• This has been said again and again, down through the ages. All the religious people have been saying this; 'We come alone into this world, we go alone.' All togetherness is illusory.
    - Osho

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Seven categories of Man

 

 

"There are two lines along which man's development proceeds, the line of knowledge and the line of being. In right evolution the line of knowledge and the line of being develop simultaneously, parallel to, and helping one another. But if the line of knowledge gets too far ahead of the line of being, or if the line of being gets ahead of the line of knowledge, man's development goes wrong, and sooner or later it must come to a standstill.

 

"People understand what 'knowledge' means. And they understand the possibility of different levels of knowledge. They understand that knowledge may be lesser or greater, that is to say, of one quality or of another quality. But they do not understand this in relation to 'being.' 'Being,' for them, means simply 'existence' to which is opposed just 'non-existence.' They do not understand that being or existence may be of very different levels and categories. Take for instance the being of a mineral and of a plant. It is a different being. The being of a plant and of an animal is again a different being. The being of an animal and of a man is a different being. But the being of two people can differ from one another more than the being of a mineral and of an animal. This is exactly what people do not understand. And they do not understand that knowledge depends on being. Not only do they not understand this latter but they definitely do not wish to understand it. And especially in Western culture it is considered that a man may possess great knowledge, for example he may be an able scientist, make discoveries, advance science, and at the same time he may be, and has the right to be, a petty, egoistic, caviling, mean, envious, vain, naive, and absent­ minded man. It seems to be considered here that a professor must always forget his umbrella everywhere.

 

"And yet it is his being. And people think that his knowledge does not depend on his being. People of Western culture put great value on the level of a man's knowledge but they do not value the level of a man's being and are not ashamed of the low level of their own being. They do not even understand what it means. And they do not understand that a man's knowledge depends on the level of his being.

 

"If knowledge gets far ahead of being, it becomes theoretical and abstract and inapplicable to life, or actually harmful, because instead of serving life and helping people the better to struggle with the difficulties they meet, it begins to complicate man's life, brings new difficulties into it, new troubles and calamities which were not there before.

 

"The reason for this is that knowledge which is not in accordance with being cannot be large enough for, or sufficiently suited to, man's real needs. It will always be a knowledge of one thing together with ignorance of another thing; a knowledge of the detail without a knowledge of the whole; a knowledge of the form without a knowledge of the essence.

 

"Such preponderance of knowledge over being is observed in present-day culture. The idea of the value and importance of the level of being is completely forgotten. And it is forgotten that the level of knowledge is determined by the level of being. Actually at a given level of being the possibilities of knowledge are limited and finite. Within the limits of a given being the quality of knowledge cannot be changed, and the accumulation of information of one and the same nature, within already known limits, alone is possible. A change in the nature of knowledge is possible only with a change in the nature of being.

 

"Taken in itself, a man's being has many different sides. The most characteristic feature of a modem man is the absence of unity in him and, further, the absence in him of even traces of those properties which he most likes to ascribe to himself, that is, 'lucid consciousness,' 'free will,' a 'permanent ego or I,' and the 'ability to do.' It may surprise you if I say that the chief feature of a modem man's being which explains everything else that is lacking in him is sleep.

 

"A modern man lives in sleep, in sleep he is born and in sleep he dies. About sleep, its significance and its role in life, we will speak later. But at present just think of one thing, what knowledge can a sleeping man have? And if you think about it and at the same time remember that sleep is the chief feature of our being, it will at once become clear to you that if a man really wants knowledge, he must first of all think about how to wake, that is, about how to change his being.

 

"Exteriorly man's being has many different sides: activity or passivity; truthfulness or a tendency to lie; sincerity or insincerity; courage, cowardice; self­ control, profligacy; irritability, egoism, readiness for self-sacrifice, pride, vanity, conceit, industry, laziness, morality, depravity; all these and much more besides make up the being of man.

 

"But all this is entirely mechanical in man. If he lies it means that he cannot help lying. If he tells the truth it means that he cannot help telling the truth, and so it is with everything. Everything happens, a man can do nothing either in himself or outside himself.

 

"But of course there are limits and bounds. Generally speaking, the being of a modem man is of very inferior quality. But it can be of such bad quality that no change is possible. This must always be remembered. People whose being can still be changed are very lucky. But there are people who are definitely diseased, broken machines with whom nothing can be done. And such people are in the majority. If you think of this you will understand why only few can receive real knowledge. Their being prevents it.

 

"Generally speaking, the balance between knowledge and being is even more important than a separate development of either one or the other. And a separate development of knowledge or of being is not desirable in any way. Although it is precisely this one-sided development that often seems particularly attractive to people.

"If knowledge outweighs being a man knows but has no power to do. It is useless knowledge. On the other hand if being outweighs knowledge a man has the power to do, but does not know, that is, he can do something but does not know what to do. The being he has acquired becomes aimless and efforts made to attain it prove to be useless.

 

"In the history of humanity there are known many examples when entire civilizations have perished because knowledge outweighed being or being outweighed knowledge.“

 

"What are the results of the development of the line of knowledge without being, or the development of the line of being without knowledge?" someone asked during a talk upon this subject.

 

"The development of the line of knowledge without the line of being gives a weak yogi," said G., "that is to say, a man who knows a great deal but can do nothing, a man who does not understand" (he emphasized these words) "what he knows, a man without appreciation, that is, a man for whom there is no difference between one kind of knowledge and another. And the development of the line of being without knowledge gives a stupid saint, that is, a man who can do a great deal but who does not know what to do or with what object; and if he does anything he acts in obedience to his subjective feelings which may lead him greatly astray and cause him to commit grave mistakes, that is, actually to do the opposite of what he wants. In either case both the weak yogi and the stupid saint are brought to a standstill. Neither the one nor the other can develop further.

 

"In order to understand this and, in general, the nature of knowledge and the nature of being, as well as their interrelation, it is necessary to understand the relation of knowledge and being to 'understanding.‘

 

"Knowledge is one thing, understanding is another thing.

 

"People often confuse these concepts and do not clearly grasp what is the difference between them.

 

"Knowledge by itself does not give understanding. Nor is understanding increased by an increase of knowledge alone. Understanding depends upon the relation of knowledge to being. Understanding is the resultant of knowledge and being. And knowledge and being must not diverge too far, otherwise understanding will prove to be far removed from either. At the same time the relation of knowledge to being does not change with a mere growth of knowledge. It changes only when being grows simultaneously with knowledge. In other words, understanding grows only with the growth of being.

 

"In ordinary thinking, people do not distinguish understanding from knowledge. They think that greater understanding depends on greater knowledge. Therefore they accumulate knowledge, or that which they call knowledge, but they do not know how to accumulate understanding and do not bother about it.

 

"And yet a person accustomed to self-observation knows for certain that at different periods of his life he has understood one and the same idea, one and the same thought, in totally different ways. It often seems strange to him that he could have understood so wrongly that which, in his opinion, he now understands rightly. And he realizes, at the same time, that his knowledge has not changed, and that he knew as much about the given subject before as he knows now. What, then, has changed? His being has changed. And once being has changed understanding must change also.

 

"The difference between knowledge and understanding becomes clear when we realize that knowledge may be the function of one center. Understanding, however, is the function of three centers. Thus the thinking apparatus may know something. But understanding appears only when a man feels and senses what is connected with it.

 

"We have spoken earlier about mechanicalness. A man cannot say that he understands the idea of mechanicalness if he only knows about it with his mind. He must feel it with his whole mass, with his whole being; then he will understand it.

 

"In the sphere of practical activity people know very well the difference between mere knowledge and understanding. They realize that to know and to know how to do are two different things, and that knowing how to do is not created by knowledge alone. But outside the sphere of practical activity people do not clearly understand what 'understanding' means.

