“Krishnamurti was born in 1895, the eighth child of a Brahmin family, the highest caste at a time when the system was rigidly observed. He was very close indeed to his mother who before he was born said she had a premonition that he would be in some way remarkable. She died when Krishnamurti was ten years old and the family moved to Adyar, near Madras. It was here living in extreme poverty that he was spotted by Charles Webster Leadbeater, a leading figure in the Theosophical Society. Theosophy was a world movement which embraced all religions. They believed that following on Buddha, Krishna and Christ the world was ready for the next incarnation of the Messiah. Its president, Annie Besant was a flamboyant figure who fought uncompromisingly for a whole range of social reforms in Britain and India.

Krishnamurti must have looked an unlikely candidate; undernourished, with crooked teeth and a vacant expression. But Leadbeater said the child had an aura of unselfishness; he was the chosen one. Mrs Besant adopted him and began grooming him for his future role by bringing him to England.”

Excerpt From The Role of a Flower documentary

“Mrs. Annie Besant became the President of the Theosophical Society and started looking very seriously, with her colleague C. W. Leadbeater, for a vehicle who they thought would be suitable for the World Teacher. The boy who was eventually chosen to be the Messiah was an Indian boy from South India called Jiddu Krishnamurti. He and his brother and other boys used to play on the beach every afternoon, because Adyar is on the sea.

And one day Leadbeater saw this boy on the beach and he was tremendously struck by his aura, which he said had not one trace of selfishness in it, and he immediately felt that this was the boy.”

Interview
Mary Lutyens
Krishnamurti’s biographer

“I arrived in Adyar in 1909, in August, and within a few days of my arrival I met C.W. Leadbeater. And almost immediately he introduced me to two Indian boys, J. Krishnamurti and his little brother Nityananda.

Krishnamurti was shy, reserved, mystically inclined, seemingly outwardly to be rather dull and not quick on the uptake, whereas his little brother sparkled with intelligence. They were in poor condition, very poor condition. And Leadbeater said, ‘We have a task and when Annie Besant arrives in India, she will help’.”

Interview
Russell Balfour Clarke
Krishnamurti’s first English tutor

Theosophy was a world movement which embraced all religions. They believed that following on Buddha, Krishna and Christ the world was ready for the next incarnation of the Messiah. Its president, Annie Besant was a flamboyant figure who fought uncompromisingly for a whole range of social reforms in Britain and India. Krishnamurti must have looked an unlikely candidate; undernourished, with crooked teeth and a vacant expression. But Leadbeater said the child had an aura of unselfishness; he was the chosen one. Mrs Besant adopted him and began grooming him for his future role by bringing him to England.

Excerpt from The Role of a Flower documentary

“I have written in my earlier writing an account of his initiation and of the meeting with the Master and so on which were all told me by Mr. Leadbeater and by Krishnamurti himself.

I was told that he had been put on probation by the Master along with his little brother, on a certain date. And then it was that Krishna used to sit in the early morning and write something very laboriously in his early English, which turned out to be the little book At the Feet of the Master. And the writing in the book was in pencil and Krishnaji used to ponder and then write and then ponder. And Leadbeater told me that he was bringing back into his physical brain in the morning what he had experienced and learned and heard during the night before from the Master Kuthumi. I never looked at the details of that little book but I did see the book and I saw Krishnaji writing.”

Interview
Russell B. Clarke
Krishnamurti’s first English tutor