, or even decade! And he believes the digital video that is uploaded on YouTube which I received from someone is Australia many years ago, is the VHS that went missing in the house he manages in California. That implies, someone took that video from California to Australia, gave it to someone else who gave it to the person who sent me the digital version (who claimed he had received a VHS from someone).
If the tape was really stolen, that is a despicable act. If someone is interested in K's work which is about integrity, truth, right living, and ends of stealing a video tape, that is in direct contradiction of everything K stood for.
The email exchanges I had with the person who sent me the digital version from Australia, and the man in Canada in Dr. Bohm's circle, and the man in California, indicate that they all want the video to be seen by the public. It's in the public domain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-jI0zzYgIE
Pathetic KFA is Now Even Distorting Krishnamurti's Faceat they all want the video to be seen by the public. It's in the public domain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-jI0zzYgIE
Since Jaap became the horrible Executive Director, he removed the names of the KFA Trustees from the website. Transparency was not his thing. So you're know every couple of years in the foundation report who the trustees are. Prior to Jaap, their names were on the website, like most foundations.
I heard recently that Frode (Francis) Steen, and Karen Hesli are no longer trustees. We go way back. With Frode, Mark Lee and Asha we traveled to Santa Sabina to start the first dialogues there. I've stayed at Karen and Jeff's house many times and have always been very fond of them. I recommended Karen as a Trustee a long time ago.
Poor K - if he were in grave he'd roll, based on what's happened to his work. He dreaded organizations for a reason and predicted all this. That's the painful part. If he were any old guru you'd expect what's happened - the brutal games of power and money. But he warned about it, and it still happened. That fact is a bitter message, sorry to say.
Dear Reza,
I once asked K why he tolerated such awful people. With a twinkle in his eye he replied, 'But isn't it strange how they drop away?'. History marches on. If I were you I would not worry.
Best wishes,
~~~
I don't worry - KFA and KFT are hopeless. Why worry about something worthless and hopeless?
~~~
My response:
Thank you dear. Oh these ones are hanging on to the power and money like leeches. That's why their rhetoric about inquiry, welcoming hard questions, etc., is all nonsense. As soon as they sense their power and position is being questioned they rotate into a brutal beast. All their talk about K is superficial. Jaap himself is on record for pushing a lie, knowing it's a lie, in order to achieve wicked results. Compare that to Krishnaji spending a lifetime speaking about the sanctity of truth.
In this context, only possibility for change would be for international trustees to rise up but nobody wants to rock the boat. We saw that with the KFT scandals. So status quo, in its mediocrity, carries on. No sign of supreme intelligence in those corners:
https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/KFT-Mismanagement
Best wishes
Reza
Facebook which I do not actively use and haven't posted there for ages (I post on instagram sometimes: www.instagram.com/reza.ganjavi.mba - feel free to "follow" me) asked today if I want to add Tom Heggestad as a friend !! Tom passed away years ago. A sweet person, good friend, big heart, wonderful human, great father, serious student of K's work. Mark Lee said some creepy things during Tom's service at the Oak Grove where Krishnaji used to give talks for 65 years, where Jaap Sluijter ruined by his neglecting the trees outright and how the place turned into trash which only after I raised awareness about the despicable ignorance of the Grove that Jaap / KFA decided to do something about it -- and then what they did was so pathetic -- after years of neglect, they ran an ugly metal fence like a prison around it, totally contrary to K's spirit -- of course it could have been much better handled with some care - there was a lot they could do, a bit of care goes a long way. Instead, they went from total neglect to an ugly iron fence and still massive number of trees died which should not have happened if Jaap had not neglected them (as per expert statement of an arbor). This yet another disaster in mismanagement of Jaap Sluijter is documented in this document: "Why Executive Director Jaap Sluijter is a disgrace to Krishnamurti": https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/Why-Executive-Director-of-KFA-Jaap-Sluijter-Is-A-Disgrace-To-Krishnamurti
Mark Lee went blah blah in statements which only served the purpose of glorifying himself, and how he forgave Tim blah blah, as though he's Jesus Christ, and as though everyone is without faults. Who hasn't made mistakes in one's life? But Mark Lee had to make sure that that is highlighted after Tom died, publicly, at the Oak Grove which I found very odd and egotistic on Mark's part.
Mangalesh Joshi, I agree -- not sure "denied" is the right word. But I also agree "terms don't matter much". K warned against messing with kundalini. I think it's a natural process which has its own life and is not just sleeping there useless. It does what it does. It's not necessarily sensational, but people have used it for sensationalism, mistakenly that it leads to "enlightenment" which is a human-made concept, etc...
I heard Francis McAnn hurt herself from messing with kundalini - she had some disability. Lovely lady. Always present. She said what she got out of K was "a quiet mind" - which is actually tricky because not thinking enough in its right place, can also get us into trouble.
I think kundalini is active many times as part of the ordinary energy drive. But being conditioned human has thought of it as binary: passive or active - sleeping or awake. It's both and neither.
I'm not a follower of K and I don't believe anything he says, and certainly not an apologist for him, and he doesn't need one :-)
K doesn't provide a path, a doctrine... so there's no "way" of his to follow, no system or method. He provides a set of pointers and challenges, and bags of jewels (insights) that are mainly about how our minds work -- very insightful... he's more of a psychologist than anything.
Hard to put him in a box but they try - like that review article you sent me on AntroWiki. Think of him as an inconsistent passer by who offers some pointers for one to explore. One may want to or not -- that's all. Nothing more to it. There's no "Krishnamurti way".
First of all this is nobody’s business. It’s a private subject. Usually people get engaged in other people’s private matters for entertainment and excitement because their own life is so boring. There are other reasons for it too, of course.
I am writing this because a few days ago someone at a place I am staying at bashed K. Have you read any of his books? “no”. So why do you bash him? “because he was screwing his sister-in-law”.
How do you spell ignorance?
Due to her role, I felt I should tell her my impression on the subject. I, in no way want to justify or condemn anything.
First of all, the person she was referring to, Rosalind, was not K’s sister-in-law. I met her in fact during her last years.
Rajagopal was an old friend and associate of K who edited some of his books including his best seller and first book I read “think on these things”. K entrusted him with the publication of his material and Rajagopal turned around and claimed rights to K’s work as his. As K put it later, it’s like putting money in the bank and the bank claiming it as his. Rajagopal was driven by jealousy [see K’s letter to him].
He was going off to Hollywood for extended periods to meditate to find enlightenment.
Teaching is more important than the teacher but we like to concentrate on the teacher.
The search for consistency is futile. We tend to look for inconsistency to justify our lack of understanding.
He is not hypocritical. Never said don’t have sex. He defined celibacy as not having an image.
He was a human and this made him more great. That means he also made human mistakes. Some people tend to want to make gods – and put people on pedestals – and sometimes shoot them down to justify their lack of understanding, laziness to take on challenges, to inquire, study, work – and be prepared for change that might come from inquiry. Some prefer to cling instead, to someone, an ideal, an idea…
There's a lot more that can be said about the subject of this section but it's not important.
My good friend Rik Ganju passed away at a young age in Northern California. It came as a shock since he did not disclose his illness to many friends. He was an insightful man and we enjoyed many dialogues and explorations.
Once he had an idea that women become very practical after around the age of 21 while men remain romantic for a long time, or as Michael Mendizza put it, "Romantic Fools" as he refers to himself, and I am the same :-) -- quickly "fall in love" or rather "rise in love" etc... -- I can write a love letter as quickly and easily as drinking a glass of water.
So Rik and I tested his hypothesis by doing a survey of people in the pizzeria that night. He sure was right. Younger women (under 20) were like ya! And older women were like "Love letter? I haven't written a love letter forever". The reasons are explained by evolutionary psychology which is a fascinating field. Of course generalizations are never accurate, and, many humans, hopefully, rise above the animalistic conditioning.
I came across these two cases of big age gaps where a much older man and a much younger woman had an intimate relationship. Nothing wrong with that, but it is generally condemned. It's interesting that I saw several cases of these (also the reverse with older women and younger men) in these K circles. For example, Donald Ingram Smith and a mutual friend had intimate contact when he was 80 and she was 18. People were judging / condemning it but they were good together and that's what mattered - mutually enriching each other. Also, a former student of K schools, a young woman told me she had intimate contact with Dr. Parchure who was much older than her. Why not? As long as the contact is responsible, respectful. I also had an affair with a younger lady (legal age of course, and her mother approved and supported our contact) where we had a great time together, including lots of synergy and deep dialogue and mutual enrichment. But some of the people around couldn't stand it. The organizer of the gathering was going around soliciting negative views from others with suggestive questions. The interesting thing was that some of the same people who were condemning our contact, whether liked to be with her, or with me, and were jealous, as illustrated by their own conduct and words and overtures!
Love knows no age gap!
My good friend Jeff Welch passed away. It was an unpleasant shock and surprise, given he was taking care of health. But death is always around the corner. Jeff was a great man. Soft spoken, very intelligent, very open minded, very kind, very wise, mystical and spiritual. We had a lot of fun playing soccer at Oak Grove School many times. I stayed at his and wife, the wonderful Karen Hesli's house multiple times in the highly spiritual Matilija Canyon. Last time I spoke with him, he was not happy with Jaap Sluijter and felt Jaap's taking KFA in the wrong direction - I fully agree.
His love lives in in our hearts. All sympathies, condolences and love to dear dear Karen.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Metzinger's work is the only vital work I see related to K's work. His book The Elephant and the Blind is fascinating, which I highly recommended reading. The table of contents is a refreshing sight, and while it is in a different league in terms of academic credibility compared to Mr. J. Krishnamurti's important work, but it resonates with me a similar perfume of fresh insight that is so prevalent in Krishnamurti's books, and so badly missing at Krishnamurti Foundations in the West (KFA, KFT).
On Wed, 19 Aug 1998, Erna Lilliefelt wrote to me an email. Until then we were communicating via letter. I had visited her and her husband Theo at her house in Ojai before and we had fruitful dialogues. Erna and Theo were both Trustees of KFA when there was still hope for KFA. Years later, it's slipped in the decaying path of mediocrity.
Mark Lee had told me that K had said he didn't want to die in India so he's not reborn in India.
Mary Zimbalist had denied this in an email of 25 Jul 1998:
"Greetings Reza, That story is untrue. Krishnaji never told me that. He was not well enough to continue his speaking engagements and wanted to return to Ojai. He never spoke to my knowldge about being reborn - in India or anywhere else. Best wishes, Mary"
Erna wrote me back and then we talked on the phone. On 19 August 1998 she wrote:
"Dear Reza, How great that I can acknowledge your welcome letter via e-mail. It is so much easier than writing and mailing and all that entails. My e-mail is: <>. This will be easier for you too. It was good to hear from you and learn what you are doing and where. Yes, I miss Theo and always will. He died this past April 29 after a long and debilitating illness. He had been down here at the Victorian Care Center for 1,l/2 years before he died. Last August l997 I sold our house in Ojai and moved down here at the adjoining retirement home for seniors so that I could be near him. I was able to be with him almost constantly for the last six months of his life. So my new address is: Erna Lilliefelt, 5440 Ralston St. Apt. 344, Ventura, CA 93003. Tel: (805) 650-4281. and the e-mail as above. I have lost pretty much all contact with Ojai and burned my bridges behind me there.
Life here is relatively simple and I enjoy my computer which I have been using a lot, particularly since Theo died. Many thanks for writing; all the very best to you in your adventures of living. Keep in touch. Glad you are still involved in your guitar. Sorry I do not remember Pepe Romero, but my memory is not that great any more. As I do remember, I think, is that Pablo Casals was also very much influenced by K. Warmest greetings, Erna Lilliefelt"
We spoke subsequently and she told me K indeed told her as he told another that he didn't want to die in India because he didn't want to come back as an Indian. He was extremely ill and tired, just arrived from airport, walked to the cottage and sat on the bed and told Erna this. She hasn't told this to anyone other than Theo and me. But reportedly he repeated this to another so it was on his mind (or Erna told Mark Lee). A mystery!
Friedrich Grohe passed away at age 96. His son Christoph wrote a beautiful note in response to my condolences email, in which he said Friedrich passed away peacefully and very gently, like a candle, and he had no illness He gradually slowed his activities, and spent hours laying in the sun.
Friedrich was a catalyst in my move to Switzerland. I had a job offer from a Swiss IT company - and at the same time Friedrich invited me to the Saanen gathering when we met in Ojai. I fell in love with Switzerland and moved there. I became a Swiss citizen and worked for big Swiss banks etc., and lived in Switzerland for years.
Friedrich and I saw K first time in the same year, and shared many walks and good conversations for years to come. He healed a knee problem I had due to an accident, which had lingered for years. I asked him to touch the knee, knowing he was living a quite "religious" like with energy of the mountains etc. and he was a yogi. He touched the knee in Rougemont. About a half hour later as I was getting off the train, a beam of energy or something went from my knee out the toes. I was surprised - it was totally unexpected and unknown. And my knee pain went away permanently.
