J.Krishnamurti's Teachings

About the Teacher

Home
About Krishnamurti
Web Exchange
Pictures

k-image.jpg
( 1895 - 1986 )

Timeline of events in Krishnamurti's life  (taken from the biographies:  "Years of Awakening",   "Years of Fulfilment"  and  "The Open Door" by Mary Lutyens)

Years  of  Awakening                Significant Events                             
      1895    Krishnamurti is born in Madanapalle, South India, on the 12th of May
                      as the eighth child of Jiddu Naraynaiah & Sanjeevamma.    
      1905     Mother Sanjeevamma passes away; young Krishna would often see
                     her form appear; at times he would see his dead sister also. 
      1909        C.W.Leadbeater, a Theosophist, picks Jiddu Krishnamurti      
                       to be the vehicle for Lord Maitreya the World Teacher.         
                            Maitreya, in the Mahayana Buddhism tradition, is     
                         the Boddhisatva of compassion and the future Buddha.   
      1910               First occult Initiation at Theosophical Society (TS).      
                      Annie  Besant (President, TS) becomes his legal guardian.          
      1911      Creation of the Order of the Star in the East  (OSE);  In England,   
                      K meets Lady Emily Lutyens (the mother of biographer Mary)   
   1912-1921                     Education in England and France.                  
       1922               Travels to Ojai, California with brother Nityananda.         
     Aug 1922            Undergoes a spiritual transformation in Ojai, CA.        
    1923 - 24                 Moves to Castle Eerde, Ommen, Holland.          
                                         Star Publishing Trust is formed.                     
      1925             Goes through immense sorrow at Nityananda's death       
      1928            The Rishi Valley Trust (RVT) is formed. A small school is  
                   started in Madras (later shifted to Rishi Valley near Madanapalle)   
      1929      Dissolves OSE at the Ommen Camp;  says "Truth is a Pathless  
                            Land";  later resigns from the Theosophical Society            
 
