Author

J. Krishnamurti

Indian teacher who rejected all authority and method, and taught choiceless awareness of what is.

1895–1986

Also known as Jiddu Krishnamurti

Comparative mysticism, Modern philosophy

Biography

Jiddu Krishnamurti was born in 1895 in Madanapalle, in South India. In 1909, at the headquarters of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, the theosophist Charles Leadbeater singled him out as the coming vehicle of a “World Teacher”. He was educated in England under the protection of Annie Besant, and an organization, the Order of the Star in the East, was founded to prepare for his mission.

In 1929, before thousands of members, he dissolved the Order, declaring that truth cannot be approached by any organized path, and that he wished to set people free rather than gather followers. For nearly sixty years he gave talks and held dialogues across the world, based in Ojai, California, and in India and England, and founded schools including Rishi Valley in India and Brockwood Park in England.

His talks, recorded and published in many volumes, include The First and Last Freedom (1954), with a foreword by Aldous Huxley, a friend of many years. In later life he held long dialogues with the physicist David Bohm on thought, time and the nature of consciousness. He died in Ojai in 1986.

Major works

The First and Last FreedomBook, 1954Krishnamurti’s best-known book, drawn from his talks, with a foreword by Aldous Huxley: on self-knowledge, the observer and the observed, fear, desire, belief, and freedom from all authority, with answers to listeners’ questions.

Philosophical ideas

Scholarship

Truth cannot be reached through any authority, tradition or method; it comes only through one’s own direct observation of what is.

In choiceless awareness, the observer is seen to be the observed: the self that judges thought is itself thought, and when this is seen, conflict ends.

Cite this entry

Chicago (bibliography): “J. Krishnamurti.” Author. The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society. Last modified November 7, 2026. https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/authors/j-krishnamurti.
Chicago (note): “J. Krishnamurti,” author, The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, last modified November 7, 2026, https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/authors/j-krishnamurti.
MLA: “J. Krishnamurti.” The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, 7 Nov. 2026, www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/authors/j-krishnamurti.
BibTeX: @misc{authors-j-krishnamurti, title = {{J. Krishnamurti}}, howpublished = {The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society}, note = {Author. Last modified November 7, 2026}, year = {2026}, url = {https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/authors/j-krishnamurti} }

Related authors

Contemporary of: Aldous Huxley

Related concepts

Related traditions

Continue the inquiry

Questions

Must the contemplative leave the world?The desert or the marketplace: whether the life of contemplation requires withdrawal, or is to be lived in the midst of ordinary life.