On a personal level, Friedrich was one of the sweetest, kindest persons I've ever known. I also admired his lifestyle, and learned from him. You taught me the yoga / exercise routines, eye exercises, pranayamas (breathing exercises) that J. Krishnamurti taught him.
I was sometimes critical of some of the work of the "gang" and provided constructive criticism. I produced a report called The Fifth Foundation https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/the-fifth-foundation after his team continued to be reckless in their activities around K's work - this report received praise from various Trustees who said they wanted to say these things but never could. And I led a big investigation into KFT/Brockwood Park in year 2021 where we found out some of Friedrich's associates were involved in the events that led to the collapse of Inwoods Small School. This resulted in a massive investigative report and complaint to the UK Charity Commission.
I wrote Friedrich recently to congratulate him on a new book he had written (obviously with a lot of help from Claudia) of his memoirs, and learned that he had passed away. Information from his obituary:
Friedrich GROHE
(date de naissance : 22/09/1929)
Ses fils et ses belles-filles :
Christoph Grohe and Anouk Anouilh;
John et Corinne Grohe,
leur maman Inge Ammann;
Her grandchildren and great-grandchildren:
Nastasja Grohe, son fils Max Brossard et son papa Tom ;
Laura Grohe et Geoffrey Moret, leurs enfants Naomi et
Joshua;
Adeline Grohe et Axel Robadey, leur fils Yohan;
Cindy Grohe and Nathan Jenny;
Alexia Grohe et Felipe Schneider Prada;
David Grohe et Luiza Lorencino;
His companion :
Claudia Herr;
Sa soeur et ses frères :
† Yvonne et † André Rochat-Grohe and family;
Bernd et Ester Grohe and family;
Charles et Charlotte Grohe and family;
The families Holbing, Reymond and Genini;
Les familles parentes et alliées en Suisse, en Allemagne et en Autriche;
Ses nombreux amis dans le Monde entier,
are very sad to announce the death of
Mr.
Hans Arthur Friedrich GROHE
dit Malé, Fridolin
qui s'est endormi paisiblement, le 10 octobre 2025, à l'âge de 96 ans.
Une cérémonie aura lieu dans l'intimité.
Domicile de la famille : chemin des Mourets 5, 1659 Rougemont.
We are part of nature. If we lose contact with nature, we lose contact with ourselves and with the rest of humanity. - J. Krishnamurti
Dr. Satish Inamdar was a great man. A medical doctor. Very intelligent. Good grasp of K's work. He led the Valley School in Bangalore for a long time.
I found this letter I wrote him. It talks about KFA and Saanen Gatherings in response to his question. You can see the history of KFA's recklessness goes way back. Jaap Sluijter, Rabindra Singh and company just fast tracked it downhill.
9 November 1996 - Chalet Solitude [I was staying at Friedrich Grohe's marvelous chalet]
Dear Satish:
Thank you very much for your letter. I am in Rougemont for a couple of days. I just spent 2 weeks in Iran. There is no K committee there, so I brought the translators together, etc.. The first Farsi translator said she had such a strong urge to do the translations that she was willing to risk going to jail. K books get published with some government censorship.
Unlike the West, Iran's society provides very little means of entertainment. Many young people are exposed to K. Some find it too idealistic in such a heavily traditional society. Many others are avid fans.
[Some Rumi scholars say K helped them understand parts of Rumi they had not understood clearly before.]
[After Ahmadinejhad, K's books became harder to find in book stores.]
[To be clear, I am NOT a follower of K. Just a friend, and I disagree with some of the things he said.]
Spent 2 weeks in California before that. In Ojai, went to the opening night of the KFA's semi-annual dialogues - On Fear. The speaker was a "existential, phenomenological psychotherapist", (wife of one of the trustees). She was terrible. One lady in the audience who had come all the way from Georgia challenged the speaker. I was not so much reacting to it as I was finding it sad. I asked one question, and she said what she was saying was contradictory to K's teachings - then why is she speaking at a KFA event? But by the end she said her lecture is "complementary" to K - as though K needs a complement. Her approach was basic traditional analysis (paralysis!) based on hope of continuity, etc..
You asked me about the Saanen gatherings. The nature is beautiful and the gathering of people is holy, but the program and some of the speakers needed help. I am tired of being tired of bad speakers. On the last day one lady said, every year I feel miserable, I come here, and I leave feeling better! So, in a way Saanen is pilgrimage, as you suggested, for some - why don't people resolve their problems in daily life rather than once a year, or in some therapy group? I made suggestions about the program, but I don't think anything will change. It hasn't changed in the 4 years that I've gone. So, it will not change - though change is possible.
Life is full of mystery and magic and despite tremendous uncertainty one is very happy.
Very Best Regards,
Reza Ganjavi
“Do not dominate anybody and do not let anybody dominate you.” Krishnamurti’s last message to Professor Krishna, on his deathbed.
Professor Padmanabhan Krishna wrote a fine book called "A Jewel on a Silver Platter". It's a monumental work -- a summary of the life of two great men. I was not happy to see the forward by Ravi Ravindra who is clueless about Krishnamurti. See the relevant section in this circular and https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/about-ravi-ravindras-garbage-ideas-tabloid-book-kfa
Dr. Krishna's book is full of gems. Here are a couple:
On his deathbed K told him “Sir, I am surrounded by people who have not the foggiest idea what I am talking about!” That is very significant. See my article "The Myth of Nobody Got It": https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/notes-related-to-the-work-around-j-krishnamurti-2008#h.4vgog8gwv6xz
Who was surrounding him who had no clue what he talked about? On top of the list in my view are Mark Lee and Michael Krohnen.
I elaborate on this idea that KFA was largely driven by people who had no clue what K was talking about -- and it just got worse as time went by to the state it is today in the file about why in my view Jaap Sluijter is a disgrace to J. Krishnamurti:
https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/Why-Executive-Director-of-KFA-Jaap-Sluijter-Is-A-Disgrace-To-Krishnamurti
~~~
Once Krishnaji was asked to summarize his entire teaching in one sentence. He said,” Attempt, without effort, to live with death, in timeless silence”.
~~~
In 1981 at Rajghat when someone asked him [Krishnamurti] why it was so difficult to understand his teaching he replied.” The teachings are not out there in a book. You are not to understand the teachings; you are to understand yourself. The teachings are only a means of explaining the necessity of understanding yourselves. What the speaker says acts as a mirror in which you can look at yourself. When you look at yourself very carefully, the mirror will not be important. You will be able to throw it away!”
KFI Trustee, Mr. Shripati Dubey kindly invited met o speak at their JK Circle. Excerpt from the invitation:
Dear Mr. Reza Ganjavi,
Greetings from Rajghat, Varanasi! You will surely be surprised to see this mail from a stranger so let me introduce myself...
… I am writing this mail on behalf of the Indore J.K. study circle, to request you, if you could speak on any Sunday, in June 2021 ,on a subject of your choice, at 11 am IST… We all will be thankful if you will kindly accept this offer. In case you agree to speak before this group we would need a Theme...
I love the quote at the end of his message, which is one of the core pointers K provides: "If you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes a transformation" -- J. Krishnamurti
The theme I spoke about was: Application of J. Krishnamurti's Teachings In "Real World" and the Myth of "Nobody Got It"
Here's the talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8xNSuqrqhc&t=2574s
This was my biography read: "Mr. Réza Ganjavi came upon Mr. J. Krishnamurti's work as a teenager, and met him about 15 times during the last 3 years of his life, including personally when once Mr. Krishnamurti gave him a flower. Mr. Ganjavi has university degrees with high honors in Computer Science and Philosophy, and an MBA. He has an extensive career in IT and management consulting. He is also a musician with two best-selling classical guitar CDs and has played concerts at most K schools worldwide. He is not a follower of K but a friend."
As time permits I gradually go through all the K books I read / studied / marked up (over 80) and I write about them in this file which will get updated from time to time: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/on-jiddu-krishnamurti-books-by-reza-ganjavi
It's a very low priority and slow background process.
Krishnamurti's pathetic foundations in USA and UK continue to bastardize his teachings. I came across a disgusting video called "Krishnamurti. We Have No Love" which I believe K would fume if he saw it and would say "darn, I should have dissolved that pathetic foundation KFI, which I called idiotic and wanted to close it down". I guess the "immeasurable" YouTube channel is a bastardization of K's work by KFA and KFT -- I don't know the degree of cooperation but know KFA has a hand in it.
Whoever did that video was probably on drugs or had some mental disorder or creepy state of mind to create such a horrible trash out of K's work: putting all that artificial echo on hits voice, add the creepiest horrible garbage "music" or rather noise in the background, and augment the trash with creepy visuals. What a shame really, but then you can only expect garbage to come out of garbage.
Work of a great man is bastardized, despite his decades of warning about it. Poor Krishnamurti!
Someone sent me a link to another pathetic garbage video called "Jiddu Krishnamurti-What is Love?". What a shame really. K talked at length about dangers of distortion of his teachings. Whoever idiots made this video put a horribly loud obnoxious garbage quality "music" on it which is louder than K's voice. I guess they were inspired by the trash that the "immeasurable" puts out. Poor Krishnamurti.
I had an email about Elisabeth Fraser's inheritance that she had given to KFT and some concerns were raised but as the Persians expression goes I am "neither the heads of the onion nor the bottom" - meaning it has nothing to do with me. It was interesting to learn, according to that email, if it was true, that she "left £700,000 in will in 2019 to Krishnamurti Foundation".
I visited Elisabeth in Scotland and interviewed her on video. She was a fascinating lady, and I had heard that she was going to leave her for KFT - what a mistake!
Here's the video: Discussion with Mrs. Elisabeth Fraser (93 in 2013), by Reza Ganjavi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4orUS-PAo8
My article on Radha Rajagopal garbage book: Sloss Lives in The Shadow: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/Radha-Sloss-Book-Life-In-The-Shadows-Is-Garbage
I originally corresponded with her in 1994.
I befriended the famous potter / artist Beatrice Wood and visited her at her house / gallery in Ojai -- and met Rosalind there -- Rajagopal's wife with whom K had a long-term affair (Radha Sloss's mother). Rosalind was had dementia but at her very old age still had a shining beautiful face.
I played at Beatrice's birthday party - she was in her late 90's or early 100's.
She wrote me a beautiful letter on 17 December 1993, about K, Rosalind, and Radha's tabloid book.
I've written about Albion Patterson previously. I used to visit him in Ojai. A very intelligent man with a very highly developed mind. He lived with K in the 1930's.
Albion Patterson told me K and him used to go to movies that had sexy scenes because K said he likes to see his animal side come out so he becomes aware of it and be free from it...
Before he passed away in his 90’s I used to visit Albion Patterson, an old-time friend, scholar, trustee, and housemate of K’s. He used to say, from time to time, that in these circles, there is too much talk, and not enough study, which has proved to be true over the years.
He was very critical of Mark Lee and didn't like him at all. Albion made some great points that years later turned out to be true -- the whole circus they made out of dialogue for example, which Mark himself discarded after years of promoting it, and boring endless dialogues about dialogue!
See big update to the file:
On Friedrich Grohe Gang Member Javier Gomez Rodriguez: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/Friedrich-Grohe-Gang-Member-Javier-Gomez-Rodriguez-Krishnamurti-Related
~~~
Also, a lady wrote: “Javier was so boring. He was giving a sermon. I was so fed up - probably many people also. It felt like I am again in Catholic Church. I needed to go away. Once he started he never stopped. In one meeting which you were also at, Javier kept talking and talking even when a donkey outside made a continues loud sound to which everyone was laughing. He didn’t notice the donkey giving a concert.”
She criticized Gisele for bringing these people like Javier to be so-called leaders. We don’t need leaders about this subject. It seems Gisele’s own small horizons which seems to be cultural conditioning, makes her want to have leaders and project that onto others, as though they want to have leaders – and some do – but anybody who really understood what K was talking about would be free of need for psychological authority…
She complained that they had the speaker at the prime spot and K video at siesta time – while the video/K could have been in the morning and the so called leader secondary; there was no need for such a leader.
These leaders were really nice and insightful people but when you put them on a pedestal it got so boring. K doesn’t need leaders. He points out something – let’s see if it’s true or not. Why do we need people to explain his words?
Once she asked Scott Forbes: can we do something to introduce K? Scott wisely said: he introduces himself. And he does.
Very loaded question -- "we" receiving "sacred" is a loaded concept by itself which assumes separation... the opposite is also loaded, i.e., that there is no separation...
Then the concept of being condemned to live in sorrow -- that's very loaded.
And then assumption that a certain condition is needed to supposedly receive that supposed sacredness by supposed entity that's separate from it...
And reference to the sacred by Krishnamurti or Joe Blow or X or Y makes no difference if that which is pointed to is something a person has never come in touch with, in a simple setting of life, whether it's in the smile of a child, a simple act of love and caring, a quiet night perceived with senses fully awake, etc etc
So I feel that question can be stripped and distilled...