Years of Fulfillment                  Significant Events                             
    1930 - 33        Visits Greece, Romania,Yugoslavia,Hungary to give
                          talks.  Returns to Ojai. Gives talks all over the USA
                          and Canada. Goes to India after a gap of 4 years.   
      1933            Meets Annie Besant in India for the last time. Mrs Besant    
                  dies in September of the same year. Visits Vasant Vihar, Madras  
                  (later to become the HQ of KFI)  for the frst time with Rajagopal.  
      1934      Rajghat Besant School opens in Benares on a 200 acre land   
                     by the side of the Ganges river acquired in 1928 by RVT.  
      1935        K travels with Rajagopal & an assistant to South America    
                   to give talks. Faces hostility from the Roman catholics there. 
      1936       Goes to Ommen Holland for a gathering; after a brief sojourn in 
                         Switzerland, goes to India to give public talks.                   
      1937      K travels to Italy & holds a small gathering in Rome. Public talks
                  are banned by Mussolini. Meets Vanda Passigli (Scaravelli) & family
                  and at their invitation, spends some time in Fiesole & Florence.    
      1938       K meets Aldous Huxley & Gerald Heard in California, both English
                  writers drawn to the teachings of Ramakrishna . K goes to the   
                  Ommen Camp for the last time. (During the war, this place was   
                     turned into a concentration camp by the Germans).                    
   1939-40   K gives talks in Ojai & "Sarobia", Philadelphia. He was not to speak
                  in public again until 1944. IInd World War breaks out in Europe.  
                  K  turns pacifist, engaging in anti-war propaganda in America.    
        1941   Stays in a quiet retreat at the Sequoia National Park in California  
                 amongst the giant 2500 yr old Sequoia trees. Back in Ojai, he takes
                   long walks by himself;  is questioned by the FBI about this & his  
                             pacifist anti-war outpourings during the war days.       
    1942-43   Visits places of natural beauty. Goes to the Mojave desert with    
                  his friends, the Huxleys. At Huxley's urging, begins to write down 
                   his ideas/thoughts. (These writings were later to be published in  
                       book form in 1956 as the "Commentaries on Living". )            
       1944    Begins to give public talks again at the Oak Grove in Ojai.      
              Krishnamurti Writings Inc  (KWINC) is created from the now defunct  
             Star Publishing Trust for the sole purpose of publishing & distributing 
                                the written works of Krishnamurti.                           
       1946    K, Rosalind Rajgopal & Aldous Huxley become trustees of the   
                 Happy Valley Association. The Happy Valley School opens in the   
                                      upper valley of Ojai, California.                    
     1946-47       K falls seriously ill with kidney infection (he does'nt shave for
                                     6 months and grows a beard).                                
     1947-48    After India gains independance from British rule, K opts for Indian    
              citizenship. Meets the Mehta sisters, Pupul & Nandini, and their
               family in Bombay. (Much later Pupul (Mehta) Jayakar was to write a 
                                       biography of Krishnamurti as well).                           
       1948   K visits Ooty, a hill station, with the two sisters. K's "process"   
               goes on. (He had experienced this peculiar psychic phenomenon  
               earlier at Ojai, Ehrwald & Pergine). He later describes it as a process
                         of purification, leaving the mind "vacant in the end".           
       1950    K goes to Colombo, Sri Lanka to give public talks attended by   
                     students, govt officials &  practicing buddhists. He responds          
                     compassionately when the audience resorts to bullying tactics.     
    1950 - 51               K stays in retreat for a year at Ojai.              
                                Does'nt talk in public for 16 months.                  
       1952     K resumes his public talks in the garden at Vasant Vihar.  
               Returns to Ojai where he is down with hay fever again caused by  
          pollen from orange trees. Rosalind nurses him through the sickness in a
          rented house in Santa Barbara near the sea. A big earthquake jolts the 
              coastal region during this period; K feels "momentarily paralyzed".  
       1953   "Education & the significance of life" is published - the first K book 
             by a commercial  publisher. The jacket material describes it as " a work
             of  superlative & complete honesty".   K ceases to be a trustee of the   
        Happy Valley school. Rosalind continues to be its  "leading light" but K's    
          teachings are no longer its mainspring.  Jinarajadasa, an old associate   
                 and the connecting link between TS and K, dies in Chicago.          
    1953 - 54   K attends gathering at Il Leccio near Fiesole, Italy, organised by  
              Vanda Scaravelli. Back in India, he visits Rishi Valley where he holds   
           discussions with teachers & students. Rishi Valley gets heavy rains after
           many years of drought & water shortage - a recurring problem that has 
              continued into the present times. Rishi Valley Trust is renamed as   
         Foundation for New Education. Bal Anand, a free school for poor children,
                 is started in Bombay with Nandini Mehta as its director.            
      1954  "First and Last Freedom" is published with a ten page foreword by
          Aldous Huxley. Many new people come to hear K's talks after reading this
             book. "Candles in the Sun" by Emily Lutyens, is stopped from being   
        published at the last moment by K who fears "unnecessary things coming
           into prominence" if the book is released. The book gives an account of  
        K's early life at TS, his letters to Lady Emily and his spiritual experience  
                                             at Ojai in 1922.                             
      1956    "Commentaries on Living", a Krishnamurti book expertly edited by   
                                         Rajagopal, is published.                       
      1957   K falls seriously ill in India. Talks in India & Colombo are postponed. 
         The Sri Lankan talks are broadcast live on radio. Talks in Finland, England,
          America, New Zealand & Australia as well as the gathering at Biarritz are
     cancelled due to K's deteriorating health. He rests in Il Leccio for many weeks
            to recover from the illness. Does not give talks for the next 17 months.  
                 Visits Gstaad in Switzerland where he conceives of the idea of     
    holding future gatherings in a nearby village (Saanen) along the lines of  the    
     Ommen camp. An already strained relationship between K and Rajagopal,  
                                          worsens at this time.                                   
      1958       K ceases to be a trustee of the KWINC. Signs a letter giving     
           proprietorship of copyright in all the writings of K - past, present & future, 
              to KWINC. By now Rajagopal had become the President of KWINC.    
   1959 - 60      While in India, K's kidney infection returns during his stay at   
                Pahalgam, Kashmir. Recovers and gives talks in Madras, Bombay,  
       Rajghat & Delhi. Back in Switzerland, he is admitted into a clinic. Later flies 
        back to California where he asks Rajagopal for KWINC's financial position.   
      His request is declined. K asks to be made a trustee again which is refused.
     KWINC, which was created for K in the first place, had shut its doors on him ! 
     1960  Talks in Ojai are cut short. Continues to speak of how the mind can be 
              made innocent through the death of the known. Meets Mary Zimbalist
               whose husband had recently died and grants her a private interview. 
           Extends his stay in Ojai & begins to feel better. Goes on a holiday with   
                 Rosalind to Carmel. Friction between K & Rajagopal increases.          
      1961  Proceeds to England via Itlay (Il Leccio) after holding small gatherings 
