cover image Krishnamurti: The Reluctant Messiah

Krishnamurti: The Reluctant Messiah

Sidney Field. Paragon House Publishers, $16.95 (2pp) ISBN 978-1-55778-180-2

Though at times touching in its simple expression of devotion and friendship, this memoir will disappoint those looking for the story of a rapscallion transformed by the mystic calling of holy office. The Hindu leader Krishnamurti, who died in 1988, seems to have been anything but reluctant to assume his vocation; Disney screenwriter Field depicts him as an eminence gris even when young. It appears that the guru showed a passion for fast luxury cars, and was able to find humor in his own belches, but the darker earthly pleasures (such as those offered during Krishnamurti's many visits to Hollywood) evidently held no temptation--at a Hollywood party, Krishnamurti found the dancing repellent and fled. Field's role as an acolyte has apparently ruled out in-depth probing, and we get little sense of the guru's life as a starving Indian teenager, or how he matured as a leader and philosopher. Instead, an inordinate number of pages are spent detailing a lawsuit between Krishnamurti and a deputy. Those outside the fold may also find the lack of historical background confusing. (Dec.)