Krishnamurti

About the Book

Jiddu Krishnamurti was a leading twentieth century mystic and teacher. From his early private and public appearances under the aegis of the international Theosophical Society (TS) to his breakaway in 1929, and under his own organization to the time of his death in 1986 he traveled the world lecturing, writing and engaging in dialogues, teaching choiceless awareness as the necessary requisite for inner peace and the flowering of brotherly love. Thousands attended his talks or watched them on television in India, England, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United States.

His father was a government employee, living with his family near the estate of the TS in Adyar, a suburb of Chennai (formerly Madras) India. After he retired, being quite poor and with several children he applied for and accepted work at the TS, moving his family there in 1909. Two sons, J. Krishnamurti and the younger Nityananda, often walked along the Adyar River adjoining the TS compound. There they were noticed by the clairvoyant, Mr. C.W. Leadbeater, as having special spiritual qualities. So exceptional they were that he brought them to the attention of Annie Besant, the President of the TS. Krishnamurti’s father agreed to Mrs. Besant adopting the two lads to give them better living conditions and education than they would otherwise have. Krishnamurti was then fourteen years old.

It was also determined that Krishna, as he was familiarly called, was to be the vehicle of the expected Coming of a new World Teacher, much the same as Jesus was the vehicle of the Lord Christ. Leadbeater was principally responsible for the boys’ education with the assistance of several others as tutors. Since Leadbeater was able to consciously experience the astral plane life and could remember his out-of-body activities, he was in frequent contact with his own Master and other members of the Occult Brotherhood who were the inner founders of the TS. Under those circumstances he presented the young Krishna to the Master, and in 1910 Krishnamurti took his first Initiation.

A few years previous Leadbeater had been involved in a scandal alleging that he taught unnatural sex practices to young boys entrusted to his care. Although he was acquitted of any wrongdoing, when the boys’ father found that Krishna and Nitya would be under Leadbeater’s care, the father wanted to get his boys back.

It was then decided to send Krishna and Nitya to England where they would be introduced to English society and also to begin inquiries about attending Oxford University. On this trip, beginning April 1911, they were accompanied by Mrs. Besant, George Arundale, a young Cambridge graduate, his friend, C. Jinarajadasa, also a Cambridge graduate, and several of the boys’ other tutors. George wrote to Leadbeater regularly giving him details of their activities. At one of the theosophical gatherings, Krishna met Lady Emily Lutyens and her children, possibly including three-year old Mary, who later wrote the extraordinary biographies of Krishnamurti...

About the Author

Joseph E. Ross, a native California, was educated at St. Joseph’s Catholic School, Akron, Iowa. Returning to California in 1962, he attended San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton. An interest in theosophy brought him to the Krotona Institute of Theosophy, Ojai, where he resided from 1968 to 1972. Widening his interest, he began collecting letters, articles and photographs of theosophical leaders to document its history. In the decade of the 1980s, Ross began writing articles for theosophical journals. During 1978-86, he traveled several months a year with renowned dancer, Srimati Rukmini Devi, as her secretary, visiting educational centers around the world. In 1989, he founded El Montecito Oaks Press, Inc. to publish his first book, Krotona of Old Hollywood, Volume I, 1866-1913. Volumes II, III and IV are in preparation. More recently, a series of columns, “A View from Krotona,” appeared in the Ojai Valley News, May to July 2000.