 

"As a rule, when people realize that they do not understand a thing they try to find a name for what they do not 'understand,' and when they find a name they say they 'understand.' But to 'find a name' does not mean to 'understand.' Unfortunately, people are usually satisfied with names. A man who knows a great many names, that is, a great many words, is deemed to understand a great deal—again excepting, of course, any sphere of practical activity wherein his ignorance very soon becomes evident.

 

"One of the reasons for the divergence between the line of knowledge and the line of being in life, and the lack of understanding which is partly the cause and partly the effect of this divergence, is to be found in the language which people speak. This language is full of wrong concepts, wrong classifications, wrong associations. And the chief thing is that, owing to the essential characteristics of ordinary thinking, that is to say, to its vagueness and inaccuracy, every word can have thousands of different meanings according to the material the speaker has at his disposal and the complex of associations at work in him at the moment. People do not clearly realize to what a degree their language is subjective, that is, what different things each of them says while using the same words. They are not aware that each one of them speaks in a lan­ guage of his own, understanding other people's language either vaguely or not at all, and having no idea that each one of them speaks in a language unknown to him. People have a very firm conviction, or belief, that they speak the same language, that they understand one another. Actually this conviction has no foundation whatever. The language in which they speak is adapted to practical life only. People can communicate to one another information of a practical character, but as soon as they pass to a slightly more complex sphere they are immediately lost, and they cease to understand one another, although they are unconscious of it. People imagine that they often, if not always, understand one another, or that they can, at any rate, understand one another if they try or want to; they imagine that they understand the authors of the books they read and that other people understand them. This also is one of the illusions which people create for themselves and in the midst of which they live. As a matter of fact, no one understands anyone else. Two men can say the same thing with profound conviction but call it by different names, or argue endlessly together without suspecting that they are thinking exactly the same. Or, vice versa, two men can say the same words and imagine that they agree with, and understand, one another, whereas they are actually saying absolutely different things and do not understand one another in the least.

 

"If we take the simplest words that occur constantly in speech and endeavor to analyze the meaning given to them, we shall see at once that, at every moment of his life, every man puts into each word a special meaning which another man can never put into it or suspect.

 

"Let us take the word 'man' and imagine a conversation among a group of people in which the word 'man' is often heard. Without any exaggeration it can be said that the word 'man' will have as many meanings as there are people taking part in the conversation, and that these meanings will have nothing in common.

 

"In pronouncing the word 'man' everyone will involuntarily connect with this word the point of view from which he is generally accustomed to regard man, or from which, for some reason or other, he regards him at the moment. One man at the moment may be occupied with the question of the relation between the sexes. Then the word 'man' will have no general meaning for him and on hearing this word he will first of all ask himself—Which? man or woman? Another man may be religious and his first question will be—A Christian or not a Christian? The third man may be a doctor and the concept 'man' will mean for him a 'sick man' or a 'healthy man,' and, of course from the point of view of his speciality. A spiritualist will think of 'man' from the point of view of his 'astral body,' of 'life on the other side,' and so on, and he may say, if he is asked, that men are divided into mediums and non-mediums. A naturalist speaking of man will place the center of gravity of his thoughts in the idea of man as a zoological type, that is to say, in speaking of man he will think of the structure of his teeth, his fingers, his facial angle, the distance between the eyes. A lawyer will see in 'man' a statistical unit, or a subject for the application of laws, or a potential criminal, or a possible client. A moralist pronouncing the word 'man' will invariably introduce into it the idea of good and evil, and so on, and so on.

 

"People do not notice all these contradictions, do not notice that they never understand one another, that they always speak about different things. It is quite clear that, for proper study, for an exact exchange of thoughts, an exact language is necessary, which would make it possible to establish what a man actually means, would include an indication of the point of view from which a given concept is taken and determine the center of gravity of this concept. The idea is perfectly clear and every branch of science endeavors to elaborate and to establish an exact language for itself. But there is no universal language. People continually confuse the languages of different sciences and can never establish their exact correlation. And even in each separate branch of science new terminologies, new nomenclatures, are constantly appearing. And the further it goes the worse it becomes. Misunderstanding grows and increases instead of diminishing and there is every reason to think that it will continue to increase in the same way. And people will understand one another ever less and less.

 

"For exact understanding exact language is necessary. And the study of systems of ancient knowledge begins with the study of a language which will make it possible to establish at once exactly what is being said, from what point of view, and in what connection. This new language contains hardly any new terms or new nomenclature, but it bases the construction of speech upon a new principle, namely, the principle of relativity; that is to say, it introduces relativity into all concepts and thus makes possible an accurate determination of the angle of thought—for what precisely ordinary language lacks are expressions of relativity.

 

"When a man has mastered this language, then, with its help, there can be transmitted and communicated to him a great deal of knowledge and information which cannot be transmitted in ordinary language even by using all possible scientific and philosophical terms.

 

"The fundamental property of the new language is that all ideas in it are concentrated round one idea, that is, they are taken in their mutual relationship from the point of view of one idea. This idea is the idea of evolution. Of course, not evolution in the sense of mechanical evolution, because such an evolution does not exist, but in the sense of a conscious and volitional evolution, which alone is possible. "Everything in the world, from solar systems to man, and from man to atom, either rises or descends, either evolves or degenerates, either develops or decays. Bur nothing evolves mechanically. Only degeneration and destruction proceed mechanically. That which cannot evolve consciously—degenerates. Help from outside is possible only in so far as it is valued and accepted, even if it is only by feeling in the beginning.

 

 

"The language in which understanding is possible is constructed upon the indication of the relation of the object under examination to the evolution possible for it; upon the indication of its place in the evolutionary ladder.

 

"For this purpose many of our usual ideas are divided according to the steps of this evolution.

 

"Once again let us take the idea man. In the language of which I speak, instead of the word 'man,' seven words are used, namely: man number one, man number two, man number three, man number four, man number five, man number six, and man number seven. With these seven ideas people are already able to understand one another when speaking of man.

 

"Man number seven means a man who has reached the full development possible to man and who possesses everything a man can possess, that is, will, consciousness, permanent and unchangeable I, individuality, immortality, and many other properties which, in our blindness and ignorance, we ascribe to ourselves. It is only when to a certain extent we understand man number seven and his properties that we can under­ stand the gradual stages through which we can approach him, that is, understand the process of development possible for us.

 

"Man number six stands very close to man number seven. He differs from man number seven only by the fact that some of his properties have not as yet become permanent.

 

"Man number five is also for us an unattainable standard of man, for it is a man who has reached unity.

 

"Man number four is an intermediate stage. I shall speak of him later.

 

"Man number one, number two, and number three, these are people who constitute mechanical humanity on the same level on which they are born.

 

"Man number one means man in whom the center of gravity of his psychic life lies in the moving center. This is the man of the physical body, the man with whom the moving and the instinctive functions constantly outweigh the emotional and the thinking functions.

 

"Man number two means man on the same level of development, but man in whom the center of gravity of his psychic life lies in the emotional center, that is, man with whom the emotional functions outweigh all others; the man of feeling, the emotional man.

 

"Man number three means man on the same level of development but man in whom the center of gravity of his psychic life lies in the intellectual center, that is, man with whom the thinking functions gain the upper hand over the moving, instinctive, and emotional functions; the man of reason, who goes into everything from theories, from mental considerations.

 

"Every man is born number one, number two, or number three.

 

"Man number four is not born ready-made. He is born one, two, or three, and becomes four only as a result of efforts of a definite character. Man number four is always the product of school work. He can neither be born, nor develop accidentally or as the result of ordinary influences of bringing up, education, and so on. Man number four already stands on a different level to man number one, two, and three; he has a permanent center of gravity which consists in his ideas, in his valuation of the work, and in his relation to the school. In addition his psychic centers have already begun to be balanced; one center in him cannot have such a preponderance over others as is the case with people of the first three categories. He already begins to know himself and begins to know whither he is going.

