Family background and childhood

Jiddu Krishnamurti came from a family of Telugu-speaking Brahmins. His father, JidduNarainiah, was employed as an official of the then colonial British Administration. Krishnamurti was very fond of his mother Sanjeevamma, who died when he was ten. His parents were second cousins, having a total of eleven children, only six of whom survived childhood. They were strict vegetarians, shunning eggs, and throwing away any food that the "shadow of a European" had crossed.

He was born on 12 May 1895 in the small town of Madanapalle in Chittoor District in Andhra Pradesh. In accordance with common Hindu practice, as an eighth child who happened to be male, he was named after the Hindu deity Krishna.

In 1903 the family settled in Cudappah, where Krishnamurti during a previous stay had contracted malaria, a disease with which he would suffer recurrent bouts over many years. He was a sensitive and sickly child; "vague and dreamy", he was often taken to be mentally retarded, and was beaten regularly at school by his teachers and at home by his father. Several decades later Krishnamurti referred to his state of mind during childhood: "Ever since he was a boy it had been like that, no thought entered his mind. He was watching and listening and nothing else. Thought with its associations never arose. There was no image-making ... He attempted often to think but no thought would come." Writing about his childhood and early adolescence in memoirs he composed when he was eighteen years old, Krishnamurti described psychic experiences such as "seeing" his sister, who had died in 1904, and also his mother, who had died in 1905. Elsewhere he mentions another aspect of his childhood - a bond and closeness with nature - that apparently persisted throughout his life: "He always had this strange lack of distance between himself and the trees, rivers and mountains. It wasn't cultivated."

Krishnamurti's father Narainiah retired at the end of 1907, and being of limited means wrote to Annie Besant, then President of the Theosophical Society, seeking employment at its headquarters estate at Adyar. The Society, a quasi-mystical organization founded 1875 in New York City, had attracted international media and public interest and was then influential in Indian society; in addition to being an observant orthodox Brahmin, Narainiah had been a Theosophist since 1882. He was eventually hired by the Society as a clerk, and he and four sons (his remaining family) moved there in January 1909. Narainiah and his sons were at first assigned a small cottage that lacked adequate sanitation, located just outside the Theosophical compound. Apparently as a result of poor living conditions, Krishnamurti and his brothers were soon undernourished and infested with lice.

His "discovery" and its consequences

It was in late April or early May 1909, a few months after the last move, that Krishnamurti first met influential Theosophist Charles Webster Leadbeater. During regular walks to the Theosophical estate's beach at the nearby Adyar river, Leadbeater, who claimed clairvoyance, had noticed Krishnamurti (who also frequented the beach with others) and was impressed by the "most wonderful aura he had ever seen, without a particle of selfishness in it." In contrast, Krishnamurti's outward appearance was according to eyewitnesses pretty common, unimpressive, and unkempt. He was also considered "particularly dim-witted"; he often had "a vacant expression" that "gave him an almost moronic look". Leadbeater remained "unshaken" that the boy would become "a spiritual teacher and a great orator", and likely to be used as the "vehicle for the Lord Maitreya" - the latter, according to Theosophical doctrine, an advanced spiritual entity that periodically appears on earth as a World Teacher to guide the evolution of humankind. This would happen, Leadbeater added, "unless something went wrong".

Pupul Jayakar, in her biography of Krishnamurti, quotes him speaking of that period in his life some 75 years later: "The boy had always said, 'I will do whatever you want'. There was an element of subservience, obedience. The boy was vague, uncertain, woolly; he didn't seem to care what was happening. He was like a vessel, with a large hole in it, whatever was put in, went through, nothing remained."

Following his "discovery" Krishnamurti was taken under the wing of the leadership of the Theosophical Society in Adyar and their inner circle. Leadbeater and a small number of trusted associates undertook the task of educating, protecting, and in general preparing him as the likely "vehicle" of the expected World Teacher. Krishnamurti (or Krishnaji as he was often called) and his younger brother Nityananda ("Nitya", 1898—1925) were privately tutored at the Theosophical compound in Madras, and were later exposed to a comparatively opulent lifestyle among a segment of European high society, as they continued their education abroad. In spite of his history of problems with school work and concerns about his capacities and physical condition, the fourteen-year-old Krishnamurti within six months was able to speak and write competently in English. He later came to view his "discovery" as a life-saving event: "Krishna [Krishnamurti] was often asked in later life what he thought would have happened to him if he had not been 'discovered' by Leadbeater. He would unhesitatingly reply, 'I would have died'." 

