Jiddu Krishnamurti

Jiddu Krishnamurti ( ; 11 May 1895 – 17 February 1986) was an Indian philosopher, speaker, writer, and spiritual figure. Adopted by members of the Theosophical tradition as a child, he was raised to fill the advanced role of World Teacher, but in adulthood he rejected this mantle and distanced himself from the related religious movement. He spent the rest of his life speaking to groups and individuals around the world; many of these talks have been published. He also wrote many books, among them ''The First and Last Freedom'' (1954) and ''Commentaries on Living'' (1956–60). His last public talk was in January 1986, a month before his death at his home in Ojai, California.

Krishnamurti asserted that "truth is a pathless land" and advised against following any doctrine, discipline, teacher, guru, or authority, including himself. He dismissed the need for contrived meditation techniques, instead emphasizing the practice of choiceless awareness as the essence of "true meditation". He also emphasized psychological inquiry and liberation from cultural conditioning. His supporters — working through non-profit foundations in India, Britain, and the United States — oversee several independent schools based on his views on education, and continue to distribute his thousands of talks, group and individual discussions, and writings in a variety of media formats and languages. Provided by Wikipedia