CHENNAI: I have come to talk on karma with you. Of course I have certain opinions about it, but I would like to know yours.”
Opinion is not truth; we must put aside opinions to find truth. There are innumerable opinions, but truth is not of this or of that group. For the understanding of truth, all ideas, conclusions, opinions must drop away as the withered leaves fall from a tree. Truth is not to be found in books, in knowledge, in experience. If you are seeking opinions, you will find none here. “But we can talk about karma and try to understand its significance, can we not?”
That, of course, is quite a different matter. To understand, opinions and conclusions must cease.
Can you understand anything if you have already made up your mind about it, or if you repeat the conclusions of another? To find the truth of this matter, must we not come to it afresh, with a mind that is not clouded by prejudice? Which is more important, to be free from conclusions, prejudices, or to speculate about some abstraction? An opinion as to what truth is, is not truth. Is it not important to discover the truth concerning karma? To see the false as false is to begin to understand it, is it not? How can we see true or the false if our minds are entrenched in tradition, in words and explanations? If the mind is tethered to a belief, how can it go far? To journey far, the mind must be free. Freedom is not something to be gained at the end of long endeavour, it must be at the beginning of the journey.
— Excerpts from Commentaries on Living Vol 2 by J Krishnamurthi