In the early 1990’s a friend walked into my shop, Mysterium, in Boulder, CO and handed me a copy of I Am by Jean Klein. After reading a few pages I knew that he was someone I wanted to meet. I was relieved to find contact information on the back cover which I phoned and learned that there was a retreat in Joshua Tree, CA coming up in a couple of months. Thus began a friendship that would last until Jean left his body in early 1998. A short story of this friendship can be read at Jean Klein: Master of Listening. -purushottama
Jean Klein, master of Advaita Vedanta in the tradition of Ramana Maharshi and Atmananda Krishna Menon.
As a young man, Jean Klein studied music and medicine in Vienna and Berlin. During this time, he became familiar with the philosophies of Gandhi, Lao Tze, Chuang Tzu, Tagore, Coomaraswamy, Aurobindo, and later became acquainted with the writings of the French philosopher Rene Guenon. What struck him about Guenon’s views was the distinction he made between the traditional and the Tradition–the latter being a principle, which is transmitted from teacher to disciple through intitiation. He remarked of this approach: “This awoke in me that it was actually humanly possible to become fully integrated and awake in the whole.”
Jean Klein left Germany in 1933 and spent World War II in France, secretly helping thousands to escape from Germany. After the war, he left Europe for India seeking an environment that would welcome self-inquiry. There, in Bangalore, he met a Pandit–a professor of Sanskrit–who became his teacher and subsequently initiated him into the wisdom of advaita. After living intensely with this understanding, one day the teaching became an awakened reality–a living truth that became fully integrated in him.
For forty years Dr. Klein responded to invitations from all over the world to share his knowledge. He lived in Europe and The United States and died in February 1998 in Santa Barbara, California. He is the author of several books on non-dualism in English and other languages.
-Most of this biographical sketch came from Inner Directions Journal, Fall/Winter 2002.
Books and Audios
Here are a couple of books and audios by Jean Klein that are downloadable.
videos
Here you can see an excerpt from an interview of Jean by Lillias Folan.
Links
An interview with Jean Klein by Stephan Bodian (Yoga Journal)
Follow the link to read an excellent biography
All of the posts concerning Jean Klein
Sat Sangha Salon 
I like this guy eventhough I have never met him and have never read a word of his. Hari Om
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There have been several books published by Jean Klein and a couple of them have just been re-published; I Am, Be Who You Are, Who Am I, The Ease of Being and The Living Truth.
Cheers
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The book I AM is a real joy to read. He is so clear .
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…to read a book is look into the mirror and see an illusion…to write a poem is to know thyself and discover that we are nothing if not, love loving love…further up & furthter in….^^~~~~~
shiva’s shakti
(sarasvati chants to shiva)
“….for I was amazed
Under the tide: but now I breathe again
Aloft the flood, and can give audience
To any tongue, speak it of what it will.”
-Shakespeare
my other self so my brighter beloved
all our other names do us but violence
as i languish lacking your virility
so your anguish quickens my fertility
my song is nothing without your silence
such wonder as you are not is my grace
wonderment thriving on bitter transgression
astonishment striving for sweeter compassion
such wisdom completes the fullness of space
so lead me on with devious conceits
starlit waters dansing teach my hart bright lies
drown my hart’s truth in your hart’s beautiful eyes
so lead me on with labyrinth deceits
your grace must wander through such unknown fields
is it you or me transfiguring our love
what meaning has a raven without a dove
neither way nor both one ancient hart yields
to more compassion loving more passion
then unbroken harts dreaming are neither mine
nor yours nor both but one hart of harts divine
transfiguration blessing transgression
my pole star your siren reflects your darkest dreams
come sweetness danse upon a flood of bitter tears
one hart transfigures silver seas into golden streams
such trusting flows beyond truer hopes falser fears
my brighter beloved so my other self
so in such glory our love a blissful river
baptizing stony harts wherein rich goodness lies
one hart gains by such pains wherein shakti dansing dies
light reveals dark love is nothing if not forever
mark emmanuel christopher valentine
(© 13 november 2012 dafreewhitewolfe.wordpress.com)
Antoine de Chandieu (1534-1591)
Qu’as tu ? pauvre amoureux…
Qu’as tu ? pauvre amoureux, dont l’âme demi morte
Soupire des sanglots au vent qui les emporte.
N’accuse rien de toi.
Ton mal est ton désir,
Et ce dont tu te plains, est ton propre plaisir.
Tu n’as autre repos que ce qui te tourmente,
Et t’éjouis au mal dont tu vas soupirant,
Buvant ce doux-amer qui t’enivre et qui rend
Ton plaisir douloureux et ta douleur plaisante.
what do you have? poor lovers…
what do you have? poor lovers, whose souls are half dead
sighing such sobs as the wind carries away
i blame you for nothing
your evil is your desire
and your desire gives both pain and pleasure
you have no other rest than this which torments you
and your joy in the pain that gives you sighs
drinking on such bitter-sweetness makes you drunk
and your pleasure bitter and your sorrow sweet
(translation mecvalentine 11 november 2012)
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WOW just what I was searching for. Came here by searching for site
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Objects and subject. Objects is known by the subject. The core is the subject, the knower, the observer, the watcher or the Self. The subject can never know it self as an object, but to know an object there must be a subject, the knower. It is self evident. It is like seeing your own eyes with your own eyes, you can see the reflection of your own eyes in the mirror, but never your real eyes. The first object is nothingness, the inner sky, the mirror of the soul, it provides the purest reflection of the Self, have a deep look at the reflection of your Self there…
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https://o-meditation.com/2011/02/01/beware-of-the-blank-state-jean-klein/
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Objects and Subject are born of ignorance. There is no knower or known. Only knowing.
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Hi, I have been looking for a pdf/text or any other format of the complete book “Beyond Knowledge” from Jean Klein. Could you kindly forward it to my e-mail if you happen to have it with you, Please? Thank you!
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Sorry Jaya. I do not have a PDF of Jean’s book Beyond Knowledge. I do not know where you are located but in the US it is available from Amazon.
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