Question: Are yogic exercises helpful in any way to human beings? 

 

Krishnamurti: I think one must go into this question fairly deeply. Apparently in Europe as well as in India, there is this idea that by doing yogic exercises, practicing virtue, being good, participating in social work, reading sacred books, following a teacher, that by doing something of this kind, you are going to achieve salvation or enlightenment. I am afraid you are not. On the contrary, you are going to be caught in the things you are practicing, and therefore you will always be held a prisoner and your vision will be everlastingly limited. Yogic exercises are all right, probably, for the body. Any kind of exercise-walking, jumping, climbing mountains, swimming, or whatever you do-is on the same level. But to suppose that certain exercises will lead you to salvation, to understanding, to God, truth, wisdom-this I think is sheer nonsense, even though all the yogis in India say otherwise. If once you see that anything that you practice, that you accept, that you develop, always has behind it the element of greed -wanting to get something, wanting to reach something, wanting to break a record-then you will leave it alone. A mind that is merely concerned with the ‘how,’ with doing yogic exercises, this or that, will only develop a sense of achievement through time, and such a mind can never comprehend that which is timeless. 

 

– J Krishnamurti