Sunday, August 12, 2007

JIDDU KRISHNAMURTI

Jiddu Krishnamurti or J. Krishnamurti, (May 12, 1895–February 17, 1986) was a well-known writer and speaker on fundamental philosophical and spiritual subjects, such as the purpose of meditation, human relationships, and how to enact positive change in global society. After publically renouncing, at the age of 34, the fame and messiah status he had gained from being proclaimed the new incarnation of the Maitreya Buddha by the Theosophical Society, he spent the rest of his life publishing regularly and holding public talks, mostly in India, Europe and the United States. At age 90 he addressed the United Nations on the subject of peace and awareness, and was awarded the 1984 UN Peace Medal.

Krishnamurti was born into a Telugu Brahmin family in Madanapalle, India, and in 1909 met C.W. Leadbeater on the private beach at the Theosophical Society headquarters at Adyar in Madras (now Chennai), India. He was subsequently raised under the tutelage of Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater, leaders of the Society at the time, who believed him to be a "vehicle" for an expected "World Teacher". As a young man, he disavowed this idea and dissolved a world-wide organization (the Order of the Star) established to support it. He spent the rest of his life traveling the world as an individual speaker, speaking to large and small groups, as well as with interested individuals. He authored a number of books, among them The First and Last Freedom, The Only Revolution, and Krishnamurti's Notebook. In addition, a large collection of his talks and discussions have been published. His last public talk was in Madras, India, in January 1986, a month before his death at home in Ojai, California.

His supporters, working through several non-profit foundations, oversee a number of independent schools centered on his views on education – in India, England and the United States – and continue to transcribe and distribute many of his thousands of talks, group and individual discussions, and other writings, publishing them in a variety of formats including print, audio, video and digital formats as well as online, in many languages.

Family background and childhood

Jiddu Krishnamurti came from a family of Telugu-speaking Brahmins. His father, Jiddu Narianiah, was employed as an official of the then colonial British administration. His parents were second cousins, having a total of eleven children, only six of whom survived childhood. They were strict vegetarians, even shunning eggs, and throwing away any food that the "shadow of an Englishman crossed"[1]

He was born on May 12, 1895 (May 11 according to the Brahminical calendar), in the small town of Madanapalle in Chittoor District in Andhra Pradesh about 150 miles (250 km) north of Madras (now Chennai).[2]

In 1903, the family settled in Cudappah where Krishnamurti in a previous stay had contracted malaria, a disease with which he would suffer recurrent bouts over many years. He was a sensitive and sickly child; "vague and dreamy" , he was often taken to be mentally retarded, and was beaten regularly at school by his teachers and at home by his father.[3] In memoirs he wrote when he was eighteen he also describes "psychic" experiences, having "seen" his sister after her death in 1904, as well as his mother who had died in 1905 when he was ten.[4][5]

Krishnamurti's father Narianiah retired at the end of 1907, and, being of limited means, wrote to Annie Besant, then president of the Theosophical Society, seeking employment at the 260-acre Theosophical headquarters estate at Adyar. (Even though an observant orthodox Brahmin, Narianiah had been a member of the Theosophical Society since 1882[6]). He was eventually hired by the Society in a clerical position, and his family moved there in January, 1909.[7]

The "discovery" and its consequences

It was a few months after the last move that Krishnamurti was encountered by prominent occultist and high-ranking theosophist C.W. Leadbeater, who claimed clairvoyance. During his forays to the Theosophical estate's beach at the adjuting Adyar river, Leadbeater had noticed Krishnamurti (who also frequented the beach with others), and was amazed by the "most wonderful aura he had ever seen, without a particle of selfishness in it".[8][9] This strong impression was notwithstanding Krishnamurti's outward appearance, which, according to eyewitnesses, was pretty common, unimpressive, and unkempt. The boy was also considered "particularly dim-witted"; he often had "a vacant expression" that "gave him an almost moronic look". Leadbeater remained "unshaken" that the boy would become a great teacher.[10]

Pupul Jayakar, in her biography of Krishnamurti[11], quotes him speaking of that period in his life some 75 years later: "The boy had always said, 'I will do whatever you want'. There was an element of subservience, obedience. The boy was vague, uncertain, wooly; he didn't seem to care what was happening. He was like a vessel, with a large hole in it, whatever was put in, went through, nothing remained."[12]

Writing about his childhood in his journal, Krishnamurti wrote: “No thought entered his mind. He was watching and listening and nothing else. Thought with its associations never arose. There was no image-making. He often attempted to think but no thought would come.” [13]

