The Blavatskian and Biblical Roots of Krishnamurti's Imagined Role (Gnostica)

This book focuses on Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) and charts the development of his teaching. It covers the period from 1922, when Krishnamurti claimed he was “God,” until his death, including his declarations to be the World Teacher and eventual departure from the Theosophical Society. The author explores the understanding transmitted to Krishnamurti by his mentors as an inheritance from Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891), the Theosophical Society co‑founder who is associated with the practice of occult breathless meditation. This book highlights that Krishnamurti’s writings and talks reveal his unacknowledged appropriation of the vocabulary of profound biblical motifs. It considers how Krishnamurti fashioned his life and teaching on the New Testament Gospels’ composite biography of Jesus and on biblical eschatological and Christological texts. The study will be of particular interest to students and scholars of esotericism, new religious movements and the history of religions.