"He has clear and deep mind and heart lines. From knowing him personally I can attest to that. An incredibly intelligent man and a very big deep heart. First time we shook hands he looked at me in the eyes and there was love pouring out of his eyes." Reza Ganjavi
A lady visitor to the Krishnamurti Library in Ojai was devastated because of the alleged misconduct by Michael Krohnen. She left the library crying. She later reported the incident to the Foundation. Her letters and more info here: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/michael-krohnen-mistreating-lady-visitor-to-kfa-krishnamurti-library-ojai
In order to kiss up to former Trustee Diane White who was present at Rajesh Dalal talk in Krishnamurti's home, and as confessed by Krohnen himself, with the blessing of Mark Lee and James Paul (two Trustees), Michael Krohnen assaulted me right in front of everyone, totally unprovoked, because of an article I had written stating facts about how those very same people were trying to oust Diane While from the Foundation as Trustee! I could not believe my eyes! I spared him and KFA from filing a criminal complaint out of respect for Mr. Krishnamurti but I should have reported to the police. The published story from years ago, including including witness statements is here: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/michael-krohnen-the-vulgar-librarian-at-krishnamurti-foundation-america-kfa
For many many years the names of the Trustees of KFA were on their website. Jaap Sluijter took their names off, which perfectly fits his other behavior, and statements like saying he can get the Board to do anything he wants. Jaap would have never been so powerful if it weren't for having the backing of Rabindra Singh who would have never been so powerful had he not been on payroll of Friedrich Grohe.
I heard recently that Jaap has said they also took the names of KFA's dialogue facilitators off their website because they were being harassed. That shows something is wrong. Why would anyone harass a dialogue facilitator? I can only think of the root cause as the organization which promotes "dialogue" has no clue what real dialogue is -- as evidenced by its Executive Director's horrible actions and absolute refusal to have dialogue, even when their own trustee, Michael Mendizza told him to do so in order to clarify an issue that Jaap had caused in relationship to me -- but Jaap refused because he had lied, and he did not face the truth because he appears as a coward who makes a mess for improper motives (e.g. kissing up to Friedrich Grohe -- and trying to quash criticism and scrutiny because he may have forgotten that KFA is not a private club. KFA is a non-profit tax-exempt "charitable" entity which is accountable to the people of California and Krishnamurti was a public figure and what happens in his foundations is a matter of public interest.
So in a typical hypocritical way that K warned about, they don't live the teachings but they try to promote it. Jaap's own behavior in my view is extremely contradictory to K's core teachings, and the combination of Jaap, Friedrich Grohe and his gang's influence, and not so smart people like Mark Lee, have made KFA a hopeless organization, in my opinion.
K said no secretary or president of his foundation should have any other job. They were to be committed full time to their foundation responsibilities and the teachings
He illustrates how K could not tolerate a lady Trustee perhaps because of what said was her emotions and devotion which K felt were bad for him -- whether he saw other things in her that made him react so negatively is unknown.
He also could not handle another Trustee lady -- I can totally understand that given how clueless she was about his teachings (their dialogues are like pulling teeth).
Mark Lee also comes across for what I have also perceived.
There are also hints of Friedrich Grohe's early influence mongering at the foundations which got worse over the year.
Here's a page on Mark Lee: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/mark-lee-and-krishnamurti-foundation-america-kfa
I found notes in my digital backlog for a circular in 2005 that was never released. Here are some excerpts that are still relevant: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/Krishnamurti-Related-Circular
Sections:
THE WORK CAN’T BE DELEGATED
THE GREAT PHILOSOPHER
THE TEACHINGS ARE VAST
CURRENT SITUATION
VERY SERIOUS MATTER
LAZINESS
PUBLICIZING CONFUSION
PROBLEM IS “OUT THERE”
SERIOUS AND DEDICATED?
JUSTIFICATIONS
THIS IS NOT A REVIEW OF “THE LINK”
THOSE CLOSE TO K
“Dialogue” was like pulling teeth. The week before it was much more sensible with David Skitt there and an outspoken professor who was a newcomer to K.
At this week’s event I felt like crying. The poor man spent 60 years, talk after talk, going over some subjects which apparently people who followed him, against his wishes, who are now figures who run his dialogues, or those who carry a socially respectable façades to manage their neurosis dominate events organized and presented in his name.
Once again I saw this arrogance of ignorance. Arrogance of sitting in a far comfortable position and saying it can’t be done. “We” cannot do it.
Why have you not done it after being at it for 30 or 50 years? And isn’t it interesting that the same mind makes K into an idol. Isn’t it the very act of idol-making that prevents one from seeing what one is in the moment?
Why are some of these old timers who are so close to this so clueless? Their numbers are luckily not many but their roles are significant enough that makes one worry, not only for their own sake, as there is affection and friendship, but for what they tell “the man from Seattle” who comes to these places.
Isn’t it time to stop being polite, not to be impolite, but to see the utter ridicule of the comfortable arrogant “can’t do” position? If you cannot do it then the man wasted his life, except for earning you a salary now, and nobody else could do it. If you can do it, why have you not done it so far? And why have you slipped into a rot of “can’t do” and the arrogance of contending that it can’t be done? You have not said the latter but isn’t that a logical conclusion that if one has not done if after 40 years, it can’t be done?!
Well my friend, whom I truly love and care for, it can be done. There is a virtue in.
~~~
Also see allegation of harassment at dialogue: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/Why-Executive-Director-of-KFA-Jaap-Sluijter-Is-A-Disgrace-To-Krishnamurti
I have seen time and again what K points to has healed people's minds / hearts / lives / and therefore bodies. I saw first hand how these insights, the investigation have literally saved lives. I've personally been involved in helping so many people get out of the chains of conflict, addiction, drugs, alcohol, depression, suicide, toxic relationships, etc.
Meanwhile some people still go around spreading their confusion by asking: is K's teachings practical? Of course! But it's nothing to believe in. So if you are capable of thinking critically and courageous to explore and investigate to find the truth, then you don't even ask that questions because you know the answer.
K also healed some people physically, including daughters of two good friends. One had leukemia and was completely healed by K while doctors had given up. Sometimes it clicks, said K.
I've also seen healing with my own eyes, on others, and on myself. Including when I asked Friedrich Grohe to touch my knee and a decades old injury left my leg and never came back - it literally exited my knee through the calf and feet and left the body. I saw / felt it happen -- it was very explicit.
Dominique Fernandez saw K work on Vikram Parchure, Dr. Parchure's son.
Other figures include Diane and Emma.
It was surprise news that Paul Herder was arrested in Hawaii, extradited to Ventura, for having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old Oak Grove School student while he was a teacher there.
He was later criminally convicted and is serving a prison sentence. I believe the civil case against him was dropped, and the huge civil cases against Oak Grove School and KFA were settled. I don't know the amount but I heard through the grapevine that it was for the maximum that KFA was insured for, which may have been $2 million.
More details on the Paul Herder Sexual Assault Case on my page about it: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/law-ethics/paul-herder-criminal-case-oak-grove-school-krishnamurti-foundation-kfa
"They don’t trust that K's work is sufficient so they need to dilute it. Make it into a yoga center…" A long term staff member of KFA.
A former Trustee and close personal friend of Krishnamurti, Mr. Alan Kishbaugh told me "K didn't have wishes, he had injunctions to us to care for the land and preserve the teachings. And, to not mix him up with anything."
But of course, being the idiotic foundation that Krishnamurti thought them to be, KFA, in hands of reckless management style of Jaap Sluijter and Mark Lee, did not abide by that wish -- just as Mark Lee did not abide by the express wish of K not to have the Foundation's money speculated in risky investments (which led to loss of millions of the Foundation and its negative repercussions).
Jaap Sluijter thinks questioning himself, the Trustees, the Foundation on why they dilute K's teachings with other things, against his express will, as disturbance, even as the questioning is done in the most polite, civil way. His finding that question as disturbing is a clear illustration that something is wrong.
Another disaster of Jaap's Directorship at KFA. Details are in the page about him -- along with lots of other goodies why I believe Jaap is the worst thing that happened to K's work including Rajagopal.
Talk about diluting / mixing Krishnamurti, against his express will. Byron Katie was featured in Krishnamurti "Immeasurable" Podcast!! Poor Krishnamurti !!
https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/law-ethics/spiritual-cults-frauds/byron-katie
One Trustee told me, they do these other things that have nothing to do with Krishnamurti because "just to get people there". Try Kali Puja !! Poor Krishnamurti !!
How about treating people better? I know several people including myself who don't want to put their foot in that place because of the way they were mistreated or harassed or bullied or assaulted or given a hard time for no valid reason.
Several former Trustees are alienated by the place. Some are disgruntled at Mark Lee or Jaap Sluijter. One former Trustee told me "we gave everything we had - money - career..." but he hasn't gone there once in the last 20 years although he's nearby because of being disgruntled at the place.
Mark Lee said: "People who got it come and go and never come again". Why? It's not because "they got it". It's because of the way the place is run which appears to be just centered around money, power, ego, and in a dictatorial, heavy handed manner, especially under Jaap Sluijter.
Good marketer know that it costs a lot less to keep an existing customer than to obtain new ones. The disgusting way, in my opinion, that Jaap runs KFA, is absolutely out of line with Krishnamurti's spirit, presence, ethos, values, vibration, as many of us who met him knew it -- and it's against K's basic teachings and things he warned about for decades including tribal thinking, psychological image making, etc. -- it is soooo divergent from K's values that I literally perceive it as disgusting. K was so much about love, sensitivity, caring, compassion, affection, which is intelligence. Jaap Sluijter's culture is the opposite -- lacking those core elements in my view and experience and experience of several others. Karen Hesli tried to justify it by saying it's because he's Dutch. But that's not an excuse. Also see my article "Impressions of The Netherlands".
The behavior that Jaap Sluijter has brought to KFA is so incredibly contradictory to what Krishnamurti stood for, that I call it a disgrace to Krishnamurti, and worst thing that happened to K, including Rajagopal.
One former supporter said "it's not K's atmosphere".
Over the years I've heard criticisms of the biographies of K written by of both Mary Lutyens and Pupul Jayakar. Both respectful ladies were highly devoted to K, and the critics say that some of the content of the biographies are not accurate and are written to glorify K.
One of K's close friends and confidants said:
"Pupul Jayakar's biography of Krishnamurti is a romantic fairy tale; a historic fiction. How did she know K's mother was singing with her beautiful voice as she cleaned out the puja room to give birth there. Did she intend to give birth there or caught short there? Who heard her singing if she did. How do we know she had a beautiful voice? There's no record of any of this. You could tell Pupul was just making it up."
Mark Lee is not any better: just makes things up about K, I guess to be sensational. I've documented this in a YouTube video on Mark Lee promoting fictions as facts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBYY55YDhEE
I also had a listen/look at some of the sessions ad the latest KFA gathering. David Moody gave a talk about the perennially boring and misunderstood: "Myth of Nobody Got It" which has been a favorite of people like Jaap who apparently don't get it, don't live it, but want to - and worse, get paid - to to disseminate it (recall what K said about that). They like this myth because it justifies their lack of study, examination, inquiry, understanding, applying some profound truths to their own life, conduct, values.
Dr. Pathik Wadhwa who was among the audience, addressed the myth brilliantly.
I wrote about this popular but false myth previously, including:
In the 2008 circular: The Myth Of “nobody Got It” https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/notes-related-to-the-work-around-j-krishnamurti-2008#h.4vgog8gwv6xz
In the 2013 circular: K is NOT too difficult / & the curse of “Nobody Got It” https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/krishnamurti-related-unrelated-circular-2013
Talking about circulars, for a few years, I've been compiling "the last circular" [this document] but haven't released it yet. The draft version is here. Of course, all feedback is always welcome. I have to find the time to go through the remaining material that's waiting for inclusion.
Another in-progress file is on Jaap: Why Jaap Sluijter, the Executive Director of Krishnamurti Foundation America (KFA) Is A Disgrace To Krishnamurti But Calls Himself Krishnamurti's Steward!
~~~
From A Facebook Post about myth of Nobody Got It
Sieukaran Ramkissoon
Top contributor
"There is a gentleman called Réza Ganjavi who is closely associated with the works of krishnamurti…I believe he researched this statement and interviewed all the people who were in the room when this statement was apparently made..it turns out this is not what he meant at all! Of course JK works is not always easy to understand and who would claim to understand the totality of his works! That being said many of us would have benefited from aspects of his work in a profound and life changing manner!
Amongst Réza Ganjavi's many accomplishments is also being an investigative journalist."
One of the updates is the original letter i sent him in 1995, calling out his preposterous garbage tabloid book "Two birds on one tree".
And some quotes by Ravi, e.g.: "I am self centered occupied driven by fears and desires – that’s where I am... In my experience usually I’m in a lot of darkness occasionally there’s some clarity . I’m not wholly self-centered. 1 in a 100 occasions I’m selfless." !!!
Another update is by a close friend of Krishnamurti saying Ravi Ravindra has no business giving talks about K. But the mediocre minds at KFA invite him to talk! Poor Krishnamurti!
Someone wrote: "Honestly, much impressed by the content of your video based on your reasoned argument with a rational approach."
"Ravindra is the founder of the Gurdjieff Foundation of India"
"Jk called Gurdejeiff a lunatic."
