Jiddu Krishnamurti biography

As early as 1889 Helena Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, had told certain of her students that the purpose of Theosophy was to prepare humanity for the coming of the Lord Maitreya, the World Teacher for the Aquarian Age. After Blavatsky's death, Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater considered it their task to carry on this work, part of which was the preparation of a disciple who would serve as a vehicle for the Teacher when He came.

In 1909 at Adyar, India, Leadbeater discovered a boy, who had been born into an high-caste brahmin family, whose aura he judged to be completely free of selfishness. Annie Besant also met this boy and proclaimed him an incarnation of Maitreya, the messianic Buddha.

This boy was Jiddu Krishnamurti, who was then 13 years old. Adopted by Besant and Leadbeater, he received intensive training, then 10 years of schooling in England. People in many countries were informed of his future role. At the age of 27, Krishnamurti had a personal vision which convinced him that the consciousness of Maitreya was beginning to overshadow him. Theosophists throughout the world had been waiting for this development. Annie Besant traveled (1926-27) in England and the United States with her protégé Jiddu Krishnamurti, whom she announced as the new Messiah.
In 1929, following this two-year tour Krishnamurti himself rejected these claims that he was to be regarded as a World Teacher, and dissolved the World Order of the Star, a religious organization he had founded in 1911. At this point it numbered 60,000 members, managed huge sums of money, and owned tracts of land throughout the world, many designated for Krishnamurti's future work. He was then 34 years old.
Krishnamurti also renounced his association with the Theosophical Society, declaring: "I do not want followers. My only concern is to set men absolutely, unconditionally free." He spent the rest of his years teaching humanity how to achieve that freedom.

He retained some connection with the theosophical movement, however, and continued an active career of lecturing and writing. He finally settled in Ojai, Calif., where from 1969 he headed the Krishnamurti Foundation. His writings include Commentaries on Living (1956-60), Freedom from the Known (1969), The First and Last Freedom (1975), Life in Freedom (1986), and Think on These Things (1989).