Taking residence at Ojai, 'the process', and growing expectations
In 1922 Krishnamurti and Nitya travelled from Sydney to California. In California, they stayed at a cottage in the Ojai Valley. It was thought that the area's climate would be beneficial to Nitya, who had been diagnosed with tuberculosis. Nitya's failing health became a concern for Krishnamurti. At Ojai they met Rosalind Williams, a young American who became close to them both, and who was later to play a significant role in Krishnamurti's life. For the first time the brothers were without immediate supervision by their Theosophical Society minders. They found the Valley to be very agreeable. Eventually, a trust, formed by supporters, bought a cottage and surrounding property there for them. This became Krishnamurti's official residence.
At Ojai in August and September 1922, Krishnamurti went through a series of "disturbing physical symptoms that progressed from discomfort to pain," during which he mistook Rosalind for his mother, interpreted by some of his followers as intense "life-changing" experiences and signs of his advancement along "the path". The initial events happened in two distinct phases: First a three-day acute pain in the neck accompanied by a mystical experience, and two weeks later, a longer-lasting condition that Krishnamurti and those around him referred to as "the process". This condition recurred, at frequent intervals and with varying intensity, until his death.
According to Krishnamurti, Nitya, Rosalind, and Mr. Warrington, it started on 17 August 1922 when Krishnamurti complained of a sharp pain at the nape of his neck. Over the next two days the symptoms worsened, with increasing pain and sensitivity, loss of appetite, and occasional delirious ramblings. He seemed to lapse into unconsciousness but later recounted that he was very much aware of his surroundings, and that while in that state at 19 August 1922 he had "the first most extraordinary experience", in which he felt "at one with his surroundings".
The following day the symptoms and the experience intensified, and he had an out-of-body experience, feeling "the vibrations of Lord Buddha," experiencing peace and a "profound calmness". Krishnamurti also wrote that he had "touched compassion which heals all sorrow and suffering; it is not for myself, but for the world".
Following – and apparently related to – these events the condition that came to be known as the process started to affect him, in September and October that year, as a regular, almost nightly occurrence. Later the process resumed intermittently, with varying degrees of pain, physical discomfort, and sensitivity, occasionally a lapse into a childlike state, and sometimes an apparent fading out of consciousness, explained as either his body giving in to pain or his mind "going off".
These experiences were accompanied or followed by what was interchangeably described as, "the benediction", "the immensity", "the sacredness", "the vastness" and, most often, "the otherness" or "the other". It was a state related to, but distinct from the process. According to Lutyens it is evident from his notebook that this experience of otherness was "with him almost continuously" during his life, and gave him "a sense of being protected". Krishnamurti describes it in his notebook as typically following an acute experience of the process, for example, on awakening the next day:
... woke up early with that strong feeling of otherness, of another world that is beyond all thought ... there is a heightening of sensitivity. Sensitivity, not only to beauty but also to all other things. The blade of grass was astonishingly green; that one blade of grass contained the whole spectrum of colour; it was intense, dazzling and such a small thing, so easy to destroy ...
This experience of the otherness was present with him in daily events:
It is strange how during one or two interviews that strength, that power filled the room. It seemed to be in one's eyes and breath. It comes into being, suddenly and most unexpectedly, with a force and intensity that is quite overpowering and at other times it's there, quietly and serenely. But it's there, whether one wants it or not. There is no possibility of getting used to it for it has never been nor will it ever be ..."
Lutyens (1975) revealed the existence of the process in The Years of Awakening, the first volume of her biography of Krishnamurti. The existence and history of these experiences had remained unknown outside of the Theosophical Society leadership and Krishnamurti's circle of close associates and friends.
Roland Vernon, another of his biographers, states that previous attempts (by others) at revealing details from his past, including these reputed experiences, were suppressed by Krishnamurti. According to Vernon, Krishnamurti "believed, with good reason, that the sensationalism of his early story would cloud the public's perception of his [then] current work". Krishnamurti himself gave the following description of his development to Rom Landau in 1935:
Rom Landau: How did you come to that state of unity with everything?
Krishnamurti: People have asked me about that before, and I always feel that they expect to hear the dramatic account of some sudden miracle through which I suddenly became one with the universe. Of course nothing of the sort happened. My inner awareness was always there; though it took me time to feel it more and more clearly; and equally it took time to find words that would at all describe it.It was not a sudden flash, but a slow yet constant clarification of something that was always there. It did not grow, as people often think. Nothing can grow in us that is of spiritual importance. It has to be there in all its fullness, and then the only thing that happens is that we become more and more aware of it. It is our intellectual reaction and nothing else that needs time to become more articulate, more definite.
However Krishnamurti often hinted at otherness-like states in later talks and discussions: During Krishnamurti's later years, the nature and provenance of the continuing process often came up as a subject in private discussions between himself and associates, also stating that the experience of the otherness continued as he was nearing death. These discussions shed some light on the subject but were ultimately inconclusive.
Since the initial occurrences of 1922, several explanations have been proposed for these experiences of Krishnamurti's, including epilepsy. Leadbeater and other Theosophists expected the "vehicle" to have certain paranormal experiences but were nevertheless mystified by these developments.
As news of these experiences spread, rumours concerning the messianic status of Krishnamurti reached fever pitch as the 1925 Theosophical Society Convention was planned, on the 50th anniversary of its founding. There were expectations of significant happenings. Paralleling the increasing adulation was Krishnamurti's growing discomfort with it. In related developments, prominent Theosophists and their factions within the Society were trying to position themselves favourably relative to the Coming, which was widely rumoured to be approaching. He stated that "Too much of everything is bad". "Extraordinary" pronouncements of spiritual advancement were made by various parties, disputed by others, and the internal Theosophical politics further alienated Krishnamurti.
Nitya's persistent health problems had periodically resurfaced throughout this time. On 13 November 1925, at age 27, he died in Ojai from complications of influenza and tuberculosis. Despite Nitya's poor health, his death was unexpected, and it fundamentally shook Krishnamurti's belief in Theosophy and in the leaders of the Theosophical Society. He had received their assurances regarding Nitya's health, and had come to believe that "Nitya was essential for [his] life-mission and therefore he would not be allowed to die," a belief shared by Annie Besant and Krishnamurti's circle. Jayakar wrote that "his belief in the Masters and the hierarchy had undergone a total revolution." Moreover, Nitya had been the "last surviving link to his family and childhood. ... The only person to whom he could talk openly, his best friend and companion." According to eyewitness accounts, the news "broke him completely." but 12 days after Nitya's death he was "immensely quiet, radiant, and free of all sentiment and emotion"; "there was not a shadow ... to show what he had been through."
