one must become poor inwardly

Poverty is to be completely free of society, though one may have a few more clothes, a few more meals – good God, who cares? [...] One must become poor inwardly, for then there is no seeking, no asking, no desire, no – nothing.

In the last episode, in this series of commentaries on quotes by Krishnamurti, we were looking at respectability, and the way we often feel the need to fit in with society. And in this quotation, Krishnamurti continues a little on the same theme. But now he's shifted the focus to poverty. And he's saying poverty is to be completely free of society. And he looks at poverty in material terms, but also in a deeper sense: an inward poverty.

But before we go into this quote in detail, I feel first we should remember the conditions under which Krishnamurti was born and grew up. He came from India, the south of India, quite a poor area. And although he was exposed to Westerners and Western education from about the age of fourteen, he continued to live much of his life in India. And in India, particularly in the early part of the twentieth century, before it became quite modernised and urbanised. And poverty in India is a little bit different to that in Western countries. If you've grown up like me in a modern Western country, poverty is seen as an ill, as a bad thing. And somebody living in poverty, in a typical Western country, is not free of society at all, because most countries nowadays in the West support poor people, with basically state funding. But that also creates a great dependence, a great tie, between somebody who is in material poverty and society. But that wasn't the case in Krishnamurti's world. In India, especially back then, but even now to some extent, people can be poor and receive very little from the state. Even nowadays in India, it's possible to be a be beggar and to earn one's keep merely from the goodwill, the handouts, of other individual humans, not from some structure in society.

So in the first part of this quote, which is looking quite materially at what it means to be in poverty, I think we have to bear in mind that world which Krishnamurti was aware of, where some people did live in material poverty and were rather cut off from structured society. So Krishnamurti says poverty is to be completely free of society. And he's saying that if one lives within the structure of society, not in poverty, one may have a few more clothes, a few more meals, good God, who cares? And this is really questioning our emphasis on material wealth. And it's been my own experience, too, travelling to parts of the world, less exposed to the Western materialistic lifestyle. Sometimes I've seen people with very little in the way of material wealth, but who are living fulfilled lives, who are happy.

So really, the first challenge from Krishnamurti here is, are we overly materialistic? Do we really see material wealth as a source of happiness and of fulfilment in life? And of course, on the spiritual path, we soon come to realise that, no, there's nothing particularly wrong with material wealth but ultimately it does not satisfy us deep down.

In the second part of this quote, Krishnamurti says, one must become poor inwardly, for then there is no seeking, no asking, no desire, no nothing. This is a really profound insight, and can be very challenging. Firstly, Krishnamurti is taking us from one concept of poverty, what it means to be poor, that is the material poverty, and taking us from there into an inward poverty, what does it mean to be poor inwardly? And this is very typical of Krishnamurti's way of thinking. He might start from some concept that we are familiar with, but then he can move the whole field of inquiry into a deeper level.

So what is this inward poverty? He says, if we become poor inwardly, there is no seeking, no asking, no desire, no nothing. And again, for many of us, this could be something that seems rather negative. Surely it's our seeking, our asking, our desire, that gives us our drive in life, makes us achieve things. And he's saying, this is what we must become. We must become poor inwardly.

He's talking about our psychology. Do we have a psychology that is always wanting more? Seeking more, asking for more, desiring more? This is the psychology of greed, whether it be materialistic greed – I want more money – or spiritual greed – I want to have great spiritual experiences, I want to become enlightened. That wanting is the same basic psychology wherever it is applied in our life, whether it be in our sexual relations, our job, or in our spirituality. How greedy are we? Because whilst we're wanting more, we will never feel complete, we'll never stop. There's no end to it. It doesn't matter how much money I acquire, I will continue to want more. The same with everything. It doesn't matter how amazing and enlightened spiritual experience I have, I will want more of it, or a deeper experience. And there is no end to it.

So Krishnamurti is saying we must become poor inwardly. What he is saying is this demand for more must come to an end. It's a great challenge. So this is what we should ask our ourself when we listen to this quote from Krishnamurti. Is it possible to live a simple life? Simple psychologically, where we're not making great demands on other people, on life. Would it be possible to live in such a profound acceptance that we are not seeking anything? We're not asking for more of anything. And we're not desiring anything. Is that possible? It's an incredible shift psychologically. And yet it is essential, because the paradox is, whilst we're living in the psychology of wanting, we are actually missing what is being given to us.

Right now, I'm sitting in the sun. In front of me as a garden. There's beautiful green grass, flowers, a gentle breeze is blowing. It's a huge gift. And the only way I can really appreciate this gift is to be fully present with it, right now. And that means not wanting something else. If my mind is busy wanting something, I'm not even going to see this beautiful garden. And the truth is, we are all living in a beautiful garden the whole time. And that's the great paradox. What we're really seeking and wanting and asking for and desiring is right here, right now, available to us any moment, inwardly, outwardly. It's all right here. It's being offered. And the bizarre thing is, we keep demanding, as if what we want is not available. And the only thing that is keeping us from living in this state of abundance is our desire for it.

So here, Krishnamurti's words, as always, are a great challenge to us. Can we become poor inwardly? Can we stop seeking, asking, desiring? Effectively, he's suggesting we empty ourself of all that. And it's only when we have become empty in that way, that we have the space, the capacity to receive, to receive that which has been available all along, that which is being offered in this very moment, that which we can only live when we have become poor inwardly.