 

"Man number five has already been crystallized; he cannot change as man number one, two, and three change. But it must be noted that man number five can be the result of right work and he can be the result of wrong work. He can become number five from number four and he can become number five without having been four. And in this case he cannot develop further, cannot become number six and seven. In order to become number six he must again melt his crystallized essence, must intentionally lose his being of man number five. And this can be achieved only through terrible sufferings. Fortunately these cases of wrong development occur very rarely.

"The division of man into seven categories, or seven numbers, explains thousands of things which otherwise cannot be understood. This division gives the first conception of relativity as applied to man. Things may be one thing or another thing according to the kind of man from whose point of view, or in relation to whom, they are taken.

 

"In accordance with this, all the inner and all the outer manifestations of man, all that belongs to man, and all that is created by him, is also divided into seven categories.

 

"It can now be said that there exists a knowledge number one, based upon imitation or upon instincts, or learned by heart, crammed or drilled into a man. Number one, if he is man number one in the full sense of the term, learns everything like a parrot or a monkey.

 

"The knowledge of man number two is merely the knowledge of what he likes; what he does not like he does not know. Always and in everything he wants something pleasant. Or, if he is a sick man, he will, on the contrary, know only what he dislikes, what repels him and what evokes in him fear, horror, and loathing.

 

"The knowledge of man number three is knowledge based upon subjectively logical thinking, upon words, upon literal understanding. It is the knowledge of bookworms, of scholastics. Men number three, for example, have counted how many times each letter of the Arabic alphabet is repeated in the Koran of Mohammed, and upon this have based a whole system of interpretation of the. Koran.

 

"The knowledge of man number four is a very different kind of knowledge. It is knowledge which comes from man number five, who in turn receives it from man number six, who has received it from man number seven. But, of course, man number four assimilates of this knowledge only what is possible according to his powers. But, in comparison with man number one, man number two, and man number three, man number four has begun to get free from the subjective elements in his knowledge and to move along the path towards objective knowledge.

 

"The knowledge of man number five is whole, indivisible knowledge. He has now one indivisible I and all his knowledge belongs to this I. He cannot have one I that knows something which another does not know. What he knows, the whole of him knows. His knowledge is nearer to objective knowledge than the knowledge of man number four.

 

"The knowledge of man number six is the complete knowledge possible to man; but it can still be lost.

 

"The knowledge of man number seven is his own knowledge, which cannot be taken away from him; it is the objective and completely practiced knowledge of All. "It is exactly the same with being. There is the being of man number one, that is, the being of a man living by his instincts and his sensations; the being of man number two, that is to say, the being of the sentimental, the emotional man; the being of man number three, that is, the being of the rational, the theoretical man, and so on. It is quite clear why knowledge cannot be far away from being. Man number one, two, or three cannot, by reason of his being, possess the knowledge of man number four, man number five, and higher. Whatever you may give him, he may interpret it in his own way, he will reduce every idea to the level on which he is himself.

 

"The same order of division into seven categories must be applied to everything relating to man. There is art number one, that is the art of man number one, imitative, copying art, or crudely primitive and sensuous art such as the dances and music of savage peoples. There is art number two, sentimental art; art number three, intellectual, invented art; and there must be art number four, number five, and so on.

 

"In exactly the same way there exists the religion of man number one, that is to say, a religion consisting of rites, of external forms, of sacrifices and ceremonies of imposing splendor and brilliance, or, on the contrary, of a gloomy, cruel, and savage character, and so on. There is the religion of man number two; the religion of faith, love, adoration, impulse, enthusiasm, which soon becomes transformed into the religion of persecution, oppression, and extermination of 'heretics' and 'heathens.' There is the religion of man number three; the intellectual, theoretical religion of proofs and arguments, based upon logical deductions, considerations, and interpretations. Religions number one, number two, and number three are really the only ones we know; all known and existing religions and denominations in the world belong to one of these three categories. What the religion of man number four or the religion of man number five and so on is, we do not know, and we cannot know so long as we remain what we are.

 

"If instead of religion in general we take Christianity, then again there exists a Christianity number one, that is to say, paganism in the guise of Christianity. Christianity number two is an emotional religion, sometimes very pure but without force, sometimes full of bloodshed and horror leading to the Inquisition, to religious wars. Christianity number three, instances of which are afforded by various forms of Protestantism, is based upon dialectic, argument, theories, and so forth. Then there is Christianity number four, of which men number one, number two, and number three have no conception whatever.

 

"In actual fact Christianity number one, number two, and number three is simply external imitation. Only man number four strives to be a Christian and only man number five can actually be a Christian. For to be a Christian means to have the being of a Christian, that is, to live in accordance with Christ's precepts.

 

"Man number one, number two, and number three cannot live in accordance with Christ's precepts because with them everything 'happens.' Today it is one thing and tomorrow it is quite another thing. Today they are ready to give away their last shirt and tomorrow to tear a man to pieces because he refuses to give up his shirt to them. They are swayed by every chance event. They are not masters of themselves and therefore they cannot decide to be Christians and really be Christians.

 

"Science, philosophy, and all manifestations of man's life and activity can be divided in exactly the same way into seven categories. But the ordinary language in which people speak is very far from any such divisions, and this is why it is so difficult for people to understand one another.

 

"In analyzing the various subjective meanings of the word 'man' we have seen how varied and contradictory, and, above all, how concealed and unnoticeable even to the speaker. himself are the meanings and the shades of meaning created by habitual associations that can be put into a word.

 

"Let us take some other word, for example, the term 'world.' Each man understands it in his own way, and each man in an entirely different way. Everyone when he hears or pronounces the word 'world' has associations entirely foreign and incomprehensible to another. Every 'conception of the world,' every habitual form of thinking, carries with it its own associations, its own ideas.

 

"In a man with a religious conception of the world, a Christian, the word 'world' will call up a whole series of religious ideas, will necessarily become connected with the idea of God, with the idea of the creation of the world or the end of the world, or of the 'sinful' world, and so on.

 

"For a follower of the Vedantic philosophy the world before anything else will be illusion, 'Maya.‘

 

"A theosophist will think of the different 'planes,' the physical, the astral, the mental, and so on.

 

"A spiritualist will think of the world 'beyond,' the world of spirits.

 

"A physicist will look upon the world from the point of view of the structure of matter; it will be a world of molecules or atoms, or electrons.

 

"For the astronomer the world will be a world of stars and nebulae.

 

"And so on and so on. The phenomenal and the noumenal world, the world of the fourth and other dimensions, the world of good and the world of evil, the material world and the immaterial world, the proportion of power in the different nations of the world, can man be 'saved' in the world, and so on, and so on.

 

"People have thousands of different ideas about the world but not one general idea which would enable them to understand one another and to determine at once from what point of view they desire to regard the world.

 

"It is impossible to study a system of the universe without studying man. At the same time it is impossible to study man without studying the universe. Man is an image of the world. He was created by the same laws which created the whole of the world. By knowing and understanding himself he will know and understand the whole world, all the laws that create and govern the world. And at the same time by studying the world and the laws that govern the world he will learn and understand the laws that govern him. In this connection some laws are understood and assimilated more easily by studying the objective world, while man can only understand other laws by studying himself. The study of the world and the study of man must therefore run parallel, one helping the other.

 

"In relation to the term 'world' it is necessary to understand from the very outset that there are many worlds, and that we live not in one world, but in several worlds. This is not readily understood because in ordinary language the term 'world' is generally used in the singular. And if the plural 'worlds' is used it is merely to emphasize, as it were, the same idea, or to express the idea of various worlds existing parallel to one another. Our language does not have the idea of worlds contained one within another. And yet the idea that we live in different worlds precisely implies worlds contained one within another to which we stand in different relations.

