The Lost or Last Messiah? The strange life and teachings of J. Krishnamurti
One of the great sages of the 20th century, or any century, Jiddu Krishnamurti (often referred to as K) was a teenage Indian boy who was literally plucked out of obscurity by the Theosophists and trained to become the Maitreya, the figure they believed was the ‘World Teacher’.
K (born in 1895) was taken off from his humble milieu in Adyar (near Madras) and brought to England, where he was educated by tutors to go up to Oxford (though he failed to get in). At the same time he was being initiated into the the Theosophical Society and asked to give talks in India, Europe, America and Australia. Everything seemed set fair for his triumphal progress as the Theosophists’ Messiah … until the young man himself began to have doubts about the whole enterprise – doubts that came to a head dramatically in 1929.
In this one-day event, James Harpur will give an illustrated overview of Krishnamurti’s eventful life in the morning, then, in the afternoon, will explore some of his teachings. K was known for dealing directly with the central questions of daily life and human existence, such as: ‘Why I do feel lonely?’; ’Why am I anxious (or angry / resentful / happy etc); ‘Is there a God?’; ‘What is the point of life?’; ‘Can I live in the moment?’; and ‘How do I meditate?’.
K insisted that his teachings should not be ‘interpreted’, and James will try to present them as they are, without elaboration. For James, the essence of K’s writings centres around the problem of the ‘self’ or ‘me’, which K believed lay at the heart of all our problems. K also aimed to ‘set people free’ from their conditioning and felt that all organisations, religious or lay, were counterproductive to the immediate psycho-spiritual revolution he believed individuals were capable of.
As well as the talks, there will be the chance for questions, discussions and meditation.
