Krishnamurti Foundation India,

Chennai

The Krishnamurti Foundation India (KFI), with its headquarters at Vasanta Vihar, Chennai, was set up in 1928 as a charitable institution by J. Krishnamurti, Dr. Annie Besant and five other founder-members under the name of The Rishi Valley Trust. The name was changed to the Foundation for New Education in 1953 and then to the Krishnamurti Foundation India in 1970. The activities of the Foundation cover diverse areas -- education, research, cultural, humanitarian and environmental programmes -- which are carried out in the light of Krishnamurti's teachings. Acquiring, preserving and publishing the works of Krishnamurti and materials relating to his life are the other major aims of the KFI.

Vasanta Vihar, the KFI headquarters, where Krishnamurti stayed during his annual visits to Chennai, served as the venue of his public talks and discussions. The campus today houses The Study, the Archives, the Publications Section, the Audio-Video Section, a Book shop selling books and tapes, and a Guest House.

The Foundation has created centres and forums which enable those interested in Krishnamurti's teachings to come together.

Study centres, retreats and schools: These have been established at Chennai, Rishi Valley, Bangalore, Mumbai, Varanasi, Uttar Kashi and Pune. These places, which are in locations of great natural beauty and silence, are conducive to enquiry, and the study of Krishnamurti's teachings.

Dissemination: Dissemination of the teachings is done mainly through the sale and distribution of books, video and audiotapes.

Archives: A project to preserve the teachings for posterity has been initiated after Krishnamurti's life-time, through the Archives at Chennai, Varanasi and Rishi Valley.

Annual gatherings: In early winter every year, the Foundation holds a gathering at any one of its centres. The gathering is open to all, and its programme includes lectures, discussions and video screenings. Announcements about the gathering are made through the KFI Bulletin, the Vasanta Vihar Newsletter and the Mailing List.

Centre for Continuing Dialogue: This is a forum for inter-disciplinary enquiry into the questions raised by Krishnamurti. It holds talks and dialogues to which participants are involved from India and abroad.

Publications: In his long speaking career spanning six decades, Krishnamurti visited distant corners of the world giving thought-provoking talks to the public, holding discussions with great scientists and intellectuals of the West, and scholars and religious heads of the East. These were recorded initially as verbatim reports, and in later years on audio and video tapes.

Books have been the means by which most people have come to know of Krishnamurti's teachings. The Publications Section (KFI) brings out, apart from new titles, reprints of earlier titles from time to time. The books include public talks, question-and-answer sessions, writings, letters and notebooks, anthologies, biographies and evaluative studies of his teachings. The KFI has also arrangements with the Krishnamurti Foundation Trust and the Krishnamurti Foundation of America to reprint their books for the Indian market.

A Bulletin in English, published thrice a year, is mailed to subscribers and institutions. It offers unpublished materials of Krishnamurti and keeps subscribers informed of the Foundation activities.

The Vasanta Vihar Newsletter, providing information about the activities of the Foundation and its various centres, is published thrice a year, and mailed free on request.

Parisamvad, a quarterly Bulletin in Hindi, is brought out by the Study Centre at Varanasi.

The Foundation's Translation Cells invite scholars to translate the English books into Indian languages. Today, translations exist in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Oriya, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu.