# 018 Gems from Jiddu

Self-knowledge is not a thing to be bought in books, nor is it the outcome of a long painful practice and discipline; but it is awareness, from moment to moment.

“A school is a place where one learns both the importance of knowledge and its limitation. …..”

"You are not to understand the teaching: you are to understand yourself. The teachings are only a means of pointing, explaining... Do not try to understand what the speaker says, but understand that what he says acts as a mirror in which you look at yourself. When you look at yourself carefully, then the mirror will not be important, you will be able to throw it away."

“When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.” 

“The more you know yourself, the more clarity there is. Self-knowledge has no end - you don't come to an achievement, you don't come to a conclusion. It is an endless river.” 

― Jiddu Krishnamurti