Krishnamurti - Last Talks at Saanen 1985

Last Talks at Saanen 1985

Copyright 1986 by Krishnamurti Foundation Trust Ltd., London

LAST TALKS

AT SAANEN 1985

by

J. KRISHNAMURTI

Photographs by Mark Edwards

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

This book is a commemoration of Krishnamurtis last talks at Saanen, Switzerland , after twenty-five years of holding international summer gatherings there. It was a lucky coincidence that Mark Edwards was at Saanen that summer to photograph the gathering from the beginning, for Krishnamurtis decision to hold no more talks there was not announced until almost the end of the meetings. Krishnamurtis reason for giving up the Saanen gatherings was that at ninety he felt he should somewhat curtail his travelling.

Saanen is a pretty little village in the Bernese Oberland which Krishnamurti had first seen when he went in 1957 to stay with a friend at the neighbouring town of Gstaad. He already knew Switzerland well, however, from the many visits he had made to Villars throughout the years. He had always loved mountains and mountain scenery.

In 1961 an Italian friend rented for him for the summer a furnished house at Gstaad, Chalet Tannegg, and for the next twenty-three years he spent several weeks at this same villa, rented each summer. (It was only in the last two years, after Tannegg was sold, that he had to find other accommodation near Saanen.) He always arrived at Tannegg well before the talks began and remained there for some time afterwards.

During the first summer of 1961, a small gathering was arranged for him at the Landhaus in Saanen (the Town Hall) which held only about 350 people; nevertheless, nineteen different nationalities were represented at the talks he gave there. Aldous Huxley, a great friend whom Krishnamurti had first met in California, happened to be at Gstaad that summer and went several times to hear him speak. Describing the talk of August 6, Huxley wrote: ...it was among the most impressive things I have ever heard. It was like listening to a discourse of the Buddhasuch power, such intrinsic authority, such an uncompromising refusal to allow the homme moyen sensuel any gurus, saviours, fhrers, churches. I show you sorrow and the ending of sorrowand if you dont choose to fulfil the conditions for ending sorrow, be prepared, whatever gurus, churches etc. you may believe in, for the continuation of sorrow.

The following year a much larger gathering was held in a tent with a geodesic dome, invented by Buckminster Fuller, the architect-designer, famous in America. It was erected on the Saanen airstrip.

In 1963 the same tent was put up on the only completely flat land at Saanen, apart from the airstrip, that had not been built over. The river Saane flows beside this site of 1 acres and there are woods on two sides. This land was bought in 1965 with funds contributed to Krishnamurtis work, and administered by a legally constituted committee. Thereafter all the gatherings took place on this site. In 1968 the domed tent, then worn out, was replaced, and there has since been only one other replacement.

The attendance at these Saanen gatherings increased every year. At the last gathering more than 3,000 people crowded into the tent for the five talks and three Question and Answer meetings given by Krishnamurti. Almost every nationality, a huge variety of types and a wide range of ages were represented. Some people went merely for the day; many more stayed for the whole gathering. Caravans and campers were accommodated in the municipal camping site; others rented chalets or stayed in hotels or guest houses in Saanen itself or in neighbouring villages. Some, who could not afford the guest houses, slept in dormitories, either in the old disused schoolhouse or in buildings occasionally used by the military. Those who wanted it were provided with one hot meal a day at minimal cost, cooked in an improvised kitchen and eaten out of doors.

The gatherings could never have taken place if it had not been for the unstinted voluntary help given by so many in the course of those twenty-five years. At the last few gatherings the talks were recorded on tape and also on video. The tapes were immediately transcribed and copies given to the translators who superimposed the translations on to the video tapes, on a parallel track, as well as recording them on audio tape. Thus on the following day not only were the video tapes and cassettes of the previous days talk on sale in English, German, French, Italian, Dutch and Spanish, but video showings were given in those same languages.

The last Saanen gathering of 1985 was blessed with a spell of really beautiful weather. At the first Question and Answer meeting, after it had been publicly announced that this was to be the last gathering, Krishnamurti began his address characteristically: I am told that there are so many people who are sad leaving, ending Saanen. If one is sad it is about time that we left.

But at his last meeting he spoke with great feeling: We have had the most marvellous days, lovely mornings, beautiful evenings, long shadows and deep blue valleys and clear blue sky and the snow. A whole summer has never been like this. So the mountains, the valleys, the trees and the river, tell us goodbye.

TALK ONE

SUNDAY, JULY 7

If one may, one would like to point out that we are a gathering of serious people who are concerned with daily life. We are not concerned whatsoever with beliefs, ideologies, suppositions, theoretical conclusions or theological concepts, nor are we trying to found a sect, a group of people who follow somebody. We are not, lets hope, frivolous but rather we are concerned together with what is happening in the worldall the tragedies, the utter misery, povertyand our responsibility to it.