 

"If we desire an answer to the question what is the world or worlds in which we live, we must first of all ask ourselves what it is that we may call 'world' in the most intimate and immediate relation to us.,

 

"To this we may answer that we often give the name of 'world' to the world of people, to humanity, in which we live, of which we form part. But humanity forms an inseparable part of organic life on earth, therefore it would be right to say that the world nearest to us is organic life on earth, the world of plants, animals, and men.

 

"But organic life is also in the world. What then is 'world' for organic life? "To this we can answer that for organic life our planet the earth is 'world.' "But the earth is also in the world. What then is 'world' for the earth?

 

" 'World' for the earth is the planetary world of the solar system, of which it forms a part.

 

"What is 'world' for all the planets taken together? The sun, or the sphere of the sun's influence, or the solar system, of which the planets form a part.

 

"For the sun, in its turn, 'world' is our world of stars, or the Milky Way, an accumulation of a vast number of solar systems.

 

"Furthermore, from an astronomical point of view, it is quite possible to presume a multitude of worlds existing at enormous distances from one another in the space of 'all worlds.' These worlds taken together will be 'world' for the Milky Way.

 

"Further, passing to philosophical conclusions, we may say that 'all worlds' must form some, for us, incomprehensible and unknown Whole or One (as an apple is one). This Whole, or One, or All, which may be called the 'Absolute,' or the 'Independent' because, including everything within itself, it is not dependent upon anything, is 'world' for 'all worlds.' Logically it is quite possible to think of a state of things where All forms one single Whole. Such a whole will certainly be the Absolute, which means the Independent, because it, that is, the All, is infinite and indivisible.

 

"The Absolute, that is, the state of things when the All constitutes one Whole, is, as it were, the primordial state of things, out of which, by division and differentiation, arises the diversity of the phenomena observed by us.

 

"Man lives in all these worlds but in different ways.

 

"This means that he is first of all influenced by the nearest world, the one immediate to him, of which he forms a part. Worlds further away also influence man, directly as well as through other intermediate worlds, but their action is diminished in proportion to their remoteness or to the increase in the difference between them and man. As will be seen later, the direct influence of the Absolute does not reach man. But the influence of the next world and the influence of the star world are already perfectly clear in the life of man, although they are certainly unknown to science."

 

-Gurdjieff, "In Search of The Miraculous"

 

 


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    Why Do Sufis Deliberately Disguise and Hide Themselves?

    Question 2 Why Do Sufis Deliberately Disguise and Hide Themselves? Because they want their energies to be used rightly, because they are creative people. They are not interested in name and fame, they are not interested in anything else; they are only interested in giving a new life to people who are desiring God, longing for God. Why should they waste their time and energy? There are man...
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    Gurdjieff said to people, that ‘You don’t have any soul’

    Question : Osho, For years, there have been growth and consciousness movements. what is growth and consciousness really about? is consciousness something everyone has and can develop — or do some have it, and some don’t? First: it was George Gurdjieff who for the first time in the whole history of man stated that everybody does not have the consciousness. Few have. The majority is without...
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    Osho on Gurdjieff’s Strange Methods

    Osho on Gurdjieff’s Strange Methods Gurdjieff was born near the Caucasus in Russia ― still there are nomads, wandering tribes. Even sixty years of communist torture has not been able to settle those nomads, because they consider wandering to be man's birthright, and perhaps they are right. He started moving from one group to another. He learned many languages of the nomads, he learned man...
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    on Sufi Sayings - Man is a Machine

    on Sufi Sayings - Man is a Machine Question 3 Why do the Sufis say that man is a Machine? Man is a machine, that's why. Man as he is is utterly unconscious. He is nothing but his habits, the sum total of his habits. Man is a robot. Man is not yet man: unless consciousness enters into your being, you will remain a machine. That's why the Sufis say man is a machine. It is from the Sufis tha...
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    Osho on Sufi Master Hakim Sanai

    Osho on Sufi Master Hakim Sanai 'The Hadiqa' is the essential fragrance of the path of love. Just as Sosan has been able to catch the very soul of Zen, Hakim Sanai has been able to catch the very soul of Sufism. Such books are not written, they are born. Nobody can compose them. They are not manufactured in the mind, by the mind; they come from the beyond. They are a gift. They are born a...
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    on Kabir Sayings

    ALL methods are methods, all means are means. And if you want to reach the end you will have to drop all means and all methods. That is the only way to enter into the ultimate. The lover will have to forget all about love, and the meditator will have to forget all about meditation. Yes, there comes a moment when the meditator does not meditate, because he has become meditation himself; no...
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    Sufism is the path of via positiva. Zen transcends mind through the negative

    EXISTENCE IS A DIALECTICS. IT DEPENDS ON POLAR OPPOSITES: man/woman, yin/yang, life/death, daylight. But the basic polarity in all the polarities is that of positive and negative. Only positive cannot exist, neither can the negative exist alone. They depend on each other. They are opposites and yet not opposites. If you understand this, you have a great key in your hands: they are opposit...
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    on Kabir Initation

    Kabir is saying: Where can I find a Master who can become a bridge between me and you, whom I can tell, and trust that the message will be delivered to you, who can answer on my behalf? Where can I find a Master? The story of Kabir is of tremendous beauty. It is said that he was born into a Mohammedan family. Nothing is absolutely certain, but he was abandoned by the parents and he was br...
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    Rabiya

    Rabiya “Sufis are one of the best products of all the religions. There is no comparison. And in Sufism there is no one compared with Rabiya al-Adabiya. She is at the very top. One of the great Sufis was Hassan. He was a very respected saint. I am reminded of one incident.... Just to make it clear to you, Rabiya is far above even the great masters.” -Osho, "The Sword and the Lotus, #17" “I...
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    Sufi means 'a seeker who is moving on the path of love.'

    Sufi means 'a seeker who is moving on the path of love.' God cannot be known through knowledge; knowledge is utterly meaningless. God can only be known through love. The way to god goes through the heart. It needs only an innocent heart, and you have it! And it is beautiful that your heart is still like a small child... it is rare. The head is carrying many burdens, but that is irrelevant...
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    Osho on Gurdjieff Disciple Thomas De Hartmann

    It is something in the very nature of things that this kind of thing happens again and again, and will continue to happen again and again; it cannot be stopped. De Hartmann lived with George Gurdjieff for perhaps the longest period of any of his other disciples, perhaps forty years or more. He was a great genius as far as music is concerned, and he was playing music for special meditation...
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    on Gurdjieff Dream Meditation

    Gurdjieff, one of the buddhas of this century, used to give a certain meditation to his disciples which is very significant. He used to say to his disciples, “If you can remember in a dream that ‘This is a dream,’ then you are on the very threshold of transformation.” But it is very difficult to remember in a dream that it is a dream. When you are in a dream you believe that it is the tru...
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    Mansoor

    Mansoor Mansoor has become an eternal light, for the simple reason that he was killed, brutally killed -- yes, chopped into parts. Jesus' death compared to Mansoor's looks very human, compassionate. Mansoor was killed part by part. First his legs were cut off, then his hands, then his eyes were taken out, then his tongue was cut out, then his head was cut off -- in parts, in pieces. But M...
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    Sufism is not part of Islam

    Osho on Sufism There are religions and religions, but Sufism is the religion – the very heart, the innermost core, the very soul. Sufism is not part of Islam; rather, on the contrary, Islam is part of Sufism. Sufism existed before Mohammed ever was born, and Sufism will exist when Mohammed is completely forgotten. Islams come and go; religions take form and dissolve; Sufism abides, contin...
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    Osho on Sufi Mysitc and people

    IDRIES SHAH idries shah I recommend every one of this man′s books. Don′t be afraid, I am still insane. Nothing can make me sane. But one book by Idries Shah towers above all the others. All are beautiful, I would like to mention them all, but the book The Sufis is just a diamond. The value of what he has done in The Sufis is immeasurable. Don′t interrupt, this is going beautifully. Talkin...
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    Has sufism arisen as a rebel against the establishment of islam? or is it pre-islam?

