Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986) whose life and teachings spanned the greater part of the 20th Century, is regarded by many as one who had a profound impact on human consciousness. Breaking away from organized religion, he spelt out his mission: to set humankind absolutely and unconditionally free from the destructive limitations of conditioned mind.
He travelled around the world till the age of 90 giving talks, writing, holding discussions. He talked of the things that concern all of us in our everyday life; the problems of living in modern society, the individual’s search for security, and the need for human beings to free themselves from their inner burden of violence, fear and sorrow.
He had no permanent home, but when not traveling, he often stayed in Ojai, California, Brockwood Park, England, and in Chennai, India.
In his talks, he pointed out to people the need to transform themselves through self knowledge, by being aware of the subtleties of their thoughts and feelings in daily life, and how this movement can be observed through the mirror of relationship.
Born on 11th May 1895 as the eighth child of a pious couple in the small town of Madanapalle in Andhra Pradesh, Krishnamurti was adopted at the age of 14 by Annie Besant, the President of the Theosophical Society, and was brought up and groomed to be the World Teacher. In 1929, however, he renounced that role and dissolved The Order of the Star, a large world-wide organization that had been built up around him as World Teacher. His action was the culmination of the deep spiritual awakening undergone by him and his insight that religious organizations cannot lead human beings to truth.
He said: “Truth Is A Pathless Land: man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, nor through any philosophic knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection.”
For the rest of his life, Krishnamurti taught not as an authority but as one exploring life’s fundamental issues through questioning all assumptions and inviting his listeners to do the same. He stressed the importance of ‘thinking together’ and ‘dialogue’ in the exploration of life’s fundamental issues.
The body of Krishnamurti’s work is enormous; 60 years of more or less uninterrupted appearances around the world. He entrusted to the Krishnamurti Foundations the task of making available to humanity around the world his un-interpreted, authentic body of work. His talks and dialogues have been compiled and published in many books and translated into many different languages.
The role of the Foundations was described by Krishnamurti himself as follows:
“The Foundations will see to it that these teachings are kept whole, are not distorted, are not made corrupt. They will not give rise to any sectarian spirit in their activities… nor create any kind of place of worship around the teachings or the person.”