East Indian teacher and religious leader, a philosopher and metaphysician from his youth. Krishnamurti obtained world recognition as a spiritual teacher and lectured to groups as diverse as the U.N. delegates, diplomats, scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory and to people all over the world. Breaking with the Theosophical Society in 1929, Krishnamurti preached a doctrine of independent salvation by right conduct; indeed, tradition and doctrine might be positive barriers to personal progress, for each person must find his own path and his own link with the infinite. Krishna’s headquarters remained in Ojai, California but he opened teaching centers in India, England, Ojai and Switzerland. He wrote many works sharing his ideas with those who wished to listen.
Krishnamurti’s father was an ardent follower of the Theosophical Society, a religious organization presided over by Annie Besant. The society was a mixture of Buddhism and Indian Brahmanism traditions. While still a boy, Krishn was singled out as the new Avatar by the Theosophical Society. The legend states that in February 1909, Charles Leadbeater was at the seaside when he saw two Indian boys paddling in the shallows. Leadbeater was so taken with one of the boys that he declared his aura to indicate that he was the awaited Lord Matreya.
Besant legally adopted him and raised him as her own son. With his younger brother Nityananda, Krishnamurti traveled all over the world, especially throughout Europe meeting important members of the Theosophical Society. News media spotlighted the young savior in his travels. Nonetheless, his time in London was lonely and isolated, cut off from his family with only his brother as a link to his former life in India, in a country where the customs were different and his dark Indian coloring was a subject of racial prejudice. Leadbeater was an autocratic, impatient teacher and Krishna, as the boy was called, a dreamy, inattentive scholar. After 20 years in the Society he confessed that he found it impossible to read any of the theosophical books all the way through, let alone remember the contents. He did, however, accept the obeisance with which he was regarded, being told repeatedly from childhood on that he carried a mission to discharge. Krishna retained his deep affection for Annie always, even after they changed direction philosophically.
In December 1910, he wrote a small book, “At the Feet of the Master,” in which he recounted the teachings of the master Koot Hoomi. It was a stupendous effort for a backward lad of 16 whose English was not that good, a remarkable volume of authenticity and authority. The small book went through 27 printings in a short while and 80 years later, was still in print.
On 1/11/1911, Annie Besant founded the Order of the Star in the East with the 16-year-old Krishnamurti as the official head. Krishna and his brother Nitya lived the life of upper-middle-class Englishmen, going to the theater, riding in the park, playing golf, croquet and tennis and flirting with the girls who found their dark color romantic, and taking lessons. On the down side, Oxford in the early 20th century would not be apt to accept a black foreigner who had not only been proclaimed the Messiah but whose tutor (Leadbeater) had been accused of sodomy by students in India. When Krishna’s application to attend Oxford University was rejected in 1913 and he was denied entrance to London University, private tutors were hired to instruct the young man. In 1921, a wealthy Dutch Theosophist Baron van Pallandt placed his estate in Krishnamurti’s hands.
His brother contacted tuberculosis and Krishnamurti looked for a cure. In 1922, the brothers and Besant arrived in Ojai, CA, believing the warm dry air would help Nityananda. Over the following years, he came more and more to consider Ojai as his home, though he traveled often and extensively throughout his life. After 1931, Ojai was his permanent base camp.
It is written that Krishnamurti experienced a kundalini awakening in August 1922. Three years later, he lost his brother to tuberculosis. It was a difficult time in his life, wrestling with moral dilemmas and his place within the Society. He was on board a ship from London to India when the news of Nitya’s death reached him on 11/14/1925. Shortly after then, on 12/28, Krishna was speaking at the Adyar convention when he referred to the Lord Matreya, not as “he” but as “I,” slipping from the third person to the first, acknowledging his sense of a great destiny.
On 8/02/1929, Krishnamurti rebelled, breaking with the Theosophical Society and publicly renouncing all claims about his quasi-divinity. In front of an audience of 3,000, he announced his belief that “truth is a pathless land,” and rejected study of the occult, acceptance of authority and religious ceremony as ways to spiritual growth. Annie was by now aged and senile and never realized that her dream of cultivating the Matreya had been denied.
He spent the rest of his life writing and giving lectures on his philosophy of self-reliance and awareness. The world media continued to label him as a kind of guru, no matter how much he denied the charge. He felt that people hungered for God figures and were willing to do anything to conjure one up, that truth could only be discovered inside oneself by oneself and that organized religion advocated the fear mentality to remain in control of people.
Krishnamurti captivated others with his personal charm and playful personality. He enjoyed singing comic songs and telling funny stories to his friends. He was an avid reader and enjoyed thrillers and detective novels as well as reading the Old Testament. There were rumors that Krishnamurti had romantic involvements all over the world, another claim which he strongly denied. In his later life, he traveled with his friend and associate, Mary Zimbalist as he stayed four months in India, four months in England and four months in Ojai, California. During WW II, he stayed on his Ojai property. He preferred to stay clear of political discussions and was an ardent anti-Communist.
Post-war, Krishna was speaking to groups of thousands. He lived a lifestyle that was in many ways that of a potentate with glamorous and wealthy companions, international trips, fine tailored clothing and adulation, and on the other hand, tended the garden and did dishes while at home in Ojai. He became a product of his age just as the movie stars with whom he was at ease. In later years, the inevitable gossip and hint of scandal, along with the wealth of his organization, possibly tens of millions, caused some measure of problems and difficulties.
At 12:10 am on Monday 2/17/1986, Krishnamurti died of liver cancer, 90 years old.
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