Jiddu Krishnamurti
The Messiah that was not to be.
Early Life
…he had been born in 1895:Jiddu Krishnamurti, the eighth-born son of a high-caste Shaivite Brahmin, Telegu-speaking family, in the town of Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh, South India. Lord Krishna, according to legend, had been the eighth-born son. Traditionally in India the eighth-born son is called Krishna.
Krishna was born into and grew up in an environment not generally sceptical of the occult or mystical. His Hindu family and his later Theosophical 'family' were alike in this.
In 1905, when Krishna was ten, his mother died and what had been a difficult existence now became a grim one. The little boys were left in the care of an already overworked father.
When Narayaniah [his father] retired in 1907, his pension could barely support the four boys still under his roof. He attempted to get a post in any capacity at Adyar in exchange for food and lodging. Mrs Besant was averse to having the distraction of children on the compound and turned down the request. But this did not discourage Narayaniah, who persisted with his appeals and was finally given work, but not living quarters, in the compound. He had to settle his family in a shabby little cottage outside the gates. The three-mile walk across the river to school in the Madras suburb of Mylapore and the insanitary conditions of their house were not much of an improvement for the little boys. Nevertheless, the proximity to the Theosophical oasis was to bring about a major change.
Besides nurturing Krishna's astralbody Leadbeater had the even more difficult task of nurturing his physical body and mind, both of which appeared to be below normal development for his age. This in no way deterred Leadbeater, who would continue for a few more years to be convinced that he had chosen correctly. He had soon convinced Mrs Besant too. Both Krishna and Nitya were removed from their father's house, and from the school where Krishna had continued to receive crueltreatment. In fact, they were removed altogether from their family circle, never to return.
From Poor Student to Scholar
From his earliest years, according to his own accounts, Krishna was vague to the point of appearing moronic. I grew up on his stories of being beaten at school for inattentiveness and for failing to learn his lessons. At home, too, he had difficulty in performing the simplest task correctly.
Krinsh suffered more than most children in school, for he could not learn or concentrate. When he failed to answer the questions, he was sent out on the porch, where hewould often stand forgotten for the rest of the day.
Theosophical scholar, Ernest Wood, who had been helping Krishna with his homework, found him particularly dimwitted. Early descriptions of Krishna and even his own later descriptions of himself evoke a scrawny, dirty, cough-racked, lice-ridden, crooked-toothed boy with rickety legs.
For a child who, initially, had been considered by some retarded, Krishna began to make remarkable progress in those first months at Adyar. He would retain his difficulty in learning, at least in certain subjects, but he exhibited no difficulty then or in later life in learning what he wanted to learn.
Chance Meeting With Charles Leadbeater
It had become a habit for Krishna and his younger brother Nitya, from whom he was inseparable, to stop at the beach on their way home from school in the hot summer evenings. Here they would shyly watch a group of young Theosophists cavorting in the waves.
One day Leadbeater happened to notice Krishna. He later said that he had been struck by the unusually pure and generous nature of the boy, as revealed in his aura. Leadbeater concluded from this initial impression, that Krishna might prove to be the vehicle that he believed the Masters were directing him to find. Before long he stated he had been instructed by the Master Kuthumi to train this boy. There were those around Adyar who found this choice very surprising.
Leadbeater’s Pupil
For five months, while his body was left comfortably in bed, Krishna was supposed to be making nightly astral journeys to the Master Kuthumi's house in the Himalayas for instruction. He would spend the following mornings, back at Adyar, painstakingly recording these meetings in notes that would become his first book. At the Feet of the Master. Several Theosophists later vouched that Krishna had written these notes in his own words and that only the spelling and punctuation had been corrected. Given the probable level of the boy's progress in English, it seems likely that this was a slight exaggeration. Ernest Wood, who had already expressed surprise at Leadbeater's choice of candidate, noticed that the book was in Leadbeater's style and even had some sentences remarkably similar to those in one of Leadbeater's own books about to go to press.
Time In England
Among the group of important Theosophists inLondon was an American who would play a vital fmancial role in both Krishna's and my parents' future. She was Mary Dodge, the heiress of the Phelps Dodge copper fortune.
She shared her home, Westside House on Wimbledon Common, with a fellow Theosophist, Lady De La Warr. Mrs Besant was always welcome there along with her wards. Miss Dodge even offered Krishna a house on Hampstead Heath. She also settled on him £500 a year for life. This generosity toward a young Indian boy she scarcely knew is a mark of not uncommon Theosophical faith in their leaders. Krishna had not yet attained the magnetic force that he soon would display. But those who knew Mrs Besant trusted her absolutely. If she said she believed Krishna was to be the vehicle for the world teacher, they did not question herjudgment and did all in their power to assist her.
