Rosalind Rajagopal - Early Life

Early Life

She was born Rosalind Edith Williams on 20 June 1903 in Buffalo, New York, to John Williams and Sophia Waldow. She was the youngest of four daughters. During 1918, Sophia Williams left her husband and moved to Hollywood with her daughters. It was through Rosalind's Theosophist sister Erma, that she met also-Theosophist Mary Gray. In 1922 Gray enlisted Rosalind to help with the newly arrived from India Jiddu brothers, who were staying at Gray's estate in Ojai, California. Jiddu Krishnamurti, then twenty-seven years old, was being groomed by the quasi-mystical, pan-religious society as the "vehicle" of a World Teacher, a sort of new Christ expected imminently by many Theosophists. His brother Nitya was charged with fulfilling administrative and organizational duties related to Krishnamurti's mission. Noted for her beauty and vivacity, Rosalind became close to both. This relationship lead to her being a witness, along with Nitya, of Krishnamurti's "life-changing" spiritual experiences of August–September 1922.

Because of her special relationship with the Jiddu brothers, Rosalind moved with them through rarefied Theosophical circles, making the acquaintances of Annie Besant, Charles Webster Leadbeater and authors Emily and Mary Lutyens. She accompanied the brothers to India and Australia in 1925. It was in Sydney that Nitya's tuberculosis grew worse, hastening the trio's return to the more beneficial climate of Ojai in July. According to her daughter Radha Rajagopal Sloss, Rosalind and Nitya were in love when he died in November 1925, leaving Rosalind permanently affected by his loss.