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Liber XXXIII · Theosophy

Liber XXXIII · Theosophy · Chapter X: Theosophical Society

Krishnamurti and the Order of the Star in the East

The Order of the Star in the East (1911–1929): how Theosophists hailed Jiddu Krishnamurti as the coming World Teacher, and why he dissolved the order in 1929.

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The Order of the Star in the East was an organisation founded by Theosophists in 1911 to prepare the world for the coming of a "World Teacher", whom Annie Besant and Charles Webster Leadbeater identified with the young Indian Jiddu Krishnamurti. It grew into an international movement with tens of thousands of members, but in 1929 Krishnamurti himself dissolved it, declaring that truth could not be organised and that he wanted no followers. The episode is one of the most remarkable in the history of modern esotericism.

The World Teacher in Theosophical Expectation§

In the Theosophy of Helena Blavatsky, humanity is guided by a hierarchy of Masters. After her death in 1891, Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater, the leading figures of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, developed this teaching in a more devotional and openly Christian-flavoured direction. Within the hierarchy they placed the Lord Maitreya, the Bodhisattva of Buddhist expectation, whom they described as the World Teacher who had once overshadowed Jesus and who would return to inaugurate a new age.

By the first decade of the twentieth century Besant was speaking publicly of an imminent coming. The idea combined Buddhist and Christian messianism with the Theosophical scheme of spiritual evolution, and it suited a movement that was growing rapidly in Europe, America and India and looking for a renewed sense of purpose.

The Discovery of Krishnamurti at Adyar, 1909§

Jiddu Krishnamurti was born in 1895 at Madanapalle in what is now Andhra Pradesh, into a Telugu Brahmin family. His father, Jiddu Narianiah, a retired government official and a Theosophist, took work at the Society's headquarters in 1909, and the family lived in poor conditions just outside its grounds. The story of that estate is told in our article on Theosophy in India and Adyar.

In the spring of 1909 Leadbeater, who claimed clairvoyant sight, noticed the boy on the beach near the estate and declared that his aura was entirely free of selfishness. Leadbeater began to investigate Krishnamurti's supposed past lives, later published as The Lives of Alcyone, and he and Besant took charge of the education of Krishnamurti and his younger brother Nityananda. In 1910 their father agreed to let Besant become their guardian. That year a small book of spiritual instructions, At the Feet of the Master, was published under Krishnamurti's Theosophical name "Alcyone"; how much of it was his own work has long been debated.

Founding the Order of the Star in the East, 1911§

The organisation began at the Central Hindu College in Benares, where the Theosophist George Arundale formed a group called the Order of the Rising Sun in 1910. Early in 1911 it was reconstituted as the Order of the Star in the East, with Krishnamurti, then fifteen, as its Head and Besant and Leadbeater as Protectors. Its declared purpose was to draw together those who believed in the near coming of a great spiritual Teacher and to prepare themselves and the world to receive him.

The Order spread quickly through the Theosophical lodges and beyond. It published a journal, The Herald of the Star, held meetings in many countries and attracted members who were not Theosophists. Its symbol was a silver five-pointed star. At the Society's convention at Benares in December 1911 a gathering of members around Krishnamurti became charged with emotion, an event that devotees remembered as a sign of the Teacher's presence.

Custody Battle and the Break with Steiner§

The Order's rapid rise brought controversy. In 1912 Narianiah, alarmed by reports about Leadbeater, whose earlier advice to boys on sexual matters had caused a scandal in 1906, went to court to recover custody of his sons. The Madras High Court ruled in his favour in 1913, but on appeal the Privy Council in London decided in Besant's favour in 1914, largely on procedural grounds. By then they were living and studying in England.

The messianic claims also split the Theosophical movement. Rudolf Steiner, the general secretary of the German Section, rejected the identification of a living youth with a returning Christ figure and objected to Besant's leadership. When the German Section refused to admit members of the Order, Besant cancelled its charter in early 1913, and most of its members followed Steiner into the new Anthroposophical Society. That story is told in our biography of Rudolf Steiner and our guide to Anthroposophy.

Ojai, Ommen and the Height of the Order§

Krishnamurti's education in England did not go to plan: he failed university entrance examinations and grew restless under the role assigned to him. In 1922, at Ojai in California, where the brothers had gone for Nityananda's health, he began to undergo intense physical and spiritual experiences, known to his circle as "the process", which continued intermittently for years. The death of Nityananda from tuberculosis in November 1925 shook him profoundly and, by his own later account, undermined his trust in the prophecies of the leaders who had promised that his brother would live.

Meanwhile the Order reached its height. A Dutch supporter, Baron Philip van Pallandt, gave his estate of Castle Eerde near Ommen, where large annual Star camps were held from the mid-1920s. In 1925 announcements by Arundale and others of the selection of "apostles" for the coming Teacher caused unease, and Krishnamurti showed open scepticism. In 1927 the organisation was renamed simply the Order of the Star, and Besant proclaimed that the World Teacher had come.

The Dissolution of 1929§

On 3 August 1929, at the opening of the Star camp at Ommen, with Besant present, Krishnamurti dissolved the Order. In a speech that became famous, he said that truth is "a pathless land" which no religion, sect or organisation can lead anyone to, and that he did not want followers. He returned the properties and funds that had been given for his work, and in 1930 he left the Theosophical Society.

For Besant and many Theosophists this was a bitter blow, and membership of the Society fell sharply in the following years. Others saw it as the Teacher's real message: an insistence on direct, individual freedom rather than dependence on authorities. Historians have read the dissolution as both a personal liberation from an imposed identity and a turning point in the history of the Theosophical movement, which never regained its pre-1929 prominence.

Krishnamurti after the Order§

Krishnamurti spent the rest of his long life travelling and speaking, mostly in India, Europe and the United States, and holding dialogues with scientists and philosophers such as the physicist David Bohm. He rejected gurus, methods and spiritual hierarchies, and urged his audiences to observe their own minds without the mediation of tradition. Foundations in his name set up schools, among them Rishi Valley in India and Brockwood Park in England. He died at Ojai on 17 February 1986.

His later teaching had little in common with the cosmology of the Masters in which he had been raised, yet his story shaped the spirituality of the twentieth century. The idea of a coming World Teacher passed into later movements, and Krishnamurti's emphasis on inner freedom influenced the New Age and Western interest in meditation, a strange double legacy discussed in our overview of Theosophy.

Frequently asked questions§

What was the Order of the Star in the East?§

It was an international organisation founded by Theosophists in 1911 to prepare for the coming of a World Teacher, with the young Jiddu Krishnamurti as its Head. It was renamed the Order of the Star in 1927 and dissolved by Krishnamurti in 1929.

Why did Krishnamurti dissolve the Order of the Star?§

He declared that truth cannot be approached through any organisation, belief or leader, and that an order built around him would only create new dependence and authority. Personal experiences, including the death of his brother in 1925, had also weakened his faith in the predictions of his Theosophical mentors.

Who discovered Krishnamurti?§

Charles Webster Leadbeater, a leading Theosophist who claimed clairvoyant powers, noticed him on the beach at Adyar in 1909. Annie Besant, president of the Theosophical Society, then became his guardian.

How many members did the Order of the Star have?§

Exact figures are uncertain, but at its height in the 1920s it had tens of thousands of members across many countries. Numbers fell rapidly after its dissolution in 1929.

Sources and further reading§