Michael Mendizza kindly asked me to comment on his video on dangers of technology and AI to K's teachings. I see KFA and KFT as much bigger dangers to K's work than AI.
I wrote the following to him:
7 May 2024
Dear Michael
Many thanks for sharing the video you made "Artificial Non-Intelligence" where you say at the onset you say that AI / new technologies may negate people's ability to live the teachings, etc. and you see the danger that this will "bring an end to his legacy".
You obviously put a lot of effort into it, and you make some good points. It was nice to see you and your genuine, sincere, non nonsense energy which I always appreciate.
AI is just a fancy name for programs. In the early days of computer science it had a different meaning -- I had AI programming in 1983! Now any "smart" program is called AI.
K spoke about supreme intelligence. The problem is some of his foundations are run by supreme stupidity. K said a good man cannot bring about a society where people are intelligent, but the reverse is true.
I think ending the legacy is not as bad as distorting and corrupting it. They're both threats but the latter is a bigger threat in my view. Remember what K said about living something is at the core of disseminating it, else, it's superficial and meaningless. Living is not believing, or saying or quoting.
The biggest threat to K's work is KFA and KFT. They are not "living" it. Organizations have a "soul", a culture, and organizational behavior experts know it too well. That culture is set by management, and it is inherited and handed down.
Engaging in dishonest, power hungry actions and all that K warned about organizations, right before our eyes, means these two foundations (I don't know about KFI) are a disgrace to K. K saw it coming when he spoke about organizations getting corrupt 40 years after his death.
The pity is he warned about all this, but supreme stupidity that happens to sit on big money, doesn't care about those warnings. The drive for power, control, locking in job security, etc., is more powerful for some people who are not rooted in goodness, or simply don't have the intellectual capital to distinguish the essential from non-essential. K spoke at length about intelligence, and importance of seeing what-is. I'm going through all the books of K (some 80) which I marked up when I was much younger, and finding some gems, and collecting them on a web page -- and also seeing K's weaknesses in some areas.
Sorry I used the word "Intellectual". Being an intellectual is important. I'm disgusted by how much mindlessness I see in K circles. They misinterpret K's talks about right role of thought, as him saying don't think. You have to think where thought belongs. Perhaps that's part of the supreme stupidity among the power hungry suckers who are clinging to K foundation money like it's their daddy's treasure chest. That is their main motive not what K said.
K is just a nicety to let them keep their job, do very little, have an easy life, but their words, and more importantly, actions, show how little they've grasped or are living the perfume. Truth is the essence of that perfume. When truth is missing, that perfume is lost. Then they can keep talking about K, put dog and pony tail shows, but at best they run mediocre organizations which KFA and KFT are in my view - a disgrace to K, and hopeless.
AI in itself is like any other technology. It can be rightly used or abused. But KFA and KFT management are a far bigger threat to K's work than AI.
All the above are my opinions.
Best Regards
Reza
I did some interviews with the grand master of classical guitar composition, Angelo Gilardino. He had a powerful, life-changing experience with J. Krishnamurti after they talked after a Saanen talk of K. He gives K books to his guitar students and highlights the importance of being nothing psychologically -- and how the psychological sense of self is a major hinderance.
My interviews with him are here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwp1obHcbJ4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlieQZS2mYY
New information about Diane White ("Dragon Woman"), former Trustee of KFA, allowed for updating of the 2008 circular. The updated version is here: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/notes-related-to-the-work-around-j-krishnamurti-2008
Regarding Kinfonet Newsletter
To Kinfonet:
Nice bulletin minus your silly commentary on K's teachings with many flaws. Search your database sometime about what he felt about commentators and interpreters, or think for yourself. Who needs your commentary and does it help people understand when people can go directly to the source. You can talk about your understanding of things but you're not that humble -- you pose it as this is how it is and this is what K meant. And you get the support of Mr. Grohe and his team and lots of people who want commentators and you think it's all alright. People want commentators, they want priests. That's how these roles came into being. That is the momentum of the tradition and you're playing right into it for God knows why -- be it a need to be something, to justify your fundings, to satisfy the weak yearning of tradition for commentators, or who knows . . . And by the way, a disclaimer that you're not an authority means nothing when you write authoritatively. Libel laws have some nice discussion on this subject of disclaimers and how sometimes they're meaningless.
I'm happy you're not promoting Sloss's book anymore, and I'm glad you're now color-separating your comments from K's because for a long time it was hard even for long-term friends of K to distinguish what was your writings and what was K's. Has there been a fundamental shift in your approach or are these changes piecemeal reactive changes you make based on feedback, and still missing a fundamental question about the existence of the whole operation?
Aren't the official foundations fit to do the work you're doing and better, with less distortion? What's going to happen in 20 years' time? In 50 year's time? History is the best indication of the future for practical matters like this. What you're doing is very much in line with tradition, right in the same habits. This happened after every great thinker died -- commentators arose, organizations were set up, and today we see the consequence of it all. Sometimes less is more.
Best wishes
Reza
[2007]
I sincerely hope Mr. Alan Kishbaugh releases his memoirs. I sat next to Alan in several of K's talks on the first row, and we've been on walks and had good talks years after K passed away. He was close to Krishnamurti as a friend. They went to cinema together etc. -- unlike Mark Lee who was in the background before K died and has put himself in the foreground afterwards as Mr. Everything Krishnamurti as a friend of K put it, and has reported false, distorted, yet sensational stories.
Mrs. Evelyne Blau is 103 years, mentally clear and physically active. Wonderful to hear. She's a gem, and has done so much for K's work, including making of documentaries (film, book), a K exhibition -- in collaboration with the documentary film maker / author, Mr. Michael Mendizza.
I contacted Michael Rogers a few times but no response. So I asked our mutual friend Michael Mendizza who said he has passed away. Michael was one of the first students at Brockwood Park and he had a very interesting life and much success in the music industry. He assisted Michael Mendizza in filming Krishnamurti's talks in Ojai which I attended.
I visited Michael at his fantastic house on Wonderland road in the Laurel Canyon district of Los Angeles which was the epicenter of the music world, and we played music together. He showed me his studio where Madonna made one of her early hits, and told the story of his interactions with her, including the fascinating circumstances in which they met, and the subsequent musical collaboration -- and intimate contact, where he said Madonna did him!
Michael composed music for the documentary movies made by Evelyne Blau and Michael Mendizza "The Challenge of Change" and "With a Silent Mind":
The Challenge of Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWVtovuTRE0
With a Silent Mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAzpDl7VvM
J. Krishnamurti talked a lot about meditation, but very little, publicly, about sitting quietly. Why ?? Privately he proposed it. Was it because he was so subtle that he didn't want to talk in terms of practicality? Or was he just relying on people to come to that on their own? Or was he doing that in order to distinguish himself from Osho (Rajneesh) (who was a crook and convicted criminal), Mahesh (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - founder of TM), Yogananda, and other contemporaries of himself? Today, science has proved that sitting quietly, paying attention to breath for example, has great benefits for the brain. K must have known this. He told some people privately. But never publicly? I can see how it fits his general theme of "no method" but was that all there was to it? Just wondering !!
~~~
Sitting quietly and paying attention to breath, meditating, listening to silence and noise, all that's inner and outer, is not a technique necessarily. So why not promote it? Krishnamurti circles are among the most non- meditative groups I've seen.
~~~
I view this as POSSIBLY one of Krishnamurti's shortcomings and contradictions. Contradictions are not bad per se. The universe seems to have contradictions too -- stars crashing into each other...
~~~
He talked a lot about meditation. But hardly ever, publicly, as sitting quietly... I think his talking about importance of sitting quietly privately but not publicly might have some motives that are related to his contemporaries. Not saying he wasn't great. He had the most powerful energy field of anyone I ever met (met him as a young boy) and he was very intelligent. But also aware of the market and "positioning himself"? Maybe.
~~~
Thanks to those who responded. Yes, I've read these quotes. I know K talked about this. I still find it a little bit strange that he did not talk about it more -- he talked very little about this -- 65 years, and there are only a few references. Also the idea of being fully aware is great -- as you might know, I have a lot of respect for K -- particularly as a psychologist -- I am always reminded of his insights -- and have seen them literally save lives. HOWEVER...
Anyway, I made my point already earlier in this thread. Yes, the foundation of meditation is mindfulness, being aware of all thoughts and feelings, and mind-emptiness : emptying of the content .... but independent of that, science has shown benefits from deliberate meditation -- not mindless repetition -- but attention to breath for example.
K takes it deeper and says if your mind goes somewhere, look at where -- it may show disorder -- he uses example of a messy room - towel on the floor...... so mind goes there. True. Order is important. But I am not at all convinced K didn't try to differentiate his teachings from his contemporaries.
~~~
Krishnamurti once said something to the effect that meditation is the ending of becoming! If you sit quietly in order to achieve enlightenment, moksha, nirvana, etc etc -- to BECOME something, you're wasting your time. Part of meditation is to see that urge to become, and that seeing ends it. Krishnamurti's huge contribution here is around the art of seeing, nature of change, etc.
~~~
I recorded this a few months ago: Musings on Meditation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOTXx9vfRfI
I met a couple of very respectable followers of Maharishi - and TM practitioners who receive benefits from meditating however contrary it may be to K's idea of meditation -- but if you compare some of the so-called K people in his foundations you'd be sure they'd be much better off if they meditated instead of raising hell as they have been (check out the investigative report on KFT for example: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/KFT-Mismanagement -- of course K was very deep and had significant contributions and precious insights but his official foundations I'm very familiar with have been utter failures in my view and as far as one can be to K's teachings.
Yes K has some good points about dangers of mechanical meditation -- but his audience would have been much better off if he had been more explicit about benefits of sitting quietly -- as he told people privately. I explored this topic in the previous section.
I interviewed Dr. Chris Chapel and Mr. Navin Doshi after the award given to my friend, Dr. Rupert Sheldrake. Here's the video: Reza Ganjavi's in Discussion with Dr. Chris Chapple, a Leading Scholar in Theological Studies and Mr. Navin Doshi, a Philanthropist
Rupert's talk / award ceremony: Dr. Rupert Sheldrake Honored With Doshi Bridgebuilder Award
In the discussion, Dr. Chapple said he asked Mark Lee about what he has gotten out Krishnamurti's work -- and Mark's answer was very unimpressive -- which makes sense.
Rudolf Steiner and the Anthroposophists have their canned impressions of K based on some false impressions and cherry picked, out of context phrases.
One German Anthroposophists article had a discussion about K. I responded to it:
I didn’t read the whole thing in detail but seems to be a pretty good overview. It has some major shortcomings though, for example, it bundles up pre-1930’s work which wanted to be ignored because his teachings took a major diversion, matured, and he completely shed the concepts he spoke about as a young man which traditional. The article above doesn’t distinguish that and bundles up the young man K’s ideas which he discarded later, as his work, thus reducing and diluting the depth of his work. Many of the citations are from pre-1930’s.
In terms of criticisms, they’re generally superficial and silly – for example, saying he never had a job !! He went around the world for 65 years and spoke to people about serious questions of living and helped so many people find clarity. The article says he didn’t have a job and didn’t write many books. There are at least 80 books of his that I’ve read and there are more. Most are from his public talks, but trying to put him down that he didn’t have a job and didn’t write books is cheap. He did write several great books like the 3-series Commentaries on Living which are tremendous (attached).
Regarding afterlife etc. – K did not have a doctrine and his focus was mostly human psychology which is the main cause of suffering in the world. He didn’t talk much about what happens when you die – though when pressed, he talked about it. The article again reduces K to minimal things he said about certain subjects as though every great thinker has to cover everything A to Z. He covered many important topics like awareness, time, beauty, mind, love, death, God (the timeless…) etc…
Here's my review of Peppertree Retreat:
Jaap is asking for millions to expand [his ego] the retreat because the demand is supposedly so high (hard to believe). Yet he's promoting the retreat with a sensational picture of K, Rajagopal, Rosalind.
I have met the best, deepest and sanest people who are interested in K's work - but also some nutcases. Someone wrote the following about someone who works at a K foundation. I won't be more specific since she could be identified. But I had a similar experience with her -- very mentally unbalanced. Also she has not studied K's work in any depth as far I could tell from discussions with her.
"She is neurotic and toxic and it was a horrible experience to have her dissatisfaction present during work that is very simple and does not require her frustrations. She is very rude to the lower employees, as if she is engaging on a traditional pecking order and unloads on you all the time. Suddenly she is happy and remorseful and looking for pity...
"I think her passion might be for the tip of the broom stick. With splinters..."
"She is a freaky character. I NEVER trust her and have seen some strange behavior from her part -- like trying to spy for <>. It's this whole divisive polarized attitude which sucks."
