1. Brief Profile of Jiddu Krishnamurti

Jiddu Krishnamurti (from now it would be written as only Krishnamurti) was born in a Telugu Brahmin family on 12^th May, 1895 (in some sources it is 11^th May), at a village called Madanapalli, in Chittoor district bordering the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in South India. He was the eight among eleven children of Jiddu Narayanaiah and Sanjeevamma. When he was just ten years of age his mother passed away and the family shifted to Adyar, Madras, now Chennai, where his father joined as an employee of the Theosophical Society, after his retirement from government service.

The next day after his birth, one of the notable astrologers of that area, namely, Kumara Shrowthulu had made his prediction about the great future for the new born Krishnamurti. In this connection it could be highlighted that well before Krishnamurti was born, his mother had an intuition that her eighth child would be an exceptional being. In fact, Krishnamurti was born in a ‘Puja Room,’^[1] contradicting Indian tradition. This preferential treatment at times has been considered a symbol for his life which has always been shaped by the exception and Krishnamurti has always had people around him who were looking after him constantly.

He was not a brilliant student at school and was neither a very healthy child. He was often punished by the school teacher for remaining absent from class on account of illness and for lagging behind in studies. Kalidas Joshi (2005) stated about the behaviour of Krishnamurti and said that his peculiar pastime would be staring far away into space with half-open mouth and blank eyes. This has been considered as indicator that Krishnamurti started thinking and pondering the world around him right from childhood. Annie Besant, the then President of the Theosophical Society and her intimate friend Charles Webster Leadbeater played a major role in shaping the life of Krishnamurti. In the year 1909, he was discovered by Leadbeater while playing with his younger brother Nityananda on the banks of the Adyar River. Leadbeater felt that Krishnamurti would be the vehicle in whose body the next world teacher of Theosophy would manifest for the liberation of humanity.

The Theosophical Society was formed in 1874 in America, for preparing humanity to receive the world teacher. The two brothers were adopted by Annie Besant. They were taken to England for training so as to prepare them to carry out the divine mission of the world teacher. For nearly twenty years, that is, from 1909 to 1929, the preparation of Krishnamurti to play the role of world teacher continued. Unexpectedly, his brother Nityananda who had to play an important side role died of tuberculosis in 1925. This had been an unbearable shock for him, who was otherwise very much attached to his younger brother. His mind shattered completely and his life was in total dismay. This ultimately resulted in a revolt against the whole ideas of Theosophy. Accordingly, he detached the relationship with Theosophy and followed his own separate path for the next fifty seven years. He gave speech and talks with people in order to set man absolutely and unconditionally free. His collection of talks had been prepared and compiled in a number of books. He died of pancreas cancer at the age of 91 years on 18^th February, 1986, at Ojai, California, USA.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Puja room meaning prayer room is an intrinsic part of every Hindu household. It is a religiously pure room where a lamp is lit and the Lord worshipped each day. Special worship is done on auspicious occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, festivals and the like. Each member of the family -young or old -communes with and worships the Divine.