    in India. For the first time agrees to use a microphone & allows the Wimbledon
     talks to be recorded. The day before flying off to Los Angeles & Ojai, K begins
           to write an extraordinary record of his inner states of  consciousness.  
    He keeps up this journal for seven months. These were later to be published as
            "Krishnamurti's Notebook". The Saanen committee is formed  for the   
     purpose of inviting K to give talks & arranging the annual Saanen gatherings.  
1962: In August after the gathering, K does'nt feel well enough to go to India and
        stays on at Chalet Tanegg (a house in Gstaad rented by Vanda Scaravelli)
        for treatment. Rajagopal arrives with hopes of reconciliation but K insists on
        being put back on the board of KWINC. Rajagopal leaves after giving K 
                   some money to pay for the doctor's/dentist's bills.    
1963: K meets Aldous Huxley for the last time in Rome.  Aldous dies a few  
         months later. K announces that from here on all his talks in Europe will 
         take place in one place - Saanen. Meets Lady Emily for the last time in
         London in September.                          
1964: Lady Emily Lutyens, the widow of the architect of New Delhi, dies on the 
        3rd of  January. 1.75 acres of land in Saanen is bought by the committee for
    Krishnamurti. Rajagopal agrees to put up the purchase price of $50,000 on the
       understanding that after K's death the land would revert back to the KWINC.
1965: Alain Naude, a South African of huguenot descent, becomes K's secretary
      for a while (with Rajagopal's approval) and travels with him to Europe & India.
1966: Desikachar, a young yoga teacher, is invited to Gstaad to teach K some
     yoga exercises. (He had been doing yoga asanas for years for the sake of his
       health & not as a spiritual practice.) In New York, K meets Allen Ginsberg,
       the poet and also speaks at Harvard Univ.  K returns to Pine Cottage, Ojai
      after 5 years. His friendship with Rosalind ceases altogether. At Rajagopal's 
     invitation, gives 6 talks at the Oak Grove. The third talk is filmed by a TV crew,
      the first time such a thing ever happened in K's teaching career. The hoped
       for reconciliation with Rajagopal does not happen. K asks to be re-instated
     on the KWINC board & is refused again. K also asks for the journal (later to
        become the "Notebook") written in 1961 but R refuses to part with it. 
1967: K gives a series of talks in India, the last ever to be published by KWINC.
        While in Holland, giving talks & meeting young University students, K asks
       Mary Lutyens to write a book based on his talks. In Saanen K meets    
        Dorothy Simmons, a sculptor, who later helps him to setup a school in
        England. A school committee is formed. Mary L begins work on a book   
       derived from four volumes of the 1963-64 talks that Doris Pratt had sent her.
       This book was to be published  in 1969 as "The Freedom from the Known".
        (K himself chose the title.)                  
1968: K explains, how KWINC assets worth millions of dollars were transfered to
        the Star Institute over which Rajagopal had complete control. K's break with
       KWINC is made public at the Saanen gathering; he seeks legal assistance.
       A new Foundation is created in England by K and a decision is made by the
       trustees to buy Brockwood Park for 42000 Br pounds in order to start a  
        school .                   
1969: KWINC donors want their money returned when they hear of the break
        up. While in Ojai, K starts the Krishnamurti Foundation of America (KFA) 
        with the help of the Lilliefelts. A gathering is held for the first time at   
        Brockwood Park in September. The first school term begins soon after. 
       Dr David Bohm, the well known quantum physicist, is made a trustee of the
       Krishnamurti Foundation, England.  Bohm is interested in the question of 
        the observer and the observed, a question central to Quantum Mechanics.  
1970: The Foundation for New Education is renamed as Krishnamurti Foundation
         of India (KFI) with Pupul Jayakar as its President. Rajagopal answers the 
         accusations against him in the presence of the assistant Attorney-General
         & lawyers. While at Brockwood in the spring of that year, K asks Mary 
         Lutyens to write his biography with help from Shiva Rao who lives in Delhi.
        Two new books edited by Mary L - "The Only Revolution" & the "Penguin
         Krishnamurti Reader" are published. In the summer Bulletin, K reiterates
        that there should be no interpreters of the teachings as they run the risk of
        distorting it for others. K travels to Australia & gives five talks in Sydney.
1971: K meets Rajagopal four times in Ojai in order to bring about a settlement
        but the meetings are fruitless. At a talk in Saanen he says,"..thought can
        perceive its own activities. Then one realises the limitations of thought and
        then perhaps one can go beyond it."   "Urgency of Change", based on     
        questions put to K by Alain Naude & edited by Mary L is published. K
        goes to Paris where his talk is broadcast in French by ORTF French TV.
1972: K hears from Vigeveno, a KWINC trustee, that R may be willing to settle
            out of court. He also hears that all KWINC board members are          
      Theosophists. K declares that had he known this he would not have allowed
         R to handle his writings. "Tradition & Revolution", edited by Pupulji &
         Sunanda Patwardhan is published in India.   
1973: "Awakening of Intelligence", a path-breaking book containing some     
     extraordinary dialogues between K & other well known personalities, and 
       "Beyond Violence" are published. K discusses with others at Ojai, the   
         possibility of starting a school there. At Brockwood, he talks of his own  
        death, the running of the Foundations & schools after him and the need to
         bring in the right kind of (young) people to run them. He writes     
              "Krishnamurti's Journal" over a period of 6 weeks.
1974: A co-ed school is started in Madras under the auspices of KFI. K goes
        to San Diego for a series of 18 dialogues with Allan Anderson which are
        video taped. In a partial out of court settlement, Rajagopal returns K's 1961
        journal in exchange for the tapes of K's disclosures about his reasons   
       for breaking with Rajagopal. (Later as part of the full settlement, the KWINC
       was dissolved; cash assets of the KWINC were transferred to KFA after  
       deducting R's legal cost & pension; about 170 acres of land in various parts
       of Ojai  was conveyed to KFA.)                         
1975: K returns to Pine Cottage after 9 years. K gives four talks at the Oak Grove
        for the first time since 1966. Rajagopal tries to block access to the archives
        in total violation of the agreement. "Years of Awakening", "Beginnings of
        Learning" and "K on Education" are published. Mrs Bindley, one of K's 
        oldest friends, dies at the age of 96.     
1976-77: Emergency is declared in India by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.  
           Censorship follows forcing K to cancel his trip to India. In Ojai, K gives 
            public talks that summer in the Oak Grove. The last talk is attended by
            over 5000 people. "Krishnamurti's Notebook" is published and K reviews
            it "for fun". The Oak Grove School opens under the auspices of KFA.
            Another school is opened on Vancouver Island, Canada.
1977: K undergoes an operation in Los Angeles and has a "dialogue with 
              death" while at the hospital. He is granted the "green card" aka 
                       permanent residency status in the USA.  
1978: Near Bangalore, India, 100 acres of land is gifted to KFI to start a school. 
         The Valley School opens with some help from the Rishi Valley School.
1979: K tells ML that when he first started speaking, he used the language of
       Theosophy but after 1922 (the year of his experience at Ojai) he had found
       his own language. K dictates the first set of 'Letters to the School'.
1980: K undergoes a psychic experience at Rishi Valley afterwhich he writes,
        "The movement had reached the source of all energy. After returning to
        Ojai when the body had somewhat rested, there was the perception that 
        there was nothing beyond this. This is the ultimate, the beginning and the 
       ending and the absolute. There is only a sense of incredible vastness and
        immense beauty......"
 
