Annie Besant
Annie Besant (October 1, 1847 - September 20, 1933) was a prominent Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator.
Besant was divorced from her clergyman husband Frank Besant, younger brother of Walter Besant, and she had to leave both her children behind. She fought for the causes she thought were right, starting with freedom of thought, women's rights, birth control, Fabian socialism and workers' rights. She was a prolific writer and a powerful orator.
Her conversion to Theosophy came after reading The Secret Doctrine by H.P. Blavatsky in 1889 and writing a review on this book.
Soon after becoming a member of the Theosophical Society she went to India for the first time (in 1893). Thereafter she devoted much of her energy not only to the Theosophical Society, but also to India's freedom and progress.
Together with Charles Webster Leadbeater she investigated the universe, matter and the history of mankind through clairvoyance. The two became embroiled over Leadbeater's advice to young boys to masturbate. At the time such advice was highly controversial. He had to leave the Theosophical Society over this in 1906. In 1908 he was taken back into the fold through the agency of Besant, who had been elected president of the Theosophical Society in 1907. One of the principle features of Besant's leadership of the Theosophist movement was a decisive turn away from Theravada Buddhism, and a relocation of the focus of their activities from Ceylon (the centre of activity for Olcott, a founding member and former president) to "The Aryavarta", as she called central India. Besant actively courted Hindu opinion more than former Theosophical leaders, excoriating Buddhism, and popularizing the notion that the Buddha was merely an incarnation of Vishu, and that the Buddhist religion should be regarded with disdain, or excluded from further revival in India. This was a clear reversal of policy from Blavatsky and Olcott's very public conversion to Buddhism in Ceylon, and their promotion of Buddhist revival activities on the subcontinent (see also: Maha Bodhi Society).
Soon after Besant's inheritance of the presidency, in 1909, Leadbeater discovered J. Krishnamurti on the beach at Adyar. This started years of upheaval in the Theosophical Society in Adyar, as the boy was hailed the new Messiah. J. Krishnamurti and his brother Nitya were brought up by theosophists from that moment on.
Eventually, in 1929, Krishnamurti ended up disbanding the Order of the Star of the East, which had been founded to support him and of which he had been made the leader. This destroyed Besant's spirit, as it went against her whole belief system. She tried to accommodate Krishnamurti's views into her life, but never really succeeded. The two remained friends, though, until the end of her life.
Works
- The Political Status of Women (1874)
- Marriage, As It Was, As It Is, And As It Should Be: A Plea For Reform (1878)
- The Law Of Population (1877)
- Autobiographical Sketches (1885)
- "Why I became a Theosophist" (1889)
- An Autobiography (1893)
- The Ancient Wisdom (1898)
- Bhagavad Gita (Translation) (1905)
- Introduction to Yoga (1908)
- Occult Chemistry (with Leadbeater) (1919)
- The Doctrine of the Heart (1920)
