Gurdjieff

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 actual experience. It happens to everybody in death, but most people die unconsciously. The consciousness separates completely from the body to go on its pilgrimage which is eternal. The journey of the body is very small, but it all happens in unconsciousness. It is a natural surgery. A surgeon cannot remove a small piece of your body while you are conscious. He has to make you unconscious, then he can remove anything. He can kill you; you will never know about it.

Beloved 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?

And when I pointed it out to these people who were saying that this shows freedom from attachment, I said, "This is not the case. It shows he was attached, and he was waiting for her death. In fact, perhaps in his own mind he has murdered her many times; otherwise, why should he feel relief? "For twenty-two years that poor woman has been cleaning other people's houses and somehow managing to live. He has never cared about her. And he has become a great saint, but unconsciously those words `what a relief' show that he is feeling good that the wife is dead. The wife was still his wife." Now these people -- this kind of atmosphere -- are all over the world in all religions. So Gurdjieff was suspected.... "Is he enlightened or not? He's trying to keep his wife alive longer; an enlightened man is supposed to…

But that journalist wrote that after that night great changes happened in his life. Next morning I awoke utterly light, as if a mountain had fallen off me. That ego—“I am famous, so-and-so”—he ruined it. The locale was mine where people knew me—he poured water on it. And the next day I arose utterly light—weightless! It is hard to say what the conduct of a knower will be. कर्तव्यतैव संसारो न तां पश्यन्ति सूरयः। Shunyakara—inside he remains empty; outside he may do anything. Nirakara—outside he may act in any shape; inside he remains formless. Nirvikara—see him in a tavern or a brothel—no difference; within he remains without modification. Niramayah—see him in any condition, he is free of sorrow. There are more accounts in Gurdjieff’s life, very significant. Near the end he crashed his car into a tree. He loved driving and drove beyond limits.

Question: OSHO, WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE LAW OF KARMA? Gurdjieff started wondering how it happened, why it happened, and soon he was able to figure out that it is just a question of your unconscious accepting the idea. Once your unconscious accepts the idea, then your body and your conscious mind have no power to go against it. In his own exercises that he developed later on when he became a Master, Gurdjieff used all these nomad techniques that he had learned from those strange people -- uncivilized, with no language, no written alphabet, but who knew very primitive methods. And he was surprised to see that hypnotism works not only on children but on grown men, because those children become young adults; then too it works. Then they become old, then too it works. It does not change with age.