Men Of Mystery

Dylan, Tooting, doubling up, Like A Flower, Sabatini, Scaravelli... One thing leads to another in BlogWorld... And Vanda Scaravelli's yoga probably leads on to Jiddhu Krishnamurti. It was the great teacher Krishnamurti who introduced Scaravelli to Desikachar ... If you're interested in any of this, follow the links... But be warned, once you start going into the teachings of Krishnamurti, you may find (and even accept) that there is no way back out again.

While Dylan, or his songs, seem to come from the mind and heart of a shaman/poet/jokerman in tune with mystery and that semi-enlightenment that shines through the work of musical and poetic geniuses, Krishnamurti appears to be the full real deal, the mind and heart in full enlightenment and in complete touch with the nameless.

Why mention Dylan and Krishnamurti in the same sentence? I've seen them both on stage and can't think of any other humans of that stature that have moved me as they have. But while Dylan notoriously declared he saw himself as "a song and dance man" (which those who have seen him in recent times will probably appreciate), Krishnamurti always made it clear that "this is not an entertainment".

Krishnamurti, like Dylan, sees the positive in the negative. Only in rejecting everything that is "known" can one come to truth, or, more correctly, can the truth reveal itself. It's not clear whether Dylan has now rejected religion, although a telling line on his 2009 album Together Through Life suggested that the road that had led him from 1973's Knocking On Heaven's Door to 1997's Tryin' To Get To Heaven (Before They Close The Door) had finally brought him to the conclusion that "The door has closed for ever more, if indeed there ever was a door..." Is it just me, or is this one of the most powerfully haunting lines Dylan has ever sung?

Krishnamurti rejects religion, along with nationality, identity, politics, philosophy. You name it, he rejects it. And, like Dylan, he gives you no answers, just asks questions... and suggests you ask questions... for all the answers are inside you... and you are the world (literally, not theoretically). And that statement is a universe away from the dire charity song We Are The World (which, amazingly, managed to drag in Dylan for a fleeting contribution).

Krishnamurti always comes back to the fact that the observer is the observed, the thinker is the thought. The "I' is a false construct of thought, memory and psychological time... and psychological time does not exist, any more than the past or the present exist.

Heavy stuff. But if you want lighter stuff, you'll be content with preachers, gurus, entertainers and those song and dance men who have no connection to the power of mystery.

Krishnamurti died in 1986. He still seems to live in the minds and hearts of thousands of those who heard and saw him and tried to get to grips with his 65 years of teachings. He was 90. Dylan is still only 70 and has a few more gigs to play.

I can't think of anyone else but these two whom I would give almost anything to see... apart from maybe the Buddha... and Robert Johnson... uh oh, more blogs coming on...