Mrs Besant had asked George Arundale, the head of Central Hindu College, which she had founded, to come to England expressly to tutor Krishna and Nitya. She had also asked Jinarajadasa, now an important member of the Theosophical Society to join them. Being loyal Theosophists, these two men did not hesitate to give up work that greatly interested them for this new task - a task not made easier by Leadbeater's assertion that while they were both Krishna's teachers, the Master Kuthumi had revealed that they were also his disciples.
Two Sides to Krishnamurti
The two images of Krinsh - the publicand the private - were engraved in my earliest memory. It did not puzzle or concern me as a child that our private Krinsh was so different from the one who appeared when strangers came to the house. Our Krinsh, whose hair I pulled as a baby, whose lap I sat on, who kissed my bruised knees and braided my hair, who picked me up when I was afraid, who kissed my mother's hand when he greeted her in the morning, who scolded her when she was careless, or allowed her to scold him when he was difficult - this Krinsh never appeared before strangers. The moment Krinsh walked into a room of new visitors or not very intimate friends, both he and they changed perceptibly, especially if they were devotees. The very way he tried to melt into the room, as though he wished no one would notice him, drew immediate attention.
From Messiah To World Teacher
At age eight, Krishnamurti, a frail and dreamy child, lice-ridden and open-mouthed, was discovered on a beach in South India and proclaimed by leaders of the Theosophical Society to be the next World Teacher. With exacting expectations, the Theosophists initiated the “coming messiah” into the spirit worlds with which they claimed to have direct contact. In addition, they introduced him to the mannered informalities of international society. But at the age of twenty-nine, Krishnamurti rebelled.
Refusing the role of the chosen one, he claimed that truth could not be approached by way of a teacher and that enlightenment rendered all belief systems equally and inherently useless. Helping others find their way in a pathless land became Krishnamurti’s avowed mission for the next seven decades.
Custody Battle
In 1912, the boys' father, Narayaniah, took action to have his sons returned to his custody. Whether he was genuinely disturbed by the rumours about Leadbeater and wanted them removed from his influence, or whether he felt the original promise offurthering the boys' education and opportunities had taken an undesirable turn, was never quite clear.
However, while the casewas being fought in Madras, Krishna and Nitya were safely sequestered in the idyllic town of Taormina on the island of Sicily, well out of their father's grasp should the verdict fall in his favour.
In spite of her brilliant defence arguments Mrs Besant lost the first rounds in the Indian courts. But she won her appeal to the Privy Council in London. This gave her the control she needed over her wards to ensure Krishna the future she believed to be his destiny. She was even awarded the court costs, but charitably declined to collect from the defeated Narayaniah. Krishna was exultant and congratulated her on this victory that would ensure his 'marvellous future'.
His Role In Advancing Eastern Mysticism
Jiddu Krishnamurti mistrusted all religions and denounced the Eastern convention of deifying living spiritual masters. But by the time he died in Ojai, California, in 1986 at the age of 91, he had helped—perhaps more than anyone in this century—to introduce Eastern teachings on the nature of mind to the West.
Teaching Style
That’s part of the story. When Krishna was at his best, in my opinion, he did not want followers. He warned people, “Do not follow an authority. Do not follow me.”
-Radha Rajagopal Sloss
This was the dichotomy in him. I once heard a Tibetan rinpoche talk about how careful a teacher has to be in taking on students. Once you took on a student you were totally responsible and committed for life to that student. Even if the student walks away from the teacher, the teacher is still committed.
To my knowledge, Krishna never established that sort of relationship with anyone. He was more like a stock advisor. “These are good stocks. They may go down, but I think they are good. Buy at your own risk.” He never wanted responsibility. He took responsibility for no one and for nothing. That sets him apart from other teachers, but it does not absolve him from the problem of lying and hypocrisy.
-Radha Rajagopal Sloss
Transformation
You know he grew up in India, where there were wonderful sages who lived very simple lives and did not need fancy clothes, first-class airfares, cars, and all that. At some point, Krishna did want that. He was not willing to give that up. Therefore, he couldn’t turn away followers. Or supporters. He had to have people with lots of money to support him, his travels, his entourage, his schools. And those people needed to believe deeply in his image.
-Radha Rajagopal Sloss