    Question 1 Has sufism arisen as a rebel against the establishment of islam? or is it pre-islam? It is both. Anything that is alive is both. It is very ancient and it is very new -- together, simultaneously. Sufism is pre-Islam and yet it is a unique new phenomenon too. It is the essential core of Islam and yet it is a rebellion against the establishment of Islam too. That's how it is alwa...
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    Osho on Gurdjieff Sacred Dances

    Osho on Gurdjieff Sacred Dances Gurdjieff created many dances for such techniques. He was working on this technique. All the dances he was using in his school were, really, swaying in circles. All the dances were in circles -- just whirling but remaining aware inside, by and by making the circles smaller and smaller. A time comes when the body stops, but the mind inside goes on moving, mo...
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    LA ILLAHA ILL ALLAH - There is no god but God.

    LA ILLAHA ILL ALLAH - There is no god but God. This is the fundamental essence of the way of the Sufis. This is the seed. Out of this seed has grown the Bodhi Tree of Sufism. In this small proclamation, all that is valuable in all the religions is contained: God is and only God is. This statement makes God synonymous with existence. God is the very isness of all that is. God is not separa...
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    (ref) Gurdjieff's Books

    A_Further_Record.pdf A_New_Model_of_the_Universe.pdf A_Record_of_Meetings.pdf Beezlebub's_Tales.pdf hellas.pdf In_Search_of_the_Miraculous.pdf La_Piramide_de_Fuego.pdf Lessons_in_Religion_for_a_Sceptacle_World.pdf Letters_from_Russia.pdf Life_is_Real_only_then.pdf Meetings_with_Remarkable_Men.pdf Strange_Life_of_Ivan_Osokin.pdf Talks_With_a_Devil.pdf Tertium_Organum.pdf The_Christian_Myst...
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    Osho on Jalaluddin Rumi : He is the only Sufi mystic who has been called mevlana

    Osho on Jalaluddin Rumi The poem by Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi is beautiful, as always. He has spoken only beautiful words. He is one of the most significant poets who are also mystics. That is a rare combination; there are millions of poets in the world and there are a few mystics in the world, but a man who is both is very rare to find. Rumi is a very rare flower. He is as great a poet as ...
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    Osho on Gurdjieff and Gurdjieff Disciple Nicoll

    Osho on Gurdjieff and Gurdjieff Disciple Nicoll Question: Beloved Osho, You have been critical of most of the masters, but i don’t recall hearing Your criticism of Gurdjieff. Is that significant? He talked about the sly man Who stole his Enlightenment from the Master. I’m puzzled about how to do It. How can i steal your silence, your bliss, your grace? Gurdjieff was really a remarkable My...
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    on Kabir death

    Nobody can save anybody else – and it is good that nobody can save anybody else. Otherwise even your liberation would be a kind of enforcement. It would be as if you have been forced to enter into heaven – two persons following you with naked swords and forcing you to enter into heaven. What kind of heaven would it be? – it would be hell. Hell is when something is forced upon you; what it...
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    The dancer disappeared in the dance

    Rumi does not mean anything, it is a name of a place; because he came from Rum he was called Rumi. His message is love, and he belongs to the highest categories of the Buddhas. He was the man who inverted a new method of meditation, whirling. There have been hundreds of devices; Rumi has also contributed one special device. He became enlightened not by sitting silently like a Buddha, he b...
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    Osho on Jalaluddin Rumi Whirling Meditation

    Osho on Jalaluddin Rumi Whirling Meditation Jalaluddin Rumi is one of the greatest Sufi mystics. He is the only mystic whom Sufis have called Mevlana. Mevlana means, our Beloved Master. A few people I love immensely. Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi is one of them, and the reason I love him is that he was not life-negative, but life-affirmative. And the meditation that he has found and which has c...
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    Osho on Gurdjieff's "You are in prison and you think you are free."

    Question 1: Osho, George gurdjieff has said: "you are in prison. if you wish to get out of prison, the first thing you must do is realize that you are in prison. if you think you are free, you can't escape." What are the prisons that i call "home"? Rama Prem, George Gurdjieff is one of the most significant masters of this age. He is unique in many ways -- nobody has said things in the con...
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    Mystic Kabir is Life Affirmative

    If the ultimate is a mystery, then life becomes a life of wonder. If the ultimate is not known, then poetry arises. If the ultimate is known -- or you THINK that it is known -- then philosophy arises. That is the difference between philosophy and poetry. And Kabir's approach is that of a poet, of a lover, of one who is absolutely wondering what it is all about. Not knowing it, he sings a ...
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    Gurdjieffian system depends on you having a Centre

    [A visitor says that he was at John Bennett’s school in England, where they did Gurdjieffian exercises: Actually I left there quite confused – I suppose there’s no way out of that. I never had much ability to do any of the exercises or things like that.] It may not have suited you because Gurdjieff’s work is for a particular type, the will type – people who can work hard and very persiste...
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    Gurdjieff Meditations : 2. Become Detach from your Acts

    Become Detach from your Acts You will have to be a little separate from your acts; then you will be able to know what unawareness is. Somebody insults you; immediately, instantly, anger arises. It is like pushing a button and the light comes on. There is no gap: you push a button and the light comes on. The light has no time to think whether to come on or not. Somebody insults you; he pus...
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    Osho on Whirling Meditation Technique

    on Whirling Meditation Technique The first meditation, which you will be doing in the morning, is related to the rising sun. It is a morning meditation. When the sleep is broken the whole of nature becomes alive. The night has gone, the darkness is no more, the sun is coming up, and everything becomes conscious and alert. So this first meditation is a meditation in which you have to be co...
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    on Sufi story - When a Person is filled with faith, Guru Begins his Work

    There is a story about a Sufi fakir. There were two fakirs who stayed opposite each other. The disciple of one of them, approached his guru and said, ”The Sufi next door is spreading all kinds of stories about you. He even maligns you and spreads horrible rumours about you. Why do you not set him right? Why do you not say something to him?” The fakir told him, ”Why don’t you go and find o...
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    Omar Khayyam

    Omar Khayyam One great Sufi poet, Omar Khayyam, has written in his RUBAIYAT, his world-famous collection of poetry: "I am going to drink, to dance, to love. I am going to commit every kind of sin because I trust God is compassionate -- he will forgive. My sins are very small; his forgiveness is immense." When the priests came to know about his book -- because in those days books were writ...
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    Story on Mulla Nasruddin

    on Mulla Nasruddin One Sufi story is that Mulla Nasruddin was chosen by the Shah of Iran to go to the king of India as his messenger, to make a friendship between two great countries. All the other important people in the court of the Shah of Iran were very jealous. They were trying in every way to spoil Nasruddin’s journey, to create in the mind of the king antagonism against Nasruddin, ...
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    on Gurdjieff Stories

    George Gurdjieff used to tell a story… there was a magician who had many sheep. And it was a trouble to get them home from the forest every night — wild animals were there, and he was losing many of his sheep. Finally the idea came to him, “Why do I not use my expertise, my magic?” He hypnotized all his sheep and told them different things. To one sheep he said, “You are a lion. You need ...
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    Gurdjieff Meditations : 4. in Moods of extreme desire, Be undisturbed

    "in Moods of extreme desire, Be undisturbed" "IN MOODS OF EXTREME DESIRE, BE UNDISTURBED." Gurdjieff used this technique very much. He created situations, but to create situations a school is needed. You cannot do that alone. Gurdjieff had a small school in Fontainebleau, and he was a taskmaster. He knew how to create situations. You would enter the room, and a group would be sitting ther...
    CategoryOsho on Gurdjieff
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    The word 'sufi' comes from an Arabic word 'safa'. Safa means purity.