The Open Door                          Significant Events                             
1980: Differences arise between the English & Indian Foundations over matters
        relating to publication of K's works. Radha Burnier, a close friend of K's, is
        elected President of T.S. K visits the T.S. Headquarters for the first time in
        46 years. Next day he goes to Sri Lanka, meets the Prime Minister & the   
       President. The Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi pays Rishi Valley a 
visit.
1981:  Back in Ojai, K spends time working in the new garden at Pine Cottage.
         He loves gardening and plants new trees whenever possible. Mary Lutyens 
           becomes the Chairman of the Publications Committee in place of    
         G.W.Digby. K  tells Mary Zimbalist that "she must outlive him". While at  
         Ojai, K would often wake up in the morning with "a feeling of tremendous  
       power -not to do anything, just power"; and an extraordinary feeling of new  
        and vast energy. Later that year in Amsterdam, he gives a talk where he  
      says,"Death is the ending of the known. It means the ending of the physical 
       organism, the ending of all the memory which I am. It also means the ending
      of attachments, that is, dying with living". In June, he meets Bohm who is in
       a critical condition and undergoes triple heart surgery. Bohm who has a fear
       of death is comforted by this meeting with K. On his return to Brockwood
      after a visit to Holland (where is drove up to Castle Erde he did not get down
       from the car for fear of being seen) K comes down with influenza. He tells  
        Mary Z that on the 11th Oct, he almost slipped away. The door opened &   
        then shut!          
1982:   Back in Ojai, K tells Mary Z that he has had the impulse to "slip off".  
    Then he adds, "Not now, I still have too much to do". While in New York  
     to a question put to him by a New York Times correspondent on the effect 
        his teachings had on the way people lived, K replies, 'A little, sir. But not  
       much.' Bohm, who has fully recovered, comes to Ojai and along with K, John
        Ridley & Sheldrake, has a series of discussions on 'The Nature of Mind',  
      which is taped and shown on several cable TV stations. Later in November 
         of that year he goes to Calcutta, India to give talks for the first time. He   
       comments on the filth & over-crowding there; frequent power cuts and the 
          "general darkness that prevails mentally too".        
1983:          Alone in Ojai one day, K dictates the first entry of the book          
         "Krishnamurti to Himself" into a Sony-Walkman cassette recorder. Five 
           years in the making, Evelyne Blau's "The Challenge of Change" - a   
         documentary on K's life produced by Michael Mendizza is released.  
      K is interviewed by the inventor of polio vaccine, Dr Jonas Salk. The Indian  
      Foundation brings out "Mind without Measure". Dorothy Simmons, in charge
           of Brockwood, suffers a heart attack. Svetlana, Stalin's daughter, visits   
      Brockwood. She helped translate Comm on Living into Russian. K travels to
      India to find trouble at Rajghat. On his return to the USA, he is invited to give
       talks at Los Alamos where the first atomic bomb was built.     
1984: The scientists at Los Alamos hear K say, 'The house on fire, which we 
      think is over there, is here. We have to put our house in order first.'  Scott 
      Forbes meets a leading architect in Britain in connection with the design of
      a new Centre in Brockwood. In India, K is invited to the Rashtrapathi Bhavan 
       located in the capital city of New Delhi. (Mary's father, Edwin Lutyens, had  
     architected the beautiful building). Here he meets the Vice President along 
  with the Patwardhans, Pupul and Mary Z.  Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of 
      India, is assasinated in the capital city, the following day.  K cancels his trip
     to Varanasi and travels instead to Madras, where the atmosphere is less
     tense.    
        
