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At the Feet of the Master
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At the Feet of the Master
At the Feet of the Master is a book attributed to Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986), authored when he was 14 years old. Written under the name Alcyone, it was first published in 1910. The work was closely related to the World Teacher Project, a contemporary messianic endeavor launched by the Theosophical Society. The book is considered a spiritual classic and was still in print in 2012. By that time it had been published in dozens of editions and had been translated in many languages; by 2004 early editions were in the public domain. Throughout its publication history the work has also generated controversy, regarding the author's identity.
The work was an important early milestone of the World Teacher Project, a worldwide enterprise launched by the Theosophical Society in early 20th century. This endeavor, which received widespread publicity, proclaimed the imminent arrival of the World Teacher, a new messiah. Jiddu Krishnamurti, an adolescent Brahmin from South India, and the presumed author of At the Feet of the Master, was considered the likely "vehicle" for the World Teacher. As a result, the book was seen as being closely related to Krishnamurti's expected mission, an early indication of his spiritual and worldly destiny.
The title was reputedly chosen by Annie Besant, then–President of the Theosophical Society, who was also Krishnamurti's legal guardian. The author was listed as Alcyone, a pseudonym assigned to Krishnamurti by one of his mentors, the prominent and controversial Theosophist Charles Webster Leadbeater.
The original edition's front cover features an illustration (in gold on blue background), of a path leading to an Egyptian-style gateway; in the frontispiece there is a contemporary photograph of Alcyone. The book includes a preface by Besant, and a dedication page with the inscription, "To those who knock". Following, is an additional full-page photograph of Alcyone (uncaptioned), a page with a short, unattributed quote in Sanskrit and English, and a foreword by Alcyone. The body of the work is then laid out in four parts, corresponding to its proclaimed requirements for disciples on the spiritual path:
The book closes with an unsigned, two-verse devotional poem.
The following is stated in the book's foreword: "These are not my words; they are the words of the Master who taught me." This is related to Leadbeater's statement that over a period of about five months during 1909–10, Master Kuthumi (or Koot Hoomi) – a postulated embodied spiritual entity – was releasing to Krishnamurti, through a mystical process and while the boy was asleep, the spiritual instruction that makes up the work. Upon waking, Krishnamurti "with great laboriousness" put the instructions into notes; afterwards, the notes were checked for spelling and grammar, and then arranged and typed by Leadbeater. The resulting typescript formed the basis for the book's original edition; Krishnamurti's handwritten notes were lost sometime after the book's publication.
The original edition was published at Adyar, India, through the facilities of The Theosophist, the Society's main organ; the publisher is listed as "Theosophist Office, Adyar". The book, introduced during the December 1910 Theosophical Convention at Adyar, was bound in blue cloth, with a limited number of copies bound in blue leather.
This edition quickly sold out; within a year the book had been published in twenty-seven editions, and by 1925 there were at least forty. In the ensuing decades, dozens of editions in many languages and formats were published by Theosophical and non-Theosophical publishers, including the Star Publishing Trust (SPT), publishing arm of the World Teacher Project. Following its founding in 1926, the SPT had assumed the copyright to the work. This entity became the official publisher of Krishnamurti's work after he effectively ended the World Teacher Project by rejecting his messianic role and leaving the Theosophical Society in 1929–30; however, the SPT still held the rights to At the Feet of the Master as of 1946. Meanwhile, according to one source, the original edition of the book may have never been legally copyrighted.
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At the Feet of the Master
At the Feet of the Master is a book attributed to Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986), authored when he was 14 years old. Written under the name Alcyone, it was first published in 1910. The work was closely related to the World Teacher Project, a contemporary messianic endeavor launched by the Theosophical Society. The book is considered a spiritual classic and was still in print in 2012. By that time it had been published in dozens of editions and had been translated in many languages; by 2004 early editions were in the public domain. Throughout its publication history the work has also generated controversy, regarding the author's identity.
The work was an important early milestone of the World Teacher Project, a worldwide enterprise launched by the Theosophical Society in early 20th century. This endeavor, which received widespread publicity, proclaimed the imminent arrival of the World Teacher, a new messiah. Jiddu Krishnamurti, an adolescent Brahmin from South India, and the presumed author of At the Feet of the Master, was considered the likely "vehicle" for the World Teacher. As a result, the book was seen as being closely related to Krishnamurti's expected mission, an early indication of his spiritual and worldly destiny.
The title was reputedly chosen by Annie Besant, then–President of the Theosophical Society, who was also Krishnamurti's legal guardian. The author was listed as Alcyone, a pseudonym assigned to Krishnamurti by one of his mentors, the prominent and controversial Theosophist Charles Webster Leadbeater.
The original edition's front cover features an illustration (in gold on blue background), of a path leading to an Egyptian-style gateway; in the frontispiece there is a contemporary photograph of Alcyone. The book includes a preface by Besant, and a dedication page with the inscription, "To those who knock". Following, is an additional full-page photograph of Alcyone (uncaptioned), a page with a short, unattributed quote in Sanskrit and English, and a foreword by Alcyone. The body of the work is then laid out in four parts, corresponding to its proclaimed requirements for disciples on the spiritual path:
The book closes with an unsigned, two-verse devotional poem.
The following is stated in the book's foreword: "These are not my words; they are the words of the Master who taught me." This is related to Leadbeater's statement that over a period of about five months during 1909–10, Master Kuthumi (or Koot Hoomi) – a postulated embodied spiritual entity – was releasing to Krishnamurti, through a mystical process and while the boy was asleep, the spiritual instruction that makes up the work. Upon waking, Krishnamurti "with great laboriousness" put the instructions into notes; afterwards, the notes were checked for spelling and grammar, and then arranged and typed by Leadbeater. The resulting typescript formed the basis for the book's original edition; Krishnamurti's handwritten notes were lost sometime after the book's publication.
The original edition was published at Adyar, India, through the facilities of The Theosophist, the Society's main organ; the publisher is listed as "Theosophist Office, Adyar". The book, introduced during the December 1910 Theosophical Convention at Adyar, was bound in blue cloth, with a limited number of copies bound in blue leather.
This edition quickly sold out; within a year the book had been published in twenty-seven editions, and by 1925 there were at least forty. In the ensuing decades, dozens of editions in many languages and formats were published by Theosophical and non-Theosophical publishers, including the Star Publishing Trust (SPT), publishing arm of the World Teacher Project. Following its founding in 1926, the SPT had assumed the copyright to the work. This entity became the official publisher of Krishnamurti's work after he effectively ended the World Teacher Project by rejecting his messianic role and leaving the Theosophical Society in 1929–30; however, the SPT still held the rights to At the Feet of the Master as of 1946. Meanwhile, according to one source, the original edition of the book may have never been legally copyrighted.