Krishnamurti believed that "education is the heart of the matter." His longstanding concern with the nature and problems of education led him to found schools in India, England, and America, and his conversations with students, teachers, and parents form the major part of "Beginnings of Learning.

These lively, often intimate exchanges turn on practical, everyday matters as well as wider philosophical issues, as Krishnamurti encourages his audience to appreciate that the beginning of wisdom is self-knowledge. Jiddu Krishnamurti was born in southern India in 1895 and died in 1986.

The essence of his teachings is that societal change and world peace can only occur through a complete change of individual consciousness. It is only in seeing ourselves as we are, with absolute clarity, that real revolution--an inner revolution--takes place.