Sadhguru / Isha Foundation
by Reza Ganjavi
https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/law-ethics/spiritual-cults-frauds/sadhguru
My articles on the topic of gurus, cults, etc. can be found here:
https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/law-ethics/spiritual-cults-frauds
Here's a list:
Hare Krishna Temple: Godhead vs. Dullhead
Rajneesh (Osho)’s Fraud & A review of the movie "GURU - Bhagwan"
Sathya Sai Baba - Fraudster Guru
UG KRISHNAMURTI [New material added based on a 2025 dialogue about UG who is a joke]
VISHWANANDA, NITYANANDA FAKE GURUS
Something I wrote in an online discussion. I've written about the topic in past circulars but here's another note:
I'd be careful about "enlightened man". Was Krishnamurti enlightened? What does enlightenment mean? Isn't it just a projection of a state, out of human limitation, of a final state in time? To me "enlightenment" makes no sense at all, and is just a concept fabricated by human conditioning, limitation, weakness. I don't remember Krishnamurti himself ever referring to himself as enlightened. Yes he was very intelligent and insightful. But he has limitations too, just as humans have. Why is it even important to think of enlightenment? If a person is very aware, as K was, or X or Y may be, isn't applying the concept of enlightenment to them, merely projecting an ideal state, putting them on a pedestal etc. which humans are very good at doing -- and that whole habitual game of measurement, comparison, etc. ?
~~~
[I wrote this in an online discussion]
... I'm afraid you might have fallen into the trap of tradition with its absolutist view by repeated use of "Total". Enlightenment like love is not something that can be accurately defined but we can say what it is not. It's very clear to me that it is not an final event - as in total and never going back...
That entire idea is conditioned by thought's desire for certainty, looking at the world as binary (due to some binary aspects of the physical world -- e.g. north and south pole, left and write brain, etc. -- while nature itself is full of colors and not black and white) -- and the human conditioning of "becoming" and psychological time. Enlightenment as a final state is a delusion -- it's a non-fact. It's possible for a mind/heart/body to be in such a state of love, wisdom, joy, peace -- but I would not label it as something permanent.
Even the most so called enlightened people act very unenlightened at times!. But many people like to make ideals, myths, and put people on pedestals (and sometimes shoot them down). We are very complex creatures. Let's keep it simple. Enlightenment far too often become an ideal like non-anger, non-jealousy, non-possessiveness, etc. -- all moving away from the fact of what is. What is is important not what could or should be. And by clearly perceiving what is, intelligence acts.
I wrote this in response to an online question:
Krishnamurti may be hard to understand even to native English speakers in the beginning, so it takes more than reading one bumper sticker, paragraph, or page. It's something a person ought to study (not saying accept since he provides no doctrine -- but just a set of pointers which may be right or wrong) and like any other subject of study it takes patience.
It's well worth reading a book cover to cover, and pondering on it, questioning it, exploring it. Then it becomes clear.
The topic in the page above is very deep -- it goes at the very structure of the psychological sense of self (vs. the pop psychology concept of "the real me" as referenced in this very fun song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pohhMx9EdNc
The Who - The Real Me
"Love does not die. It can get chased away by thought, and that’s the tragedy of our thought-dominated civilization." Reza Ganjavi
The difficulty many people have in understanding K, despite the above, is the ego which is often too strong -- the sense of self -- in many people -- and K is a disrupter -- some of his razor sharp ideas go at the very heart of the ego -- and many people see that as a threat psychologically and are not open to it so they end up not having any idea what he's talking about. They hear and understand the words but internally block it because the self doesn't want to end.
Mind you we're talking about the sense of "me" which is put together by thought -- as a bundle of conclusions, memories, experiences... and as such it's like a bubble, it's fictitious. Most people are afraid of ending psychologically, death, ending, which is so necessary for the new to begin. As long as the mind is stuck in past habits of thought which are mechanical, conditioned, old, boring -- that ever new wonder has little place in one's being -- that which we could call love, God or whatever you call it. The movement which is beyond the limited movement of thought.
Societal sicknesses such as high rates of suicide, excessive dependence on psychiatric drugs, etc etc are to a large part from over-dominance of thought and therefore lack of love.
Most modern world is suffering from this -- esp. rich nations, esp. it seems to me certain cultures which are obsessive about thought and its role, and it enters every corner of life and doesn't just make a perfect outer society but is used to try to make a perfect inner life, which does not work because it's the wrong tool. You brush your teeth with a hairbrush, you run into problems.
As a side note, I just came to realize the possible link between the Germanic use of the word "Love" which is very exclusive (vs. looser use in English) and desperate shortage of love as compared with some other "warmer" cultures -- different worlds it seems.
One of Krishnamurti's main contributions is to point out and clarify the right role of thinking and how it is over-emphasized and enters areas it does not belong, and causes confusion and suffering. But it is equally important to pay attention to the right place of thinking. What I have seen in these circles is that sometimes people don't think enough. I have also seen this in my own life and it's a point that I've had to learn -- that yes, a quiet mind is an asset but it's also a liability where thought should be applied but it is not. So this is a red flag that any serious student of these topics should pay attention to.
I've seen the negative repercussions of this in the K foundations in the West, and some of the people who run it -- sometimes they make you wonder: do they have a brain that can think and work things out and see the implications of things?
Here's an article about Ray McCoy and my correspondence with him related to Friedrich Grohe Gang which he was a part of (one layer out, but very close to the core): https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/grohe-gang-influence-mongering-at-krishnamurti-foundations
Speaking of Ray McCoy, he was a very competent editor. One of the books he edited, called This Light Within Oneself, is one of the best K books, and touches upon many of the key themes in a cohesive way.
This is my review on Amazon: Great book. In depth discussions of many of the core elements of his teachings. Fantastic. Highly recommended. But read it with a grain of salt -- DO NOT BELIEVE what it says. EXAMINE it for yourself and find out if the things said are true or not. If they are you've found them first hand. If not, you can discard them. It takes patience if this is your first K book, to get familiar to the terminology and the approach...
After K's death another entity came about, which I call the “Fifth Foundation”.
https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/the-fifth-foundation
This organization was started by Friedrich Grohe, a wealthy, well-intentioned, kind, good person, surrounded by a group which calls itself a “gang”, some of whom I do not think very highly of for particular reasons, some of which will be outlined here.
The point being, to provide the big picture that helps a student of history to better understand the dynamics and influences that follow.
The Fifth Foundation is officially known as KLI (Krishnamurti Link International) and its associated entities: Kinfonet.
I finally got fed up with distortions and issues with that organization and after they ignored my suggestions, I went public with the following article. And then they brought some changes once the matter got wider attention. Some trustees of various foundations wrote to me saying thank you for saying these things which we’d wanted to say for a long time; but they couldn’t because KLI provides funding for various foundations / projects and nobody wants to criticize them.
Jiddu Krishnamurti “JK” (1895-1986) was a very insightful philosopher, author, mystic, educator. He offered tremendous insights into a vast field of subjects including nature of thought, art of observation, and psychological freedom.
JK broke free from an organization the Theosophists set up around him, at an early age, returning all the money and land to the donors, and going “solo”, free from attribution to any organization. His dread and wariness of organizations is a recurring theme in his work and biography.
Minimal set of organizations had to be set up around his work, with the charter of preserving and disseminating his work.
30 years after his death, what goes on around his work by certain people who’ve gained positions of power, is a tragedy.
Correcting Wikipedia
I've corrected several things in Wikipedia. For example:
Removed the sentence: "nor had they understood the teaching itself." The reference provided to support this statement does NOT contain this statement - this is an unsubstantiated myth and does not belong here as a fact because it's not the fact.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti#Later_years
/* Later years */ removed the false statement: "nor had they understood the teaching itself. " -- we have concrete evidence that this statement was never made as such and is merely a myth. Therefore its inclusion is misleading.
Occupation public speaker, mystic, author, philosopher
I replied to a post Dr. P wrote on Facebook:
Dr. P. regularly writes insightful posts on his Facebook page which I might see randomly (I do not use Facebook usually).
Here's a small exchange also with Harshad and our friend Ray Petted.
Reza Ganjavi:
"Ray Petted It's questionable whether there's a minimal right place for psychological sense of self "the self". Aside from that, the "self" is continuity given to discrete instants when there's self-image. The question of whether the "self" can end permanently is a fallacious question -- just as the concept of enlightenment, as it implies a finality which implies time: a final event in time.
So that question can be set aside. Also it's clear that the self can't end the self because by definition it is conditioned and any attempt to free itself is also conditioned. It comes naturally without any direction or intention - by understanding how it comes about: awareness when sense of self is instantiated.
Harshad J Parekh I don't think we can readily said when someone talks to others the self is there. It's an oversimplification. There can be seeing without sense of self. There can be talking without sense of self."
"One of the concepts coming from... But my view is that..."
Dear Harshad, the first paragraph, which you countered in the second, was not posed correctly in my view. K doesn't say or even suggest that "we must live in the present, we should not think about the past or the future". That's just wrong. I understood that he also didn't confine meditation to "living in the present without thinking",... these seem like distorted, absolutist images. K's work is a set of challenges and pointers and not a set of guidelines and orders.
We have to distinguish between difference scenarios where e.g. a dog runs towards a person and there's fear in the body - so you could say there's self. But that is very different than when a conclusion is challenged and there may rise a need to defend a psychological sense of self. So while it's convenient to conclude compound topics into simple conclusions, accuracy gets lost.
~~~
Exactly, therefore to say: "self is there when there is disturbance like anger, fear, anxiety etc..." is not accurate because assuming by "self" you mean psychological sense of self, which is the context K uses the word (vs. other uses of it, e.g. F.M. Alexander who uses it as the body / physical mechanism). It's the body/brain's intelligence and not some fabricated psychological entity that reacts to the dog or the fly.
I sent this article to a couple of close friends of Mr. Krishnamurti. "AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs" https://www.axios.com/2025/05/28/ai-jobs-white-collar-unemployment-anthropic
They wrote back:
Fascinating! Thank you. I think Krishnaji read this article 50 years ago.
Thanks Reza. I remember K talking about it even before AI came on the scene. Technology (and avarice) race ahead of legalities and public awareness. Destabilization of the workforce risks social unrest. One of my favorite quotes is: "Assume technology guilty until proven innocent."
(From an online discussion)
Reza Ganjavi: Traditionally concentration is touted as the way to mental power and meditation but as K points out, concentration involves exclusion, and the controller IS the controlled...
Reza Ganjavi:
Harshad, I would hesitate to make any statement about such a big group as "most people"... For example, "Think on these things" has sold millions of copies and for over 60 years thousands of people each year went to his talks and some 50+ other books have sold thousands of copies. On the other hand, I sympathize with your statement because some of the old timers who still go to K gatherings are stuck on certain things like image making, gossip for entertainment, lack of a genuine spirit of inquiry into truth -- but on the other hand many newcomers to his work find the pointers and challenges so clear and grasp it so quickly. Reminds me of the Dr. Rupert Sheldrake's rat discussion when newborn rats learn things easier than older ones who were struggling with it. Culture also plays a role. The Krishnamurti Farsi FB group is quite big and there's a level of clarity and discussion there that's really refreshing.
Reza Ganjavi:
Good points Vicky, Harshad. I agree that "most people" is sometimes a very inaccurate and statistically problematic statement (e.g. my response to H's use of the phrase in the context he did). Meanwhile, I can say with statistical confidence that most people don't even bother reading K let alone becoming an addict to it (and if any average reader can see that he vehemently warns against following him and as Harshad said asks the reader/listener to examine it in daily life and find out for oneself). Nevertheless, there are some, and here I disagree with Harshad on it being "most" -- who read and supposedly only grasp it only mentally. I'm not so sure if that happens at all -- let alone in large percentage of readers. truth liberates. When you see truth of something (not in K's or mine or X or Y's words but first hand coming in contact with it through inquiry, investigation, looking, awareness...) that can bring a change -- it's a choiceless matter. Of course, change is not guaranteed -- habits of various levels are strong. We could say, I suppose, that if you come upon truth and nothing changes, then perhaps a person hasn't come first hand to it and is stuck in someone's words.
Furthermore, Harshad's use of e.g. trustees of foundations as a measure makes the case even weaker. Mary Luthynes talks about burning if too close to sun. Look at what a guy purportedly close to K's work has done to KFA. He wasn't alone in making the place the hopeless, pathetic organization it has become -- against so many things K talked about -- and that can be directly attributed to the absence of some of the key magical pointers and challenges K put forth.
And there's this whole false myth that K is difficult to understand. It's difficult for those with big egos including some in at least one foundation I know -- and others -- a few I should say as humanity is way over populated -- who are caught in the person and don't have the power of clear thinking and insight to go beyond K.
~~~
Reza Ganjavi: Indeed. Too many people reply on groups to help them see and understand. Groups can hinder inquiry and are often at the level of the lowest common denominator in terms of inquiry. But they can sometimes help too when there are wise, insightful, inquiring, open-minded individuals in that group who have an interest in deeper questions than the type of superficial subjects that some groups can get caught in. I've seen plenty of that around Krishnamurti related groups... We don't need others to find out about ourselves and life and love and wisdom.
Enlightenment has become an ideal, a goal, which is completely meaningless. If one's happy one doesn't look for happiness. If one is suffering, anxious, fearful, worried, jealous, sad, angry, or in whatever other psychological state, the important thing is to understand what-is, see it clearly. And to see clearly it's important to stay with what-is and not move away to what is not, what should be, non-anger, non-jealousy, or moksha, nirvana, samadhi, enlightenment, etc... -- that moving away prevents the very seeing which is needed for change.
