JidduKrishnamurtiBiographyJiddu Krishnamurti was a famous public speaker, mystic,author, philosopher and spiritual leader. This biographyprovides detailed information about his childhood, life, works,activitiesandtimeline.

QuickFactsFamousas PublicSpeaker&PhilosopherNationality IndianBornon 12May1895ADZodiacSign TaurusBornin MadanapalleDiedon 17February1986ADPlaceofdeath OjaiFather JidduNarayaniahMother SanjeevammaSiblings NityanandaEducation MadanapalleHighSchool,SorbonneFounder/Co-Founder KrishnamurtiFoundation

Jiddu Krishnamurti was one of the paramount spiritual leadersof the 20th century. When he was just a little boy, he waspronounced as the teacher who would deliver the world. Thisdeclaration was made by Dr. Annie Besant, the-then presidentof the Theosophical Society. To prepare the world for hiswisdoms, an organization called Order of the Star in the Eastwas formed and young Krishnamurti was placed as theorganizationshead.Despiteenduring twodecadesof laborioustraining for the role, he rejected the title and set out on hispsychic expedition. For nearly 60 years after setting out on hisquest, he travelled the world, giving discourses to largeaudiences and to individuals about the need for a fundamentalalteration in the world. He did not develop any attitude orreligion,but ratherdiscoursedabout theapprehensionsofdailylife and the necessity for mankind to free itself from theencumbrances of fear, anxiety, sorrow, jealousy and anger.Hewas not a part of any religious group and desired to bediplomatic with his choice of words and even his teachings. Atthe time of his death, he left behind a great legacy; one thatentailed all his teachings, discourses and literature in the formofrecordedtalks,interviews,lettersandpublications.

Childhood&Early LifeJiddu Krishnamurti was born to a Telugu-speaking HinduBrahmin family in the town of Madanapalle, MadrasPresidency(nowlocatedinAndhraPradesh).Hehailedfromaspiritualfamilyandhadtensiblings.Onlysixofhissiblingshowever,survivedchildhood.

In1903,thefamilymovedtoCudappahandresidedthere.He suffered from a number of illnesses as a young boyandwasoftenconsidered mentally unstable.Asa result,he was not a favorite with his teachers and would berepeatedlybeatenbythemandhisfatherathome.Hismother died when he was just 10 years old, followedbyhissister,which lefthimdisturbedforavery longtime.Itwasduring theseperiodsof turmoil thathe foundpeacewithnature.He came to face-to-face with a soothsayer, CharlesWebster Leadbeater, in 1909, who was astonished byKrishnamurtis aura and proclaimed that one day; hewould becomea World Teacher to guide the evolution ofhumankind.He was later taken under Leadbeater s wing and waseducated at the Theosophical Society at Adyar, latercontinuing his education abroad. It was during this time,hedevelopeda strongbondwithDr.AnnieBesant,whomheviewedasamotherlyfigure.

LaterYearsIn 1911, the Theosophical Society established the Orderof theStar in theEast,organizing theworld for theirnewhead and teacher, in the form of Krishnamurti. He wastaken to London the same year, where he delivered hisfirstpublicsermonandalsopublishedhisfirstwritings.From1911 to1914,Krishnamurtiandhisbrothervisitedanumber of European countries, escorted by Theosophistfollowers.After World War I ended, he went on a tour around theworld, where he delivered a series of sermons regardinghisdutiesastheHeadofOSE.In1922,hetraveledalongwith his brother to California, where the duo resided inOjai Valley. It was here, he was introduced to one of hisgreatestinfluences,RosalindWilliams.In 1922, hewent throughwhat he described as the most

intense spiritual awakening and even experiencedmysticalunion.After thesuddendeathofhisbrotherdue to tuberculosis,Krishnamurtis belief in Theosophy spiraled downwards.Over the next few years, his life reached a new directionin 1929, which led to the ensuing dissolution of theorganization. Following his decision of splitting from theorganization,alotofhisfollowersbegantoresenthim.From 1930 to 1944, he went on a number of world toursandengagedinseveraldiscourses.Healsobeganissuinga number of publications under the backings of StarPublishing Trust, which he founded with close friend,Desikacharya Rajagopal. During this time, he alsobefriendedAldousHuxley.Afterabrief lull frompublicspeaking,hegaveaseriesoftalks in Ojai in 1944. These talks were subsequentlycollated and published by KrishnamurtiWritings Inc, thesuccessororganizationofStarPublishingTrust.Hestartedaspeaking tour in India in theautumnof1947and managed to attract a horde of young intellectuals tohisdiscourses.In the 1960s, he became close to David Bohm, whosesystematic and metaphysical concerns regarding thecorporalworldfoundcloseequivalentswithKrishnamurtisviews.From 1984 to 1985, he addressed an audience at theUnitedNations,inNewYork.He visited India for the last time before 1986, where hegavehisfinaltalkinMadras(nowChennai).

MajorWorksTheFirstandLastFreedom,writtenbyKrishnamurti,waspublished in 1954. This was the second of his bookspublished by a typical marketable publisher. The bookbecame extremely popular for its themes of belief,desire, simplicity and awarenessandwent on to spawn

36editions,in9differentlanguagesandishousedinover1,566librariesaroundtheworld.Krishnamurtis Notebook, published in 1976, is apublication about states of consciousness and is a part-autobiography. The work was expanded in 2003 after afew more pages of Krishnamurtis diary were found. Thisbook also became popular and produced two othereditions; Krishnamurtis Journal and Krishnamurti toHimself.

PersonalLife &LegacyIn 1921, he fell in love with Helen Knothe, an American.However, the relationship never progressed and thecoupledriftedapart.He later fell in love with RosalindWilliams, who was theco-founderofHappyValleySchoolalongwithhim(apieceofinformationthatwasnotdisclosedforaverylongtime).However,theduocouldnotbetogetherandsheendedupmarryinghisbest-friend,Rajagopal.He suffered from pancreatic cancer and passed away,aged 90. His body was cremated and his ashes werescattered in three countries where he held utmostinfluence; India, England and the United States ofAmerica.During his lifetime, he founded a number of schoolsaround the world, including Brockwood Park School,Happy Valley School and the Krishnamurti Foundation.Today, the Krishnamurti Foundation runs a number ofschoolsinIndiaandoverseas.His works and teachings have gone on to influenceconventional religious establishments in India. Followinghis death, many books, audio clips, video and computermaterialsonhimhavebeenpublishedand/orreleased.Hissupporterscontinuetoworkinnon-profitorganizationsand foundations run under his name and continue totransliterate and distribute his talks and teachings from

theirarchives.Triv ia

This popular Indian speaker and writer of philosophicalandspiritualworks isbelieved tohavebeenaconceptualinfluenceoverBruceLee.