Gurdjief By Osho

(11) Osho

Gurdjief By Osho Biểu tượng cảm xúc heart

A man came once to Gurdjieff, and he talked about himself – that he was a vegetarian, and that he never touched alcohol, and that he never smoked, and this and that.

Gurdjieff said, ‘If you are to be with me, you have to leave everything in my hands.’

The man was not aware of what type of man Gurdjieff was. He said, ‘Of course! I have come to you– I surrender.’

And Gurdjieff said, ‘Then the first thing is: now eat meat.’

The man was really in difficulty. He couldn’t believe it. He thought Gurdjieff was joking. He said, ‘You, and saying that?’

Gurdjieff said, ‘Yes, that’s the only way I can break down your ego.

This vegetarianism is not vegetarianism – it is just part of your ego. So here you will have to eat meat, drink as much alcohol as you can, smoke, move with women, and leave everything to me.’

You cannot believe a saint talking like this. But then your saints are not very wise. And

Gurdjieff did help that man – because that was the trouble.

You will always find people who are vegetarians, teetotallers, non-smokers, always you will find very subtle egos. And alcohol cannot harm as much as the subtle ego can harm. And the man followed. It was very difficult, nauseating for him. But once he said it, he followed.

Within three weeks the man was transformed.

And Gurdjieff would give him so much to drink...Gurdjieff used to have a feast every night, and the feast continued for three, four, five hours. At nine, ten, it would start, and it would end in the middle of the night.

And Gurdjieff himself was such a capable man that he could drink as much as possible and would never get drunk. And he would force the disciples to eat. Their bellies would be bursting, and they would be crying and tears would come into their eyes, and they would say, ‘No, now no more!’

And he would force. He was trying to change your body chemistry. And he changed many people who followed with him, who were capable and courageous enough to move with him; not afraid people who ordinarily become religious, but brave people.

This man I am talking about, he followed. He would fall down drunk, and then the next day there would be a hangover. Within three weeks Gurdjieff transformed his whole mind. And, by and by, he dropped the meat, dropped alcohol, dropped everything. And that man said then, ‘For the first time I became vegetarian – because that old vegetarianism was not true.

It was just a mask for the ego.’ When he forced meat and alcohol on this disciple, he was breaking down the ego. He shattered the man completely.

And sometimes just the reverse would happen. A man would come who was a drunkard, and a meat-eater, and a smoker, and Gurdjieff would stop everything. He would put him on a diet or on a fast.

A master, if he is to help, has to be very very wise. Gurdjieff used to call his way ‘The Way of the Sly Man’. All masters are sly. If they are to help, they have to be.

But your concepts think that masters are just innocent virgins, just dream-stuff, no substance, marble statues. You can go and touch and feel the coldness, that’s all. There have been such people, but they are worthless.

They have helped nobody. They may have enjoyed a certain silence and peace, of course, but that silence does not have the quality of life in it.

They are dead marble statues. The silence is cold. The silence is not warm enough to be alive.

They have stilled themselves, they have become controlled, but they are not free. They have not attained to the freedom.

Osho , Untill You Die 
Chapter # 4 - Knowledge Is Dangerous