~~~
one thing that's important in this "looking" is to not separate the looker from the looked. This seems to intensify the level of attention. Attention is a light. Some things are never the same once seen...
~~~
A few of the comments in a long and interesting chat with several people.
• Sima Khorshidian: Reza, u have said many times, "observer is observed." I don't quite get it. Can someone explain that to me? Or u say a jealous person is the jelousy!!! They sound good! But I don't get it. I think our true true being is not jealousy or any of our feelings!
• Olena Owens: Enjoyed reading all your comments. I'd like to add, that when we're learning about mind we're entering into very little understood uncharted field of "religious science" the science of one's own consciousness. Nobody can access that inner world, just us. And only one way to do that is through self observation or "choiceless awareness". I might also mention that word 'mindlessness' in Zen suggests that "higher power" literally rooted in "mindlessness" without interruption of destructive power of thoughts, or we also call it "Choiceless Awareness". Why? First of all I'd call it an Universal Law. Just like physical law of gravity is, choiceless self-observation works. The light of that attention transforms everything, it destroys aggression and sorrow. It affects not only one's personal mind, but the consciousness of the whole world. One, who has that connection with the whole is a "Holy" that's why I call it "religious science". In the light of attention all the madness of the world evaporates. Such person is a gift to the world.
• Azad Bahadur Khan: In the art of watching there is a miracle of transformation. Perhaps we have not given our attention, whole energy to it.
• Reza Ganjavi Azad: "art of watching" ya it's art -- to watch artistically, which requires a quiet mind.
• Reza Ganjavi I don't think "observer is the observed" is a hard concept. It is so obvious, like Krishnamurti said about the unconscious -- is it the unconscious or is it so obvious that some don't see it.
• Reza Ganjavi Few insights for uprooting Sorrow: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/essays-and-short-pieces/few-insights-for-uprooting-sorrow
“A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.” Bertrand Russell
“Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.” Frank Leahy
I read the book The Open Door years ago (3rd volume of a biography of Krishnamurti by Mary Lutyens) but remembered this line which is so true about some of the people around K (perhaps not all but some) who got too caught on the person and his incredible energy and charisma, and missed the message.
Someone sent me an electronic version of that book which made searching easy and there it was:
“It seemed that those who were close to K in their different ways were no nearer to living his teaching than those who had only read his books and listened to his tapes. Indeed, the closer we were to the sun the more likely we were to get burnt.”
This is so true about a few people who are still around who were around K or purport themselves to have been close to K.
Krishnamurti on his death bed: "I am surrounded by people who have not the foggiest idea what I am talking about!”.
Unfortunately that trend continued with people like Mark Lee putting themselves at the center of power. One person close to K said they asked K on his death bed what shall we do with Mark Lee, he said, I'm leaving - it's your problem. But Mark found his way up to the top and positioned himself as Mr. everything Krishnamurti. Michael Krohnen was another person whom in my opinion hadn't the foggiest idea what K was talking about.
Until Mary Z was alive things were in check but then the Grohe Gang made their way into the Foundation and with bringing of Jaap it took a downward spiral in the path of mediocrity and ego.
So what do those in charge who hadn't a foggiest idea what K talked about? What do they do instead if they can’t grasp the great philosophy, the love of truth? Circus! Even the dialogues for years after K's work till today are mostly a useless circus. Even Mark Lee himself admitted that after a couple of decades of running the circus. And Jaap took it to a new low: Yoga gazebo, cut the trees, neglect the land, caught in image making, try to look impressive, especially to the big money man who was very easy to impress given how simple he was, and LOVE of MONEY instead of LOVE of TRUTH.
A former donor wrote a blasting post on Facebook about Jaap and KFA, asking people NOT to donate to KFA and instead to support K's work in other ways that does not benefit the Foundation. This is how frustrated some people are, and he knows them from close by. He's stayed at Pepper Tree and observed them closely.
I do not feel at liberty to reprint his post even though he'd permit me, because of the degree of accusations.
Harshad Parekh: Problems existed with K schools and foundations when he was alive. Problems also existed in Theosophical Society when K moved out. Is it possible to solve the problems of organisations in which many people and views are involved?
Reza Ganjavi: Harshad, good point... the answer to your last statement is absolutely YES. There are organizations containing 150,000+ people and they operate smoothly, efficiently, according to their charter, with accountability. KFA is what, a 10 man shop? smile emoticon and I've come across more people who can't stand the place than I ever came across who were alienated by one of these many organizations I've worked with - public, private, government, international, non profit, etc. And they are in the name of K who devoted a lifetime talking about relationship !! Hang in there till I release the documentary and you'll see what kind of animal we're dealing with here. As for not getting caught up, you're absolutely right. If a drunk on the bus cusses at you do you get involved? Of course not - you walk away. It's become like that... but a few things have to be put in order first. Of course I believe the biggest problems can be solved by love and dialogue but if the party involved is more interested in convenience than truth, love is out the window and as Friedrich Grohe quotes K, (paraphrasing) where there is no love there's hell. Yes, I've wasted godly amount of time on this organization which I believe is hopeless because of the idiotic handling of certain things by Jaap Sluijter, etc. Maybe what they are trying to live up to is not some important aspects of K's work but his calling KFA the idiotic foundation.
Dear Sir Réza,
My name is <>. I am a <young> woman from China, and now living and working in Paris. I have been listening to Krishnamurti’s talks online for a few years, and recently I became curious about his personal life. That is how I discovered your interview with Mr. Scott H. Forbes, and then found your YouTube channels and website. I haven’t yet gone through much of the content you share, I am a slow reader, but I can see how much care and dedication you put into it... Thank you very much for all your time, your energy and your contribution... If one day you happen to come to Paris and have a little time, I wish and would be very happy to invite you for a coffee with delicious Parisian dessert and maybe a walk together if I may... I am conscious that you must have many friends and should be quite requested from around the world...
Best wishes,
Unfinished article from 12 Apr 2009
One of the members of a Krishnamurti Foundation asked me to do a write up on the Swiss Summer Mountain Gathering which is held every year since Krishnamurti died in 1986. He gave public talks in Saanen, in the Alps above Bern, for about 25 years. I saw K in Ojai in 83, 84, 85, but first attended this gathering in 1993 when I was invited to Switzerland by dear friend, Friedrich Grohe. The following year I moved to Switzerland to work for an IT consulting company, and ever since, except in 2007, I attended the summer gathering as I was not living far from it.
I was never keen on gatherings around the work of K. When I first read him as a teenager I wanted as little as possible to do with anyone else in relationship to K's work because
a) I didn't need anyone else -- the teachings were all there and I could explore and test them in my daily life and find the truth or fallacy of each point myself, in relationship to people things ideas and everything that life presents;
b) I felt groups are slow and bound by the lowest common denominator, like a band that's as good as its weakest member; and that others' take on the teachings may clutter things. I did not need an interpretor.
After all these years I still believe in the core of the assessment above, however, I found that in certain rare cases, it helps to hear how someone else understood a particularly complex aspect of it. During those years however, for entertainment, for friendship, for curiosity, and purely out of interest in this work I attended many gatherings and dialogues, to witness how much the boat is missed by so many, how K's work is turned around and made complex by that lack of understanding, and on the contrary, how it touched a few people's lives at a fundamental level.
The Swiss Mountain Gatherings were no exception. You meet all kinds of folks there -- those who come there once a year to hear K videos and go back to the city to carry their merry (or not so merry) lives. There are those who went to this gathering when K was alive, those who worshiped him then and missed the boat, and still do. Those who are serious students of life and have a keep interest in exploring fundamental questions of living. And everything in between. For some it is merely a nice summer holiday. For some, like me, it's an opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones, and enjoy the beauty of nature and of togetherness and if lucky, to have a dialogue with one or more persons that goes deeper than these dialogues typically do. It is not necessary to go to these gatherings to learn about K's work or study his work. The organizer, in the last gathering boasted about bringing to us videos that people would not normally come across in the big pile of archives. That is nice, and I did see a video I had not seen before, where he spoke beautifully about the importance of being an outsider. But the core of K's teachings are available, now, freely on the internet, and through the official foundations.
These gatherings are a big party and for the most part a lot of fun. They can be more than a party as serious questions are poised and explored, on occasion.
One gathering attendee wrote that the group is like a caravan, that they all move together. Caravans are often burdened and don't move swiftly. The point is, I attended these gatherings because it was convenient to do so and not because I wanted to learn more about K or about anything that I could not in daily life. Otherwise, a gathering would become another crutch. This is not to say that I did not find great value in the gatherings. One can learn in any situation, and the gatherings' greatest gift was one of many wonderful friendships over the years.
In this context, a community is different than a group. A group comes together on a temporary basis -- for a day or a week or longer. A community lives together.
Having attended the gatherings for almost 15 years, and being a writer, naturally I have a ton of notes, and perhaps on this page, I will provide the key points, as time permits, on low priority basis. The reason for doing so is nothing but for historical reasons given the immense importance of Krishnamurti's work in various fields such as psychology, philosophy, and education, and my interest in philosophy of history and history of philosophy, and what comes of great thinkers' works.
Here are some various letters I wrote a long time ago:
From an unpublished past circular:
Here's my interview / discussion with Dr. Lakshman Rasiah, former Trustee of KFA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvsMfaUROhs
From an unpublished past circular:
Here's my interview / discussion with Dr. Scott Forbes who was the closest person to K, who is still alive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F-xB7WyWgM
Here's a discussion with Dr. Krishna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdMav5XXwZA
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting and befriending Dr. Rupert Sheldrake a number of times and did a personal interview with him on video. I also attended his workshop at Esalen Institute held with the esteemed Marc Andrus, the Episcopalian Bishop of California, a talk Rupert gave at the Ojai Foundation which I did the video for, and his talk in Joshua Tree. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm-pgJbUzRc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRgHlLOFYgE
And a new article on a fake guru, Vishwananda: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/law-ethics/spiritual-cults-frauds/VISHWANANDA-NITYANANDA-FAKE-GURUS
One of the former students of Brockwood Park was really into Vishwananda for many years, but woke up to the facts and parted from what she considers was a cult. She became active in exposing and criticizing the fake guru, and has done a great job in that regards.
Prem is a chap who showed up in a K gathering once and being Indian, and the positive prejudice of many Westerners towards Indians thinking they're so spiritual :-), Gisele organized a concert for him on the same day. It was a while ago but I just found the time to write an article on him because he's a Osho look-alike and Osho is his master. I don't know if he knows that Osho is a convicted criminal and amassed 100 Rolls Royces by manipulating gullible Western followers.
Prem is promising people spiritual advancement etc. -- all the cliches, enlightenment, etc. etc.
https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/law-ethics/spiritual-cults-frauds/swami-prem-paras-osho
Note from Mr. Hareshwar Singh
"An alumna of KFI Rishi Valley School (class of 2005), Payal Kapadia, made history on Thursday by becoming the first female filmmaker from India whose film All We Imagine As Light was screened in the main competition section at Cannes. Besides, it turned out to be the first film from India to ever compete in the main competition since 1994, winning the Grand Prix. Please watch if time permits:
https://youtu.be/cuF6rtn-mnA?si=zaiW3RvGAGMPtwa0
Her interview worth watching:
https://youtu.be/x_Nc6YyU5jU?si=pXChpQGwWgoF5Li_
As Wikipedia tells us, after her schooling at Rishi Valley, she studied at two colleges of University of Mumbai before getting into FTII, Pune at the second attempt:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payal_Kapadia_(filmmaker) "
Aside from being incredibly boring to listen to, it seems that Eckahrt Tolle learned 80% of his ideas from J. Krishnamurti. But he distilled them and is saying some things that are sensational but not true, and not surprisingly the self is ever present in his work, because the self sells. Just like Byron Katie.