    The purity of the spirit is the real poverty. The word 'sufi' comes from an Arabic word 'safa'. Safa means purity. Sufi means one who is pure in the heart. And what is purity? Don't misunderstand me, purity has nothing to do with morality. Don't interpret it in a moralistic way. Purity has nothing to do with puritans. Purity simply means an uncontaminated state of mind, where only your co...
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    Gurdjieff Meditations : 5. Self-Remembering

    Be aware you are and discover the ever-living This technique is one of the most helpful, and it has been used for millennia by many teachers, masters. Buddha used it, Mahavira used it, Jesus used it, and in modern times Gurdjieff used it. Among all the techniques, this is one of the most potential. Try it. It will take time; months will pass. When Ouspensky was learning with Gurdjieff, fo...
    CategoryOsho on Gurdjieff
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    Osho on Gurdjieff Descripition of Art

    Osho on Gurdjieff Descripition of Art Gurdjieff has divided art into two categories. The modern art he calls subjective art. The ancient art -- the real art -- the people who made the pyramids, the people who made the Taj Mahal, the people who made the caves of Ajanta and Ellora, they were of a totally different kind. He calls that art objective art. Subjective art is like vomiting. You a...
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    Sufism is nothing but pure prayer, Zen is nothing but meditation.

    Truth is one - cannot be otherwise because existence is a universe, it is not a 'multiverse'. It is one. It is glued together. It is a togetherness. It is a cosmos. That which keeps the universe together is what we call truth, or Tao, or God. Tao is not a person, neither is god a person, but the unity that runs through everything, like a thread running through a garland. The universe is n...
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    on Sufi Mystic Bayazid Story about awareness

    One Sufi mystic, Bayazid, used to talk to his disciples about awareness, and they would ask, ”But what is awareness? You go on talking about it.” One day he took them to the river. On this side there was a small hill, and on the other side there was a small hill. He said, ”We are going to put up a long wooden bridge – just one foot wide – from this end to the other, and you will have to w...
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    The Sufi is not an escapist. He is utterly against escapism

    The Sufi is not an escapist, that is not his climate. He is utterly against escapism. He believes in celebrating the world, celebrating existence, celebrating life. It is the very fundamental of Sufism that the creator can be reached only through the creation. You need not renounce his creation to get to him; in fact if you renounce his creation you will never get to him. Renouncing his c...
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    Osho on Jalaluddin Rumi teachings to his disciples

    Osho on Jalaluddin Rumi teachings to his disciples One day Jalaluddin Rumi took all his students, disciples and devotees to a field. That was his way to teach them things of the beyond, through the examples of the world. He was not a theoretician, he was a very practical man. The disciples were thinking, “What could be the message, going to that faraway field... and why can’t he say it he...
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    Jalaluddin Rumi Poem - The Guest House

    The Guest House This being human is a guest house Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark though...
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    on Sufi story about Bahauddin

    The master represents only your real self; he speaks to you only to provoke the sleeping center of your being. Once the center is awake the master becomes silent with the disciple. There is a Sufi story about Bahauddin, one of the great Sufi mystics. He was living with his disciples, a few hundred disciples, in the desert. A few travelers passing by thought just out of curiosity to see wh...
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    Osho on Mulla Nasruddin

    Mulla Nasruddin He is not a fictitious figure, he was a Sufi and his grave still exists. But he was such a man that he could not resist even to joke from his grave. He made a will that his gravestone will be nothing but a door, locked, and the keys thrown away into the ocean. Now this is strange! People go to see his grave: they can go round and round the door because there are no walls, ...
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    Sufi - Osho Quotes on Sufi

    Osho on Sufi The word 'sufi' comes from an Arabic word 'safa'. Safa means purity. Sufi means one who is pure in the heart. ♦ Sufi is the Bhakta on the Mohammedan path; Bhakta is the Sufi on the Hindu path. There is no difference between a Bhakta and a Sufi. ♦ Curiosity is not enough. You have to be ready. Sufis say that a master accepts you not because of your inquiry, he accepts you beca...
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    on Gurdjieff’s last words to his disciples – ‘Bravo, America.’

    Question : Osho, Gurdjieff’s last words to his disciples were, “bravo, america.” I have heard you appreciated his insight about america, but right now the way american bureaucracy and politicians are behaving with you and with the commune, it seems the words of gurdjieff are no longer relevant. No, they are still relevant. A man like George Gurdjieff never becomes irrelevant. People of th...
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    Gurdjieff on need of Masters

    Gurdjieff on need of Masters But the only possible way out of this mess is being in tune with somebody who is already awakened. You are asleep; only somebody who is awake can shake you out of your sleep, can help you to come out of it. Gurdjieff used to say: If you are in a jail, only somebody who is out of jail can manage it, can arrange it so that you can escape from the jail; otherwise...
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    Tariqa means the path, the method

    Tariqa means the path, the method RELIGION exists in three dimensions. That is the original source of the concept of Trinity, or the Hindu idea of trimurti - the three faces of God. Or we can say that religion exists on three planes - because man exists on three planes. Man exists in the body, in the mind, in the soul. Religion also has a body, a mind and a soul. If you only exist in the ...
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    Every thing is Good as it is

    Question : On the one side you say things are okay as they are, there is no goal, nothing to achieve, to change. on the other side: what are you doing here? Just explaining this to you: that there is no goal, that there is nothing to achieve, that everything is good as it is. I will tell you a Sufi story: There is a story told by Sufis about a man who read that certain dervishes, on the o...
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    Gurdjieff's work is for a particular type, the will type

    [A visitor says that he was at John Bennett's school in England, where they did Gurdjieffian exercises: Actually I left there quite confused -- I suppose there's no way out of that. I never had much ability to do any of the exercises or things like that.] It may not have suited you because Gurdjieff's work is for a particular type, the will type -- people who can work hard and very persis...
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    Osho on The Book of Mirdad

    The Book of Mirdad - Mikhail Naimy - Question 1 : Beloved Osho, Last night I was reading "The Book of Mirdad". It was so beautiful and so strong that I couldn't stop reading for hours. Then suddenly I felt that my breath had changed, and I found myself on the edge of crying, and I didn't know whether it was sadness, desperation, bliss, or all three at the same time. I tried to find out by...
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    on Sufi Stories of Mulla Nasruddin

    There is a story about a Sufi mystic, Mulla Nasruddin. From the very beginning it was thought that he was upside down. His parents were in trouble. If they would say, “Go to the right,” he would go to the left. Finally his old father thought that rather than bothering with him, it is better, if they want him to go to the left, to order him to go to the right — and he is bound to go to the...
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    Sufism is basically a feminine approach towards existence

    “A man may be physically a man and may not be psychologically a man; he may have a feminine psyche. Hence things become complicated. A woman may have a masculine psyche. There is no necessity that the body should decide the psyche. The woman, the feminine quality I call the moon type, and the masculine quality I call the sun type. Their paths are bound to be different. Of course the goal ...
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    First a man has to seek and then he has to surrender his seeking too

    Question 1 I am not clear. Is being a Sufi a matter of will? Is it a blessing? or Is it something else? The Sufis have a very beautiful saying. They say, ’God is not found by seeking, and never found by those who don’t seek.’ First a man has to seek and then he has to surrender his seeking too – because in the seeking the seeker goes on existing. The seeker is the ego. Of course, if you n...
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    Osho on Kabir

    Kabir Kabir has said: I was searching and searching and searching, and then I got lost, and then happened the miracle of miracles. When I was not there you were standing before me. And when I was there and searching and searching, you were so far away -- not even a glimpse. And now, look... I have disappeared. Searching, searching, I got lost, completely lost; my whole search absorbed me,...
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    Jalaluddin Rumi Poem - Gone to the Unseen

    Jalaluddin Rumi Poem - Gone to the Unseen At last you have departed and gone to the Unseen. What marvelous route did you take from this world? Beating your wings and feathers, you broke free from this cage. Rising up to the sky you attained the world of the soul. You were a prized falcon trapped by an Old Woman. Then you heard the drummer's call and flew beyond space and time. As a lovesi...
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    Osho on Gurdjieff Disciple Bennett