Following the "discovery", Krishnamurti was taken under the wing of the leadership of the Theosophical Society in Adyar and their inner circle. Leadbeater and a small number of trusted associates were tasked into educating, protecting, and in general preparing Krishnamurti as the "vehicle" of the expected "World Teacher".[14]

Subsequently in 1911, a new organization called the Order of the Star was established by the Theosophical leadership in order to prepare the world for the aforementioned "coming". Krishnamurti was named as its head, with senior Theosophists in various positions. Membership was open to anybody who accepted the doctrine of the coming of the "World Teacher".[15][16] Controversy erupted soon after, both within the Theosophical Society and without, in Hindu circles and the Indian press.[17][18][19]

Krishnamurti (or Krishnaji as he was often called[20]) and his younger brother Nitya were privately tutored at the Theosophical compound in Madras, and later taken to a comparatively opulent life among a segment of European high society in order to finish their education. During all this time, Krishnamurti developed a strong bond with Annie Besant, a surrogate mother-son relationship. His father, pushed into the background by the swirl of interest around Krishnamurti, sued the Theosophical Society in 1912 to protect his parental interests. After a protracted legal battle, Besant took legal custody of Krishnamurti and his brother Nitya.[21][22] As a result of this separation from his family and home, Krishnamurti and his brother became extremely close, and in the following years they often travelled together.

Education

Krishnamurti founded several schools around the world. When asked, he enumerated the following as his educational aims:[74]

1. Global outlook: A vision of the whole as distinct from the part, and that it should never be a sectarian outlook but always a holistic outlook free from all prejudice.

2. Concern for man and the environment: Man was part of nature, and if nature was not cared for, it would boomerang on man. He said that only right education and deep affection between people was needed everywhere to resolve many human problems.

3. Religious spirit, which includes the scientific temper: The religious mind is alone, not lonely. It is in communion with people and nature.

The Collected Works of J. Krishnamurti

  • Volume I (1933-1934): The Art of Listening, 1991, Krishnamurti Foundation of America, ISBN 0-8403-6341-9
  • Volume II (1934-1935): What Is the Right Action?, editor Edward Weston, 1991, Krishnamurti Publications of America, ISBN 1-888004-32-0
  • Volume 3 (1936-1944): The Mirror of Relationship, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, ISBN 0-8403-6236-6
  • Volume 4 (1945-1948): The Observer Is the Observed, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing, ISBN 0-8403-6237-4
  • Volume 5 (1948-1949): Choiceless Awareness, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing, ISBN 0-8403-6238-2
  • Volume 6 (1949-1952): The Origin of Conflict, Kendall/Hunt Publishing, ISBN 0-8403-6262-5
  • Volume 7 (1952-1953): Tradition and Creativity, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing, ISBN 0-8403-6257-9
  • Volume 8 (1953-1955): What Are You Seeking?, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing, ISBN 0-8403-6266-8
  • Volume 9 (1955-1956): The Answer is in the Problem, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing, ISBN 0-8403-6260-9
  • Volume 10 (1956-1957): A Light to Yourself, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing, ISBN 0-8403-6268-4
  • Volume 11 (1958-1960): Crisis in Consciousness, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing, ISBN 0-8403-6272-2
  • Volume 12 (1961): There is No Thinker, Only Thought, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing, ISBN 0-8403-6286-2
  • Volume 13 (1962-1963): A Psychological Revolution, 1992, Kendall/Hunt Publishing, ISBN 0-8403-6287-0
  • Volume 14 (1963-1964): The New Mind, 1992, Kendall/Hunt Publishing, ISBN 0-8403-6288-9
  • Volume 15 (1964-1965): The Dignity of Living, 1992, Krishnamurti Foundation of America, ISBN 0-8403-6282-X
  • Volume 16 (1965-1966): The Beauty of Death, 1992, Kendall/Hunt Publishing, ISBN 0-8403-6307-9
  • Volume 17 (1966-1967): Perennial Questions, 1992, Kendall/Hunt Publishing, ISBN 0-8403-6314-1

Bibliographies

  • A bibliography of the life and teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti - Susunaga Weeraperuma, Brill, 1974.
  • Supplement to A bibliography of the life and teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti - Susunaga Weeraperuma, Bombay, Chetana, 1982: ISBN 0-8618-6717-3

Foundations

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