For example, in the following video he says it's not possible to be in a perfect life situation. Obviously he's never been, so he thinks it's not possible, but it is absolutely possible. Maybe no woman wanted to date him for being a nerd. And he's sooo boring. But he brings in lots of money! He should give more credit to Krishnamurti. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jPOkbLih1c
Fact Check & Critique of Mark Lee's Talks at KFI, KFA about Krishnamurti
Critique of Ravi Ravindra (& Mark Lee, Jaap Sluijter. KFA Krishnamurti Foundation Hypocrisy)
Dialogue on Psychology, Krishnamurti, Sleep, Meditation, Krishnamurti Foundation America (KFA)
Reza Ganjavi Talk & Dialogue in Portland
Discussion with Viveka, a Vedanta Disciple
Philosophical Discussion With A Teenager & Her Father
Top level writings menu:
https://www.rezamusic.com/writings
To level K articles menu:
https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work
RESEARCH, LETTERS, ESSAYS, CIRCULARS RELATED TO J. KRISHNAMURTI'S WORK BY REZA GANJAVI
On the work related (and unrelated) to the work of J. Krishnamurti 2013
On the work related to J. Krishnamurti's Work -- February 2012
On the work related to J. Krishnamurti's work -- September 2010
Commentaries on the work around J. Krishnamurti's work, etc. June 2009
New articles and commentary related to interest in Krishnamurti's work - 2007
MISMANAGEMENT OF J. KRISHNAMURTI FOUNDATION TRUST KFT BROCKWOOD PARK SCHOOL German, French, Italian, Spanish versions: DE FR IT ES
Activist Taskforce Complaint About KFT To UK Charity Commission
Letters to Raman Patel Regarding his role at Brockwood Park School / KFT
Reza Ganjavi On His Role As Lead Investigator Of KFT/Brockwood Mismanagement
KFT / Brockwood Park Bogus Report Was Rejected by Swiss Police
Krishnamurti Foundation Trust (KFT) Filed Bogus Police Reports To Quash Criticism
Friedrich Grohe and his Gang's Influence Mongering at Krishnamurti Foundations
MISMANAGEMENT OF J. KRISHNAMURTI FOUNDATION TRUST KFT BROCKWOOD PARK SCHOOL German, French, Italian, Spanish versions: DE FR IT ES
Why Executive Director of KFA Jaap Sluijter Is A Disgrace To Krishnamurti
About Member of Friedrich Grohe's "Gang" (KLI): Javier Gomez Rodriguez
Compelled KINFONET to Spare K's Name from Garbage called Dialogue
~~~
Why Executive Director of KFA Jaap Sluijter Is A Disgrace To Krishnamurti
Michael Krohnen Harassing Lady Visitor to KFA Krishnamurti Library Ojai
Impressions of The Netherlands (article relates to KFA and Jaap Sluijter's mismanagement
28 Years Later: Krishnamurti Foundation American KFA Presentation By Reza Ganjavi
Review of The Krishnamurti Retreat (Pepper Tree Retreat), Ojai, California
2016
Donald Trump, like any other Dictator-wanna-be hates the media; they get on the way of dictators. Same crap at a Krishnamurti Foundation where freedom of speech is seen as a threat to the power hungry suckers like Jaap Sluijter and Rabindra Singh who've made it to the top of the organization of a man who dreaded organizations and warned against the very kinds of acts that some of these people have done, like stepping on truth, having no interest in inquiry, etc., while their founder spent a lifetime talking about the importance of truth, inquiry, and the spirit of philosophy which has its own dignity ("love of truth" as he defined philosophy) which seems to be so badly missing in some of these people. A very sad story indeed -- just as sad as a madman who wants to be a dictator but the media are questioning him and he hates it and is now calling them the enemy of American people, because if they were not around, or if he were able to shut them up, he could rule the world. One of the "insiders" said that nobody from outside should comment on the work of the foundation!
Krishnamurti spent a lot of energy discoursing about the fact that "you are the world and the world is you" -- that how one lives contributes to the world -- and it's very sad to see how some of the key people who have the power-hold of one of his foundations have contributed to the very problems the world suffers from, which Donald Trump also represents. Some of the things they've done, which I will document and publish in full, contributes to the same movement which K spent a lifetime speaking against, and we are seeing right in front of our eyes in the idiocy of the Trump presidency, and in every dictatorship around the world which tries to keep a lid on news, reporters, journalists, but in this day and age it is impossible, and they hate it, just as Trump hates reporters. And the other side of the coin which is disrespect for truth. Our world is suffering from moral decadence, untruthfulness, and unfortunately Hollywood has had a role in this degeneration in morality where lying is considered normal, by some.
Certain individuals at a Krishnamurti foundation unfortunately have contributed to these degeneration in values, in my opinion, based on what I and some others I know have observed. The problem is not reduced to two people -- it's wider in scope: some who are bulldozed by this new power configuration, which I believe is a culmination of a few years of political maneuvering and some level of power struggle.
Some are parts of it, they cater to the boss, be an informant, etc. etc. and you're in the "in circle". Some quit, some got fired, the inside story is sometime different than the outer "save face" story, and some who were once pillars of power have been reduced to a courtesy position because they're part of the fixture, as an ex-Trustee put it. Of course all this is based on my observation, belief and information, and diligent research. I am NOT like some of the scums in that circle. I have respect for my word, for my analysis, and I am always searching for truth of matters and refuse to jump to quick conclusions. I do not fabricate a fiction and promote it as fact, like some others do -- my morality and values are simply different.
The core issues that some in the K's official circle have contributed to the very things that the world suffers from, and Krishnamurti spent a lifetime warning about. Divisiveness, tribalism, thirst for power, dirty power games, and most importantly, the importance of truthfulness, being interested in truth as not something that can be compromised for convenience.
Donald Trump is an extreme: he seems to have lied so much that he can't tell the difference between lie and truth. Jaap Sluijter is on record for dishonest action, which is when you knowingly speak a falsehood as a fact. He took something that he knew and had admitted to it being false before, and posed it as truth, just to achieve a wicked end which he could not have achieved by purely speaking the truth.
And his buddy and business partner in Hawaii (as per Jaap's admission himself), Rabindra Singh has not been much better -- you can color coat a lie -- in law it's called "false light", which is exactly what Rabindra allegedly did, again, to support some wicked means to collaborate with Jaap.
Rabindra Singh brought Jaap to KFA. Rabindra works for Friedrich Grohe, a man with good intentions and LOTS of money -- and we know in this day-and-age money talks -- and he's got his people in various Krishnamurti foundations. Donor who also has power over the organization he donates too -- an interesting concept that has raised some eyebrows among some people I respect. He was himself part of the foundations - or still is perhaps at least as honorary Trustee -- so that was no different when K was alive.
K disliked money early in life -- he gave up a castle and lots of land and so on, to walk alone. Later he regretted it, at least symbolically, because it could be used for schools, etc. -- then came along Friedrich Grohe with a bucket full of money -- millions -- after selling his share in his father's company, the famous Grohe faucet company. K told him Friedrich is his guardian angel!! Friedrich donated a million pounds to building the Brockwood Park study center, and helped various projects -- very generous man -- and also started what I call the 5th Foundation.
A gentle kind man but not an intellectual. He surrounded himself with a group "the gang" among whose main qualification seemed to be having been a student or staff at one of K's schools.
Then he "discovered" Rabindra. My first impressions were, lots of talk and no substance. Rabindra reportedly predicted he'll make it to the top like cream, as every organization needs a guru. He became a trustee of KFA (it's mind boggling for me how he would become a trustee, if it weren't for the fact that he works for Friedrich).
He reportedly brought in Jaap after the power struggles, financial crisis, etc. -- involving Mark Lee and so on (another chapter of its own).
Rabindra has now made it to the top of KFA as the Secretary, and Jaap has solidly held the grip of power as Executive Director despite some insiders who couldn't and still can't stand him but when you have "big money" backing you, however naively, you got it made.
The "big money"'s inner circle call themselves "the gang" and there is of course an extended circle who receive favors etc. They've done some good work like bailing out a school, but I'll never forgive them for naively supporting that scum, Jaap Sluijter whom I believe is the worst thing that's ever happened to Krishnamurti's work, for a number of reasons which several people have directly seen and experienced.
So some of their best people left, and some of Krishnamurti's best friends refuse to put their foot in that place. And I believe Krishnamurti seems to be being dragged down to the field of mediocrity, diluted, which is exactly what he predicted will happen when you try to disseminate something you don't live. The priorities of Jaap & Rabindra, in my opinion, are not inquiry into the depth of what that great man had to say and living and exploring what those noble concepts were (which were spoken by other great men like Rumi as well). If they had they would not act as they had. Their priority seems to be something else -- control - power - money - sitting on the top of this entity which has millions in cash and many more millions in real-estate.
In Jaap Sluijter own words, religion means "any bullshit goes" while the founder of the foundation which pays his big salary spent a lifetime speaking about the virtues of a religious mind, which is an inquiring mind which cares about truth and finding out. That's the dignity of philosophy.
I've known some real philosophers who would not settle for a moment for the kind of "any bullshit goes" which seems to be Jaap's way as evidenced by a number of events where he just assumed "any bullshit goes" -- but it doesn't Jaap. Maybe you can find a job at another organization which likes bullshit. Try some gurudom where they look for a person who comes from the "any bullshit goes" background you claim to come from.
I consider this whole gang a hopeless, useless group who will ultimately push K down the cliff of tradition as Mark Lee, another piece of work on this stage (wrongly and irresponsibly) predicted.
Krishnamurti spoke about fragmentation leading to more fragmentation. You can try to collect donations by promoting flashy newsletters etc., but at the core, I believe it has major problems, rooted in the very leadership which seems to have very little or no accountability to the public, to other K foundations' Trustees (which I believe it should but that is not KFA's fault but the fault of other foundations who don't have anybody to stand up and pound on the table and demand some answers -- even K's close friends have resorted to their own quiet corners and have not stood up for their old friend as I believe they should have -- maybe this will change -- but I'm not holding my breath) -- and the foundation's own Board of Trustees, I believe is somewhat weak in the face of this power structure that is apparently rooted in Friedrich's support, in my opinion, based on everything that I have observed.
I heard a few board members and staff who didn't agree with Jaap quit -- I know some myself. And an alleged effort to topple him failed because of, guess what? Jaap & Rabindra seem to have the power structure to their favor.
These are not ideas I pull out of the air. Jaap even told a friend of mine that he (Jaap) can get the board to do what he wants. Two trustees said he ignores their emails. I know he ignored emails from another trustee. He made a long term, dedicated staff member with advanced cancer, who was still working to support a family, cry by his crude, stupid, out of place action and wasted a lot of resources to cover up for his stupid action. And so on and on and on.
I will flush these people out of my consciousness, down where they belong, after publishing the full report.
POOR KRISHNAMURTI !
Nazanine Choobak: Reza, I cannot comment on Krishnamurti since I am not knowledgeable about his studies and I wouldn't want to dishonor him by the lack of my expertise, but I can definitely understand your passion for the truth and distress about the "moral decadence" as evident in Trump's character. Trump is an unprincipled being if you would call him that who possesses no moral substance but then again we have to look at the people who brought this immoral being to power. The decay that exists in society is what elevated Trump to power. Reza, great point you raised about the decay (lack of truth and moral code) and this was the main focus of so many brilliant writers...Shakespeare, Marlowe, Steinbeck, Dickens, Fitzgerald to name a few all wrote about it and movies were created by Hollywood focusing on that very message of the untruthful nature of man, the decay (Hamlet, Dr. Faustus, Of Mice and Men, Great Expectations, The Great Gatsby, etc.) but the irony behind all of this is that Hollywood definitely created the movies attempting to send the moral message but then in turn played a role in spreading the immorality. Great point Reza!
By Reza Ganjavi - January 2021
Dear Friedrich
Happy new year. I hope it's a good one for you and for the world. I was dreaming last night about you and all the good that you done, for example, bringing people together. You funded travels for many people, including myself, to come together, share togetherness, share philosophical inquiries, and experience for example, the immense beauty of nature in places like Swiss Alps, Lake District, Hampshire, Black Forest, and you're funded travels of many students and teachers to India.
I have also witnessed firsthand the agony you went through to help save Brockwood Park School from financial trouble. And I know you've donated to many charity projects. And I know you've done many other good things.
I love you dearly as a person. You're one of the sweetest, kindest persons I've ever known. I also admire your lifestyle. I've learned many things from you. You taught me the yoga / exercise routines, eye exercises, pranayamas (breathing exercises) that J. Krishnamurti taught you.
Also your holistic life, and/or whatever other mystery and energy that are available for people who live a holistic life, and perhaps even, who touched people of super energetic powers like J. Krishnamurti (who is not a guru or leader -- just a great man who walked this Earth to help others find truth on their own, etc...) allowed healing powers to flow through your hands -- something perhaps nobody thought about. I asked you to touch my right knee which was injured when I was a teenager and had never healed. When I got out of the train at the next station, after that "healing session", a ball of energetic something rushed from the knee to the foot and out of the foot and the knee has been healed ever since. This is 100% a fact.
I also met Krishnamurti the same year you first did. I walked next to him, I sat a couple of meters away from him, front row and center, in numerous talks (some 15 times), and he gave me a red rose which I still have. And he pointed out many truths that I already knew, but I didn't know that I knew, and many pointers, that opened many doors, to great insights which translated to action in life.
Those insights have helped many people. They've helped save lives. I have experienced this first hand, on multiple locations, with various people. It is not J. Krishnamurti. It is insight, wisdom, vision, intelligence, love, caring, responsibility, truth, power of observation, patience, etc., etc. which a person learns in life, as part of human growth, from parents, teachers, friends, others. -- J. Krishnamurti was just one of them, but a very wise one. Again, I'm not a believer in what he says, or a sheepish follower -- in fact I believe he also had shortcoming -- and I firmly believe he recognized it. So it's absolutely essential, that as he also pointed out, for a person who is studying his work, to be critical.
I know you've done a lot to make his teachings known to others. And I'm sure this has helped many lives.