During this time Krishnamurti had developed a strong bond with Annie Besant, and considered her a surrogate mother. Following his early close relationship with his biological mother, this was the first of several important and intimate relationships that Krishnamurti established with women during his lifetime. His father, who had initially assented to Besant's legal guardianship of Krishnamurti, was pushed into the background by the swirl of attention around his son and in 1912 sued Besant and the Theosophical Society to protect his parental interests. After a protracted legal battle, Besant took custody of Krishnamurti and Nitya. As a result of this separation from his family and home, Krishnamurti and his brother (whose relationship had always been very close) became more dependent on each other, and in the following years they often traveled together.

In 1911 the leadership of the Theosophical Society at Adyar established a new organization, called the Order of the Star in the East (OSE) to prepare the world for the expected appearance of the World Teacher. Krishnamurti was named as its head, while senior Theosophists were installed in its various other positions. Membership was open to anyone who accepted the doctrine of the Coming of the World Teacher — however, most of the early members were also members of the Theosophical Society. Controversy erupted soon after, within the Theosophical Society and without, in Hindu circles, and in the Indian and international press.

Growing up

Mary Lutyens, in her biography of Krishnamurti, states that there was a time when he fully believed that he was to become the World Teacher after correct spiritual and secular guidance and education. Another biographer describes the daily program imposed on him by Leadbeater and his associates, which included rigorous exercise and sports, tutoring in a variety of school subjects, Theosophical and religious lessons, yoga and meditation, as well as instruction in proper hygiene and in the ways of British society and culture. At the same time, Leadbeater personally assumed the role of guide in a parallel, mystical instruction of young Krishnamurti; the existence and progress of this instruction was at the time known only to the leadership of the Society and a close-knit circle of associates.

Unlike sports, in which he showed natural aptitude, Krishnamurti always had problems with formal schooling and was not academically inclined. He eventually gave up university education after several attempts at admission. He did take to foreign languages, in time speaking several (French and Italian among them) with some fluency. In this period he apparently enjoyed reading parts of the Old Testament, and was impressed by some of the Western classics, especially works by Shelley, Dostoyevsky and Nietzsche. He also had, since childhood, considerable observational and mechanical skills, being able to correctly disassemble and reassemble complicated machinery.

His public image as originally cultivated by the Theosophists "was to be characterized by a well-polished exterior, a sobriety of purpose, a cosmopolitan outlook and an otherworldly, almost beatific detachment in his demeanor." And in fact, "all of these can be said to have characterized Krishnamurti's public image to the end of his life." It was apparently clear early on that he "possessed an innate personal magnetism, not of a warm physical variety, but nonetheless emotive in its austerity, and inclined to inspire veneration." However, as Krishnamurti was growing up, he showed signs of adolescent rebellion and emotional instability, chafing at the regimen imposed on him, being highly uncomfortable with the publicity surrounding him, and occasionally having doubts about the future prescribed him.

Krishnamurti and Nitya were taken to England for the first time in April 1911. Two of the people they first encountered there were Mary Lutyens, Krishnamurti's future biographer and lifelong friend, and her mother Emily - who was to become another surrogate mother for Krishnamurti, forming a strong and intimate bond with him. During this trip Krishnamurti gave his first public speech, to young members of the OSE in London. Between that time and the start of World War I in 1914, the brothers visited several other European countries, always accompanied by Theosophist chaperones. After the war, Krishnamurti (again accompanied by Nitya, who was the "Organizing Secretary" of the Order) embarked on a series of lectures, meetings, and discussions around the world relating to his duties as the head of the OSE. The content of his talks at the time revolved around the work of the Order and of its members in preparation for the Coming, while his vocabulary reflected the prevailing Theosophical concepts and terminology. In the beginning he was described as a halting, hesitant, and repetitive speaker, but there was steady improvement in his delivery and confidence, and he gradually took command of the meetings.

Start of "the process" and the death of Nitya