    Bennett, an Englishman, a perfect Englishman. The book is about an absolutely unknown Indian mystic, Shivpuri Baba. The world has come to know about him only through Bennett’s book. Shivpuri Baba was certainly one of the rarest flowerings, particularly in India where so many idiots are pretending to be mahatmas. To find a man like Shivpuri Baba in India is really either luck or else a tre...
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    Sufi story on Sheikh Farid

    There is a story I would like to tell you about a Sufi mystic, Sheikh Farid. He was going towards the river one day to take his morning bath. A seeker followed him and asked him, “Please, just wait for one minute. You look so filled with the divine, but I don’t even feel a desire for it. You look so mad and just watching you I have come to feel that there must be something in it. You are ...
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    on Sufi Mystic Omar Khayyam

    on Sufi Mystic Omar Khayyam Omar Khayyam, one of the Sufi mystics, says in his RUBAIYAT: “Don’t be worried about your small sins. They are so small that God, out of his love, cannot even count them. And God is compassionate, he will forgive you.” Omar Khayyam says, “I guarantee that you will be forgiven, don’t be worried. What you are doing are just small things, and God cannot take note ...
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    on Sufism - It is falling in love with existence.

    Osho on Sufism Sufism is a vision. In fact to call it ’Sufism’ is not right because it is not an ’ism’ at all. Sufis don’t call it ’Sufism’; it is the name given by the outsiders. They call their vision TASSAWURI, a love-vision, a loving approach towards reality. It is falling in love with existence. The person who thinks about existence is a little bit antagonistic because he creates a p...
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    Osho on Sufi Master Junnaid

    on Sufi Master Junnaid I have always loved to remember a Sufi master Junnaid. He was the master of al-Hillaj Mansoor. He had a habit: after each prayer… and Mohammedans pray five times a day. After each prayer he would say to the sky, “Your compassion is great. How beautifully you take care of us, and we don’t deserve it. I don’t even have words to show my gratefulness, but I hope you wil...
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    Osho on Gurdjieff's Self-remembering

    Whenever you know something, it is known through knowing. The object comes to your mind through the faculty of knowledge. You look at a flower. You know this is a rose flower. Thew rose flower is there and you are inside. Something from you comes to the rose flower, something from you is projected on the rose flower. Some energy moves from you, comes to the rose, takes its form, color and...
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    Story on Moinuddin Chishti

    I have heard a story. It happened in Ajmer… You must have heard about one Sufi mystic, Moinuddin Chishti, whose dargah, whose tomb, is in Ajmer. Chishti was a great mystic, one of the greatest ever born, and he was a musician. To be a musician is to be against Islam because music is prohibited. He played on the sitar and on other instruments. He was a great musician and he enjoyed it. Fiv...
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    Nothing is hidden from God because God is the inside of everything

    Nothing is hidden from God because God is the inside of everything. And the inside knows all. You can hide something from others but you cannot hide it from yourself, and it is there that God is hiding. It is not in the object, it is in the subject itself. There is a sufi story…. Two disciples came to a master; they wanted to attain to truth. The master gave each of them a dove and told t...
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    on Sufi story - When a rich man prays, his prayer cannot be for money. If he is still praying for money, he is not yet rich enough

    There are two kinds of religiousness in the world: the religiousness of the poor — it is very worldly, it is very materialistic — and the religiousness of the rich — it is very spiritual, very nonmaterialistic. When a rich man prays, his prayer cannot be for money. If he is still praying for money, he is not yet rich enough. There was a Sufi saint, Farid. Once the villagers asked him, “Fa...
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  69. Mojud  :  The Man with the Inexplicable Life

    Mojud : The Man with the Inexplicable Life There was once a man named Mojud. He lived in a town where he had obtained a post as a small official, and it seemed likely that he would end his days as Inspector of Weights and Measures. One day when he was walking through the gardens of an ancient building near his home, Khidr, the mysterious guide of the Sufis, appeared to him, dressed in shi...
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  70. Tribute to GI Gurdjieff (youtube)

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    Sufi stories on Rumi

    There is a story in the life of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi. He was working with his disciples in the desert, in a small monastery. A few travelers passing by, just out of curiosity stopped and went in. They saw that in the courtyard the students were sitting, the disciples were sitting, and Mevlana — Mevlana means the beloved master — Mevlana Rumi was answering them. They got fed up, because...
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    Kabir is a declaration of the secret of this love

    Kabir is a declaration of the secret of this love. He says: This is my path. And the path of love is for many. It is easier to move from the path of love than through any other path — because love is so close to your heart. The only problem that has arisen for the contemporary person, for contemporary man, is that he no longer beats in his heart. He is hung-up in the head. More and more, ...
    CategoryOsho on Kabir
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    on Gurdjieff's Wife Enlightenment

    Osho on Gurdjieff's Wife Enlightenment Question: Osho, Gurdjieff was accused of trying to keep his wife alive while she was dying. His disciples seem shocked and didn’t understand. In what way was he trying to help her that he was unable to do before she Was dying? The 1917 revolution in Russia disturbed Gurdjieff’s whole work. His disciples got scattered. He himself had to escape out of ...
    CategoryOsho on Gurdjieff
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    (ref) Seven categories of Man - Gurdjieff

    Seven categories of Man "There are two lines along which man's development proceeds, the line of knowledge and the line of being. In right evolution the line of knowledge and the line of being develop simultaneously, parallel to, and helping one another. But if the line of knowledge gets too far ahead of the line of being, or if the line of being gets ahead of the line of knowledge, man's...
    CategoryGurdjieff's Teachings
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    OSHO on Gurdjieff As a Seeker

    OSHO on Gurdjieff As a Seeker Gurdjieff, when he was very young, only twelve years of age, became part of a party of seekers: thirty people who made a decision that they would go to the different parts of the world and find out whether truth was only talk or there were a few people who had known it. Just a twelve-year-old boy, but he was chosen to join the party for the simple reason that...
    CategoryOsho on Gurdjieff
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    on Sufi Dancing – It is not that the Sufi dances, God keeps dancing in him

    Question : Why do the sufis dance? Yes, it is a pertinent question. Buddhists only sit silently. Why do Sufis dance? Zen people only meditate, sitting silently, not doing a thing, doing nothing — just sitting silently? spring comes, and the grass grows by itself. But Sufis dance. These are the two different paths, because there are two types of energy in the world: the positive and the ne...
    CategoryOsho on Sufi
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    Gurdjieff's method is more dangerous than Buddha's method

    Question 4: Osho, The fourth way, as taught by gurdjieff, has been called the way of conscience. what place has conscience in your teaching? The question is from Cecil Lewis. No place at all. I don't believe in conscience, I believe only in consciousness. I don't believe in morality, I believe only in religion. I am amoral. Conscience is a trick of the society played upon you. The society...
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    A Sufi story of Rabia parable – Seeking and Seeker

    I have heard about a very great Sufi mystic woman, Rabia al-Adawia. One evening, people found her sitting on the road searching for something. She was an old woman, her eyes were weak, and it was difficult for her to see. So the neighbours came to help her. They asked, ‘What are you searching for?’ Rabia said, ‘That question is irrelevant, I am searching. If you can help me, help.’ They l...
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    Osho on Gurdjieff Disciple Nicoll

    Gurdjieff’s sly man is the man who has a knack for finding the right door when there are thousands of similar doors all around. It is true that Gurdjieff was a difficult man, almost impossible to cope with. One of his disciples, Nicoll, was traveling with Gurdjieff in America. In the middle of the night, they went aboard a train, and Gurdjieff, although not drunk, started behaving like a ...
    CategoryOsho on Gurdjieff
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    Jalaluddin Rumi Poem - Both Wings Broken

    Jalaluddin Rumi Poem - Both Wings Broken Love draws a dagger and pulls me close. Lock and key. Bird with both wings broken. The love religion is all that's written here. Who else would say this? You open me wide open. Or you tie me Tighter. The ball waits on the field. To be hit again. You push me into fire like Abraham. You pull me out like Muhammad. Which do you like better? you ask. Al...
    Categoryon Jalaluddin Rumi
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    Zen is for the male mind. Soon I will balance it by talking about Sufism, because Sufism is for the feminine mind. These are the two extremes - Zen and Sufism.