1985: K talks about an ancient Tibetan manuscript which predicted the coming of
         Lord Maithreya and actually gave the name of Krishnamurti as the human
         vehicle that the Lord would inhabit when he came. In April K speaks at the
         UN in New York at the invitation of Pacem in Terris society. He visits the    
         Lincoln memorial in Washington and gives two talks at the Kennedy       
         Center.  He remarks on returning to Ojai that he had never before had   
         such a responsive audience for a public talk. Scott Forbes finds an         
         architect, Kieth Critchlow, for the proposed Brockwood Krishnamurti       
         Centre. Dorothy Simmons retires and Scott is made the new Principal.  
         K speaks to the whole school in June - for the last time. The Saanen talks
         are held for the last time. K stays in Rougemont where he meets Pupul to
        talk about publication difficulties between the English & Indian Foundations
              which had gone on for 13 years. K is upset about this & resolves to     
         settle the matter himself on his final visit to India later that year. Radhika, 
        Pupul's daughter, is made the director of Rishi Valley & Prof Krishna, the  
        rector of Rajghat.          
1986: K delivers his last talk on Jan 4th at Vasant Vihar in Madras. He says,  
        "Creation is most holy". After returning to Ojai from India, he is immediately 
           taken to a hospital for tests which includes a CAT scan that shows     
       malignancy in the pancreas. A highly specialised blood test confirms this. 
        A few days later he tells all the trustees present that in future, the Indian  
           foundation KFI will be concerned only with translating into the many    
      vernacular languages. All talks & discussions in India are to be edited in  
    England; the KFI would be given paperback rights of edited manuscripts for  
     distribution in India. This is not well received by the Indians present & in the 
    end a compromise is reached, that anyone in any part of the world who knew 
          English really well might do the editing for the Indian editions.              
1986:  Krishnamurti dies in his sleep at the Pine cottage in Ojai on 17th Feb just 
       after midnight. He is cremated the same day in Ventura, California in the
        presence of a few Foundation members. His ashes are divided and taken 
          to Ojai, England and India. The rest, immersed in the Pacific ocean.   
 
 

< This page is under construction >

Last edited from Bangalore, India on 24th August, 2006.