I wrote to you in 2007, a letter which I titled The Fifth Foundation -- referring to your organization. You called yourselves the gang -- you called them "the gang". I believe all of them are still part of your team, and on your payroll. https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/the-fifth-foundation
I believe you're now in your 90s. May you live many many more years. My uncle just turned 98, knock on wood, and he lives on his own and takes care of himself, and still has a sharp clear mind. He was the head of the Iranian National Gas Company before the revolution.
Fifth Foundation referred to the fact that your organization has equal if not more power than the official foundations which were set up around Krishnamurti's work when he was alive (and which he dreaded and barely tolerated -- he wanted to abolish the Indian foundation -- he called the American foundation idiotic for very good reasons that today me know why). He spent decades talking about the pitfalls and perils of organizations. He repeatedly said that joke of “D” rejoicing when a person found truth because he said he'll help the person organize it.
Krishnamurti was no fool. He was one of the wisest in modern history. In Iran, Rumi scholars say they understood parts of Rumi that they couldn't before, after reading Krishnamurti. The list of testimonials is long. And he was well-traveled. And he talked with many many people. He held private discussions and public discussions with thousands of people, and knew human problems, and solutions that helped thousands of people live a happier, simpler, less complicated lives.
Such a person repeatedly warns about pitfalls of organizations. That needs to be taken seriously. That was a key message I sent you in 2007. And I had to do it in such a public away, when the private way was getting ignored in the clout of the "gang", and the rose colored bubble around you.
The response I got was not unforeseen. Several of Krishnamurti's truly close friends wrote thanking me, that they have wanted to say these things, but they couldn't. And many others also thanked me. Only a couple of fanatics who had not even bothered reading the report, reacted negatively, trying to protect to you -- while those who read the letter that this wasn't a personal matter. It was about issues that I enumerated.
I was happy to see some changes came about within the behavior and actions of the gang. A few items permanently, but for the most part, soon enough, the force of habit of status quo and currents of power were re-seated. I believe, one of the key concerns I voiced in that letter, was, look at these serious issues with the gang, and this is while you're alive -- I do not want to imagine the day when God-delay, you pass away.
Fast forward through what's happened since then, to today. I still have serious, and ever more concerns about that gang. For the very same reasons that Krishnamurti dreaded organizations. Those very things that he predicted and dreaded have happened, to your organization, and to some of the official Krishnamurti organization, and in that context, your organization's influence on them, are undeniable.
How could it be that such a benevolent, sweet, compassionate, good man, with impeccable good intentions, could have an organization that would negatively impact two K Foundations to the degree we are witnessing? The answer can probably be summarized into words: Money, Power.
You happen to be very wealthy, and everybody in these circles knows that, and your public profile and actions show that. I know you donated a large amount of money towards building the Study Center at Brockwood.
Your financial muscle influences the K organizations, directly, and indirectly, via its clout, and clout of the gang members. That was a reason many people could not tell you things that they wanted to, because nobody wants to get on the wrong side of big money.
I'm not short of things to do, and I am not seeking money from you, and never have. I've had a very good paying career as an IT specialist, program/project manager, management consultant, business analyst, solution architect, and earlier, as programmer/analyst and software engineer. But if you need somebody to do an audit of your organization, don't hesitate to ask me -- I'll do it for free. So not having done that, my views are from a distance.
Let me put this very bluntly dear Friedrich. I suggest that while you're alive, you trim down your gang … <and I went on to make some suggestions, but I never had time to finish and send this letter – and I felt it would not make any difference as they were set in their ways – but soon I got pulled into leading a deep investigation of KFT/Brockwood which revealed a huge Grohe influence as documented in: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/KFT-Mismanagement
Also see Reza Ganjavi's:
Around 200 Feedback from readers of the investigative report of the gross mismanagement of a charitable trust and school: https://www.rezamusic.com/writings/on-j-krishnamurtis-work/KFT-Mismanagement
“Indeed, Reza has pointed out some very important dissonances in K organizations.”
"Am so happy you gave me these k books . Such a great gift, enriching my life. I like to read again and observe more and understand it better."
“Excellent review Reza, you continue to be a beacon of light and truth in the hurricane of darkness that surrounds the foundations currently.”
“Krishnamurti helped me to be inwardly free like a child and quiet.”
“I am reading the book it's great” ~ Two girls from Rainbow Bridge I gave K book to.
"These people who are responsible for mismanagement throughout the years and their abuse should all be dismissed immediately. They take advantage and use and abuse the little bit of power they think they have. Karma eventually catches up. Keep up the great work! Happy 2024!!"
“Dear Reza, you must continue to point out what you think is correct. Krishnamurti was not traditional.”
“I did feel Mark Lee was a lousy director, as did a lot of folks, which was why he was moved over to the Foundation side [from Oak Grove School]. ~ Former OGS teacher
“The truth is hard to believe! The behaviours have been simply incredible.”
“As an outside critic of the leadership and direction of KFA you may be in a unique position to shed some light on matters and may even be able to influence a move in another direction. I wish you well.”
“Thanks. Hope you are getting rest & relaxation in the midst of your good work.”
“You are doing a tremendous amount of work. Best.”
"Thanks. And keep up the good work!"
“I just spoke with <>. He said that Jaap spends money for the wrong things and that it is very messy at the Peppertree Retreat/KFA.”
“Amazing work! Congratulations.” – Dr. R.
“Thanks a lot for your attachments with mail on related to K. Most of your write up is appreciable and is correct to a large extent. I have been a teacher with one of the K schools in India and found many of your statements in line with my own experience. But, yes, K is a magnanimous philosopher throwing uniquely fresh light on human psychology. He is the most relevant and most simply understandable philosopher.” Dr. from India
“It is always good (and too rare) to speak to a person with your serious interest in Krishnaji. I admire you and know that you’re doing this out of concern. You’ve really studied. Interest in the core. Even when you react you are constructive and it shows that you’ve really studied.”
“Reza, Thank you for loving. Jiddu Krishnamurti. A friend for eternity. Much love”
“Thank you, Reza, for your Newsletter. I only know the swiss organization which puts up the K's meetings every year. Do you know it too?. To qualify it, I chose some of your words: to my eyes, it is a mundane, mediocre, stiff, boring organization. It seems to be the destiny of all big organizations, that they get spoiled.” [I disagree with those who think K organizations went downhill and are doomed because it has to be that way. NO. Management matters and different actions have different outcomes.]
“You being an educated philosopher… You are pointing out organizational flaws in an organization that was built around a philosophy of no organizations…”
“Great work Reza. Thanks for the videos! Kind of agree with you. Can understand having met both of them. Mark Lee's arrogance. Straw that broke the camel's back. Didn't hold any punches. How could he distort having known…”
“Dear Reza. we are waiting so serious and eager to know what is happening. You are so kind and brave that never let us to be deceived. Best Wishes. Dr. P.A.”
“Great what you are doing.”
“Thank you for your concern. With much affection.”
"Dear Reza, Nice to hear from you. Yes, I will be in Ojai to attend the International trustees Meeting. There are many issues to deal with, some of them you pointed out in your last report. I hope you are well and we will be in contact. All the best."
"With our interactions, I am beginning to think of resuming my study of K's teachings - after 17 years!"
"Thank you, Reza, for your interest. Thank you for your perseverance in the pursuit of truth."
"Thank you for this, Reza. It has the potential to do great good."
"Vinit a friend received this and he said: this seems like a nice storehouse for those interested in the work of Krishnamurti."
"I enjoy writing and do it once in a while. What you speak about passionately was Rajesh's chief concern. They are making Krishnamurti into another religion he would say. And in his last days he was inviting KFI to 'forget krishnamurti' - something that is the spirit of K's teachings."
"Dear Reza, I received this from a friend and wish to be included in future K-related communication. Dont know if you knew Rajesh Dalal. I was very close to him and he brought the K world alive thru his life, sharing and dialogue. Hope to be on this list. Warmly, Kiran"
"Dear Reza, The 'Institutional Ego' you write of is disturbingly big in the KFI. I have been trying to question some of the ridiculously obvious pretenses that KFI follows, but they are blind to it. A handful of people 'rule' with an iron fist. These people are beyond questioning, or so they think. The organization in India is somewhat of a 'family business' now, encouraging and recruiting only 'yes men' who have no insight or opinion. Tragic state of affairs. Regards,"
"It was nice having a friendly word with you on the way home, especially after a rough day at work. thanks for that. take care!"
"About Tolle, Batie... I came upon these books visiting some friend or at the library. It doesn't grab me, or interest me deeply. It is boring, that's all. It is simply not alive and sincere."
"Quite a lot of research! call me. Mrr"
"Reza has been deeply touched by JK. And is also concerned like Rajesh was that K's teachings don’t get reduced to another religion. As I am."
"Thank you. Hope you are doing well. I agree with you that the chanting is not acceptable at KFA. If they insist on doing yoga, it should only be for the body and no other rituals or Hindu magic to misguide a mind."
"I just had a quick look on YouTube at Reza Ganjavi's Talk About J. Krishnamurti and I had a very good feeling about you."
"Thank you for expressing your observations. I really appreciate your efforts."
"Long time no see! Thanks for the materials that you sent me. I found them interesting."
"I read the 'K Would Have Dissolved The KFA' today morning and I agree with you a hundred percent in that matter."
"Keep up the good work."
"I am an internist but have specialized in asthma and allergic diseases. JK used to talk at Shanti Vihar, just a few blocks from where I was born, and though I had an opportunity to meet him, I was unable to. I did attend the lectures, though. It is very transforming stuff, is it not?. Once you have experienced JK, there is no going back."
"Good to meet you. i have studied K for over 39 years.....attended in person also and have about 50 books and most of his video tapes…"
"Good to hear from you anytime...........personal regards..........Dave......."
"Hello Reza… I would be glad to converse with you regarding K."
"I have a very warm interest in K. He has bent my philosophical approach to life to the point where I am content (usually)… Thank you for sharing some of yourself with us."
"Hi dear Reza, we enjoyed to learn your homepage!!! You're awesome and we love you and JK. Your soul accordant us. We are glad we know you. Sorry, our English do not give us to… Your Russian friends Helen and Valentina."
"Hello Reza, with great interest I read your e-mail. I like very much that you are interested in Krishnamurti, it is very important for me! … Hope to hear from you soon… Elena"
"Thanks for your email! K and Noam Chomsky have been major mentors in my life! Peace."
"Hey, Reza… Would love to have you here. Tea: 5 pm, Video 5:30, followed by brief discussion."
"I wish you the best in all your projects and admire and respect your outspoken letters drawing attention to what is going on. Sadly, you can expect nothing."
"I am glad to see your determination and good will."
"let me tell you how much I enjoyed and appreciated the interview you had with Tom H. It was beautiful-thank you for that."
"I want to tell you again: you have done a great job!"
"Hi Reza, I thought of you while reading the most recent letter (Dec 2022) from Bill Taylor to Friends of Brockwood Park in which he assured those who care about preserving the works of K... It seems perhaps your detailed research and writing, which you shared with me, helped to make that possible... Warm regards"
"I'm still very grateful for all the clever advices and good things you did for me. That's brilliant what you wrote - I agree… I reminded myself today, your words about being psychologically nothing…. helped me today a lot. I remember many things you said. I'm happy that I can grow and develop because of knowing you"
“Hallo. Yes I am done with them too.”
“Hello Reza, I placed your youtube link with Eric on ... Great interview. Thank you for keeping me posted on the many insights on KFA. Like going into dialogue..some get it and others like the sound of their voice for their own self interest. May your armor be strong and your love for the teachings continue and disconnection from the madness in humans that you see so well. Much love”
“Hi Reza, I'd be interested in future circular.”
“Dear Reza, I have experienced the same disappointment, anger at the organisation.”
“Dear Reza - good to see you challenge those who say no one can do what Krishnamurti suggests, so self-defeating, a lazy way out… Reading your last pieces was a discovery about KFA really. I wouldn't be very surprised any more if they begin to bake healing Krishnamurti's cookies for the next...”
“What you speak about passionately was Rajesh's chief concern. They are making Krishnamurti into another religion he would say. And in his last days he was inviting KFI to "forget Krishnamurti" - something that is the spirit of K's teachings.”
“I am happier now as an 'outsider' and feel free to really look at life closely, without the tyranny of organisation oppressing me.”
"I have watched a few of your videos on Krishnamurti and have enjoyed it. You seem like you have gone very deep into the teachings and have been in contact with many people who were close to K."
"I was particularly impressed with the way your fact-checking video defending K’s reputation and pointing out discrepancies in the stories circulated by Mark Lee and Ravi Ravinda which set out to comment unfavourably on certain trivial aspects of K’s history as a much respected world figure regarding the psychological life of ordinary people like you and me. I posted a comment supporting you in regard to your handling of that matter which I trust was published."
"I watched your video about Mark Lee/Ravi Ravindra/Jaap, there was two of them, and i enjoyed them immensely and agree wholeheartedly and i too have had some bad dealings with KFA. I also watched your video with Scott Forbes and am watching the one with P.Krishna right now."
A beautiful picture of Dr. P. Krishna (retired Professor of Physics, Philosopher, Educator, Lecturer). I picked this up from a video. Reprinted with his permission.