"A mind full of grasping, ambition, or shame cannot observe anything clearly.' - J. Krishnamurti

In an age of algorithms, influencers, and constant noise, the idea that you can be a light unto yourself feels... revolutionary.

But it’s not new.
It’s ancient.
And it’s radical.

The 20th-century sage J. Krishnamurti echoed a truth that lives deep within the Buddhist and yogic traditions: that true awareness isn’t handed to you by a teacher, a technique, or even a belief. It arises in silence. In observation. In the courageous willingness to face yourself—without filters.

In Buddhist psychology, this is yoniso manasikāra—wise attention. And in yoga, it’s svādhyāya—self-study. Both are rooted in a deeper truth: liberation is not something you receive from someone else. It is realized when you turn inward, fully awake to your own body, breath, thoughts, and conditioned patterns.

Krishnamurti warns us that a mind full of judgment—"this is good," "that is bad"—is a mind caught in the wheel of dukkha (suffering). And a mind full of grasping, ambition, or shame cannot observe anything clearly.
It is too crowded to perceive reality.

Instead, he offers us the razor’s edge of spiritual practice: choiceless awareness.
Not preference.
Not suppression.
Pure observation.

To be truly aware is not passive. It is fierce. It means facing your sorrow, your inherited grief, your unconscious reactions—without running away.

Only then does attention emerge. And attention, he says, is the ground from which all right action flows. Not reaction. Not people-pleasing. Not performance. But action aligned with your truest light.

Takeaway:

This is the meditation we forget in modern practice. Not techniques or apps—but the raw, intimate seeing of the self.
Let this be your daily sādhanā:
Walk. Sit. Breathe. Observe.
Don’t judge.
Just see.
And in the seeing, become light itself.

Krishnamurti on being a light to yourself.