Fritjof Capra, the well known physicist, became famous for his bestseller book “Tao of physics” published in 1975. It was one of the first books that tried to show the connection between modern physics and eastern mysticism.
Who influenced Capra on his journey as a particle physicist? What kind of conversations did he have with several remarkable people? That is the focus of his book “Uncommon wisdom: Conversations with remarkable people”.
Capra recalls his discussions with one of those remarkable people. It was Jiddu Krishnamurti whom he met in 1968. When Capra met Krishnamurti, he was on the runway of his career as a physicist and it was about to take off. Krishnamurti was giving a series of talks at the University of California, Santa Cruz where Capra was a faculty.
Capra recalls: “I remember that I was fascinated as well as deeply disturbed by Krishnamurti’s lectures. After each evening talk, Jacqueline and I stayed up for several hours more, sitting at our fireplace and discussing what Krishnamurti had said.”
Krishnamurti had created a major confusion in Capra’s mind. He didn’t know how to marry his career ambition with the advice of going beyond thought. Fortunately, he got an opportunity to meet Krishnamurti the morning after one of his talks. “How can I be a scientist,” Capra asked, “and still follow your advice of stopping thought and attaining freedom from the known?”
Krishnamurti answered immediately. “First, you are a human being,” he said, “then you are a scientist. First, you have to become free, and this freedom cannot be achieved through thought. It is achieved through meditation – the understanding of the totality of life in which every form of fragmentation has ceased.”
Krishnamurti told Capra that “once you have this understanding, you will be able to work as a scientist without any problems.” Capra remembers: “Krishnamurti answered my question in ten seconds in a way that completely solved my problem.”
In so many ways, Krishnamurti’s message “first you are a human being” is the essence of his teaching. Implied in that is the need to be free of conditioning, division and fragmentation; to understand the totality of life. “You are humanity”, he would often say in his talks.
Doesn’t what Krishnamurti told Capra apply to each one of us regardless of our field of activity?
