Theos-Talk Archives (April 2004 Message tt00306)

> From: "kpauljohnson" <kpauljohnson@yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
> To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: Theos-World Inventing a brother Gerald and telling 
> Jinarajadasa he was...
> Date: Fri, 09 Apr 2004 15:33:58 -0000
>
> Dear Ali,
>
> Pardon me for an explanation lacking in citations to the best
> source, but I'm at work and don't have access to Tillett's book
I'm so ignorant of this history, I don't even know who Tillett is, or what 
authority his/her book has.

> here. He tells the story but his conclusions about CWL's birth and
> family are corroborated by Lilian Storey of the London TS HQ who is
> a genealogical researcher. Leadbeater became infatuated with
> Jinarajadasa in Sri Lanka and demanded to be allowed to take him
> back to England with him as a companion when he returned to tutor
> Sinnett's son. He told Jinarajadasa, and later Annie Besant, that
> the boy was the reincarnation of his younger brother Gerald who had
> died in an encounter with bandits in South America in 1862 when CWL
> was 15. He also told the same story in print although I don't
> recall the title in which it appeared. Problems with the story: CWL
> had no brother Gerald, had never been to South America, and was only
> 8 in 1862. (He added 7 years to his age in order to be the same age
> as Besant which supposedly indicated some occult kinship between
> them and which he used to gain her confidence.) Here's a passage
> from p. 444 of Meade's bio of HPB:
>
> Leadbeater must have realized he had
> captured Sinnett's interest because he felt
> confident enough to demand a condition for his
> return; he wanted to bring with him a fourteen-
> year-old Cingalese boy, C. Jinarajadasa, whom he
> described as his protege, but who, as he would
> later confide to Annie, was actually his
> reincarnated younger brother Gerald, who had been
> murdered by bandits in South America in 1862. It
> was rumored that Leadbeater practically kidnapped
> the boy, whose father had pursued him to the
> steamer, took him home at gun point, then relented
> and allowed him to sail. Although Jinarajadasa
> himself described the story as ridiculous and
> implausible, the rumor persisted.

That pursuit at gunpoint, then relenting is a very odd thing, no?

> Note that Krishnamurti denied an eyewitness account of his being
> abused by CWL, when his father sued AB for custody.
Who was the eyewitness, and what was their credibility?

> If you can
> imagine the shame that contemporary victims of sexual abuse feel,
> and then translate that into the context of society a century ago,
> that gives some context in which to weigh the plausibility of such
I'm trying to get a balanced scenario, and some things just don't jibe. One 
of those things is Krishnamurti's own spiritual status. Now, given, he may 
not have been the awakened teacher when the alleged abuse went on, and it is 
possible that if it had occurred, he would have denied it as any teen would.

But at some point, someone would have bugged him about the alleged 
buggering, and he would have had to tell it frankly. Either that, or he was 
not awakened at all. Imo. There's no in-between. An awakened being has quite 
dealt with the calumnies that life handed out to them, and is as objective 
as if it were the 3rd person, or to compare apples and oranges: the split, 
multiple personalities that often arise out of early, repeated abuse in 
unstable egos- one that has arisen as a "protector personality" can be 
objective and honest as the day is long in admitting and describing abuse 
that happened to its younger, vulnerable 'associate' self.
That's a digression, but do you see what I'm getting at? K, at some point, 
if he'd been abused, would have had to face it down that any awakened Ego 
would- otherwise, any 'attainment' of his would have been extremely limited.

Another is what you characterize re: society of a century ago. I can well 
imagine the fear of J and K's father, being an Indian, at a Britisher taking 
an interest in his ( likely) handsome sons. Imagine this, if you will: 
English army officers and public school seniors had a tradition, mind you, 
of bully-boys.
And I'm sure, pardon the pun, there was plenty of cross-pollination of that 
vice into other male-dominated societal roles, Church and the Royal Navy 
coming to mind, among others.

Not to mention that Great Britain herself had had India figuratively and 
politically bent over a barrel for 3 centuries.
So, no wonder the father was jumpy. What astonishes me, then, is that the 
father relented and let the boy sail off with Leadbeater on a steamer?????
You see the inconsistency, I'm sure.

> denials. While we cannot know at this late date what the nature of
> CWL's relationship with Jinarajada actually was, we certainly know
> that CWL invented a fictitious personal history and used lies to
> gain trust and intimacy with a young teenager. Damning in itself
> IMO.
>
> Paul
That is damning, no doubt, no matter what CWL's motives. And when one 
assumes to such a weighty mantle as Leadbeater apparently did, each and 
every personal flaw will come to light.
I've seen similar downfalls in different walks of life- it's the stuff of 
Shakespeare in great souls, of yahoo list gossip in average folks.

Did Jinarajadasa claim to have been abused by CWL?

regards-

Ali

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