When death comes, it does not ask your permission; it comes and takes you; it destroys you on the spot. In the same way, can you totally drop hate, envy, pride of possession, attachment to beliefs, to opinions, to ideas, to a particular way of thinking? Can you drop all that in an instant? There is no “how to drop it”, because that is only another form of continuity. To drop opinion, belief, attachment, greed, or envy is to die — to die every day, every moment. If there is the coming to an end of all ambition from moment to moment, then you will know the extraordinary state of being nothing, of coming to the abyss of an eternal movement, as it were, and dropping over the edge — which is death. I want to know all about death, because death may be reality; it may be what we call God — that most extraordinary something that lives and moves and yet has no beginning and no end." - Meaning and context.">
Vol. XI, p. 242

When death comes, it does not ask your permission; it comes and takes you; it destroys you on the spot. In the same way, can you totally drop hate, envy, pride of possession, attachment to beliefs, to opinions, to ideas, to a particular way of thinking? Can you drop all that in an instant? There is no “how to drop it”, because that is only another form of continuity. To drop opinion, belief, attachment, greed, or envy is to die — to die every day, every moment. If there is the coming to an end of all ambition from moment to moment, then you will know the extraordinary state of being nothing, of coming to the abyss of an eternal movement, as it were, and dropping over the edge — which is death. I want to know all about death, because death may be reality; it may be what we call God — that most extraordinary something that lives and moves and yet has no beginning and no end.

— Jiddu Krishnamurti

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "When death comes, it does not ask your permission; it comes and takes you; it destroys you on the spot. In the same way, can you totally drop hate, envy, pride of possession, attachment to beliefs, to opinions, to ideas, to a particular way of thinking? Can you drop all that in an instant? There is no “how to drop it”, because that is only another form of continuity. To drop opinion, belief, attachment, greed, or envy is to die — to die every day, every moment. If there is the coming to an end of all ambition from moment to moment, then you will know the extraordinary state of being nothing, of coming to the abyss of an eternal movement, as it were, and dropping over the edge — which is death. I want to know all about death, because death may be reality; it may be what we call God — that most extraordinary something that lives and moves and yet has no beginning and no end." in the context of "Vol. XI, p. 242" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Jiddu Krishnamurti" (Quotes, Posthumous publications, The Collected Works: Published by Kendall/Hunt and Krishnamurti Foundation of America Vol. 3 (1936–1944) : The Mirror of Relationship (1991) Vol. 4 (1945–1948): The Observer Is the Observed (1991) Vol. 5 (1948–1949): Choiceless Awareness (1991) Vol. 6 (1949–1952): The Origin of Conflict (1991) Vol. 9 (1955–1956): The Answer is in the Problem (1991) Vol. 10 (1956–1957): A Light to Yourself (1991) Vol. 11 (1958–1960): Crisis in Consciousness (1991) Vol. 13 (1962–1963): A Psychological Revolution (1992) Vol. 14 (1963–1964): The New Mind (1992) Vol. 15 (1964–1965): The Dignity of Living (1992) ) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Jiddu Krishnamurti

About Jiddu Krishnamurti

Jiddu Krishnamurti (11 May 1895 – 17 February 1986) was a spiritual teacher, public speaker, and writer, on psychological, sociological, and spiritual subjects.