    These are the two attitudes open to man: the attitude of a warrior and the attitude of a lover. It is your choice - you can choose. But remember... certain consequences will follow. If you choose the path of the warrior and you become a fighter with everything that surrounds you, you will always be in misery. This is creating a hell around you; in the very attitude of fighting the hell is...
    CategoryOsho on Sufi
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    Osho on Gurdjieff Car Accident and The Ultimate in Consciousness

    The Ultimate in Consciousness Question : Beloved Osho, What happened to Gurdjieff When he had his Car Accident? The system of George Gurdjieff is a little bit strange, and it is certainly different from all other, old approaches. His whole work was concentrated on creating an absolute feeling of distinction between the body and consciousness -- not just as a philosophical idea but as an a...
    CategoryOsho on Gurdjieff
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    Sufi story of a Fakir and Pundit

    There is a Sufi story. To earn his living a Sufi fakir used to work as a ferryman on a river. One day a village pundit wanted to go across the river. The fakir offered to take him across free of charge. He used to charge one or two paisa for the journey. The pundit sat down in the boat and the fakir started rowing. They were the only people in the boat. The pundit asked him, ”Can you read...
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    Osho on Kahlil Gibran and his books

    KAHLIL GIBRAN Jesus The Son of Man I want to include another book by Kahlil Gibran, Jesus, the Son of man. It is one of the books which is almost ignored. Christians ignore it because it calls Jesus the son of man. They not only ignore it, they condemn it. And of course, who else cares about Jesus? If Christians themselves are condemning him, then nobody else cares about it. Kahlil Gibran...
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    Love is known only when you are no more a person and you have become a presence

    Prem means love, Hamido is a Sufi name for God – it means the praiseworthy. Sufis continuously praise God. They call it jikr – remembrance They are continuously bowing inside to God. That is a way of effacing yourself. That is a way of destroying the ego, the way to destroy the person. When the person is completely effaced, dropped, he becomes a presence, and that presence is love. Love i...
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    Jalaluddin Rumi Poem - The Many Wines

    Jalaluddin Rumi Poem - The Many Wines God has given us a dark wine so potent that, drinking it, we leave the two worlds. God has put into the form of hashish a power to deliver the taster from self-consciousness. God has made sleep so that it erases every thought. God made Majnun love Layla so much that just her dog would cause confusion in him. There are thousands of wines that can take ...
    Categoryon Jalaluddin Rumi
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    Sufi Story - Somebody, some day, is bound to see the flowers

    Sat-Chit-Anand – truth, consciousness, bliss. All are possible to you. In fact, they are your birthright. You just have to claim them … and the claim needs a little patience. There is a Sufi story: A king stopped his horse. He was passing by a nursery that belonged to a poor gardener. And he looked at the poor gardener – he had stopped for a special reason. He had wanted to stop many time...
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  88. Meetings with Remarkable Men (dance scene part)

    'Trembling Dervish' part in 'Sacred movement' From Movie 'MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE MEN' by Peter Brook
    CategoryGurdjieff's Teachings
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    A story of Jalaluddin Rumi - Enlightenment has no language

    Once you start falling in love with somebody, although in the beginning it is only his language, his poetry, his graceful assertions, his mysterious words … slowly, slowly you come closer and closer. Words are forgotten and the person becomes more and more important, his presence becomes more and more tangible. You can almost touch it. His silence slowly starts reaching within you, creati...
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    Osho on Gurdjieff

    Osho on Gurdjieff George Gurdjieff, says that identification is the only sin. -Osho, “Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, Vol 1, #15” George Gurdjieff is right when he says that man is a machine, but by `man’ he means all those who are living unconsciously, who are not aware, who are not awake, who do not respond to reality but only react. Ninety-nine point nine percent of human beings come in the cat...
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    Gurdjieff had a division between subjective and objective actions

    Question 3: Osho, Gurdjieff calls whatever is happening between master and disciple "objective doing" as far as the master is concerned. he says that only a master can do something. Please comment. My approach towards life and George Gurdjieff's approach are very different. I love Gurdjieff as one of the great masters history has produced, but it is not my path. I will explain to you what...
    CategoryOsho on Gurdjieff
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    on Sufi Stories of Sufi Mystics

    I have often told a Sufi story. A man renounces the world, his wife, his home. He is young and he is going in search of a master. Just outside his village under a tree, an old man is sitting. The sun is just setting, and darkness is descending. The young man asks the old man, "You look as if you are a traveler; you certainly don't belong to my village. I am a young man and I am in search ...
    Categoryon Sufi Mystic & Story
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    on Sufi Mystic Mansoor

    on Sufi Mystic Mansoor When Mansoor attained godhood he declared, “Ana’l Haq! am God!” His Master, Junaid, said, “Keep quiet. I know, you know, that’s enough. No need to tell it to anybody — otherwise you will be in danger and you will create danger for me and for other disciples also. Yes, I accept,” said Junaid, “I can see you have attained. But let it be a secret between me and you.” B...
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    Osho on Gurdjieff Disciple Ouspensky

    Even a man like P.D. Ouspensky, who lived with Gurdjieff for years, could not hear the whole teaching as it was. When he wrote his famous book IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS and he showed it to George Gurdjieff, his Master, he said, “It is beautiful, but it needs a subtitle: FRAGMENTS OF AN UNKNOWN TEACHING.” Ouspensky said, “But why? — why fragments?” He said, “Because these are only fragme...
    CategoryOsho on Gurdjieff
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    Osho on Sufi Mystic Sarmad

    Osho on Sufi Mystic Sarmad "I am not the society," this is where the thing began. It went deeper when it said, "I am not the body, I am not the mind." Now this is the last jump. "I am not even the soul." What would this mean? It means that now it will be foolish on my part to create any boundaries for myself. When we say, "I am the soul," my soul and your soul become different entities. W...
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    Sufi means awareness in life, awareness on a higher plane than that on which we normally live.

    The Sufis say that if a man has no awareness nothing can be taught. So the first thing to be taught will be awareness. And awareness takes a long time because you have lived many lives in unawareness. It has gone very deep in your blood, it has entered into your very texture, into every cell of your body; every fibre of your psyche is full of sleep. This sleep has to be broken. Once this ...
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    Death of Gurdjieff's grandfather and the valuable advice which Changes Gurdjieff's Life

    Death of Gurdjieff's grandfather and the valuable advice which Changes Gurdjieff's Life Gurdjieff remembers that when his grandfather was dying -- he was only nine years old -- the grandfather called him. He loved the boy very much and he told the boy, "I don't have much to give to you, but departing from the world I would like to give you something. I can only give you one piece of advic...
    CategoryOsho on Gurdjieff
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    Gurdjieff Meditations : 3. Don’t act like a Robot

    Don’t act like a Robot Mind has two parts: one is the learning part, the other is the robot part. The learning part learns; whenever you are learning something you are more aware. For example, if you are learning driving you are more aware -- you have to be. The moment you have learned it, the learning part gives its information to the robot part. Once you have learned driving, then you d...
    CategoryOsho on Gurdjieff
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    Osho on Gurdjieff and de Hartmann Music

    Osho on Gurdjieff and de Hartmann Music Question 3 Beloved Osho, In a book I read about Gurdjieff, it was said that two of his disciples, who had been with him for a long time and in a very intimate way - for example, de Hartmann, who played his music - suddenly left him. Can you explain why this seems to happen again and again in the master-disciple relationship? Turiya, the question is ...
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