Commentaries on Living was published by Harper & Brothers in three series: the first in 1956, the second in 1958, and the third in 1960. Edited by D. Rajagopal from Krishnamurti’s notebooks, these volumes represent his most literary achievement — short pieces that combine natural observation with philosophical dialogue in a form unlike anything else in spiritual or philosophical literature.
Each essay follows the same pattern: it opens with a precise, sensuous description of the natural world (a bird in a tree, the quality of morning light, the sound of water), then introduces a visitor who has come with a problem — ambition, jealousy, sorrow, the desire for security, the search for God — and the conversation that follows reveals not a solution but a different relationship to the problem itself.
The natural observations serve a philosophical purpose: they demonstrate the quality of attention that Krishnamurti is pointing toward — a perception without the filter of naming, categorizing, or comparing. When he describes a bird, he is showing what it means to see something without the screen of knowledge between the observer and the observed. The subsequent dialogue then asks whether the same quality of attention can be brought to psychological experience — to fear, to desire, to sorrow.
The visitors are never named (described only by function — “the politician,” “the sannyasi,” “the mother”), and the conversations are presented without Krishnamurti’s direct speech being identified. The effect is of a mind meeting a problem directly, without the authority of a teacher or the submission of a student.
First editions (Harper & Brothers, New York):
- Series 1 (1956): Cloth, dust jacket
- Series 2 (1958): Cloth, dust jacket
- Series 3 (1960): Cloth, dust jacket
Market values:
- First series, first edition in jacket: $40–$100
- Complete three-volume set (first editions): $100–$300
- Without jackets: $10–$25 per volume