MEDITATION TIMES

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 Editorial

 Gurdjieff the Enigma of Consciousness You can also visit our website:

 Chronology of Gurdjieff’s work http://dhyan-samadhi.webs.com/

www.youtube.com\taoshobuddha9
 Sacred Movements of Gurdjieff
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 Writings of Gurdjieff
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 Sacred Dances
http://bodhidharmameditation.blogspot.com/
 The Fourth Way
http://www.taoshobuddhameditations.myeweb.net/

 Enneagram http://meditationtimes.myeweb.net/

 Naqshbandi Sufi Sheikh

Hazrath Raghuber Dayal Chachaji RA

 Love of Lalaji for his Sheikh

GURDJIEFF
Mystic of Methods
 MEDITATION TIMES
Published by Taoshobuddha Meditations
Trinidad, West indies

EDITORIAL
Gurdjieff has been described as a rascal
mystic. He employed and improvised many
Sufi techniques of transformation. He also
developed his unique of methods. His Swami Anand Neelambar
system is called the Fourth Way.

Gurdjieff was mainly concerned with

transformation and psychology. He was not
much interested in ultimate truths. All his
methods lead one to discover one’s self.
The Upanishads declare a similar fourth
way known as Turiya. It is a dimension
beyond the three (3) normal states of
consciousness – waking, dreaming and
deep sleep. This fourth state is the realm of
enlightenment. The realm of the Buddhas,
Mystics, Masters. It is the same realm for
where Krishna transfers the Gita to Arjuna.
It is the realm of Gita.
Gurdjieff is a mystic of methods. He did not
dabble in metaphysical phenomenon nor
did he teach religion. He was concerned
with the person and his neurotic
personality.
This psychology is being rebranded in the
West and called neo-psychology.
The priests and pundits are out-dated. The
new generation is turning to psychology to
discover their being.
It this new age, Meditation Times, is a
beacon of hope, light and guidance. We do
not present any religious teaching as such
but present Masters, Mystics and Methods.
All paths lead to the life eternal.
In this issue we also present a Naqshbandi
Sufi Sheikh Hazrath Raghuber Dayal
Chachaji RA. His life and works are very
instrumental to the development and
transformation of many seekers from all
across the globe.

Gurdjieff said man in not an individual but a
crowd of persons. His work was to give
man a crystalized being. Then to transform
that personality into an individuality.
Gurdjieff can be considered more of a
psychologist rather that a teacher. But then
all masters are psychologist. Not the
psychology of Jung and Freud but the real
psychology. The psychology of the being.
This was Gurdjieff’s main contribution to
the modern world. He cleared the way for
the development of the neo-psychology
which is the original psychology of the East.
Meditation Times is not limited by
geography and space time barriers. As we
explore into the deeper realms of life
eternal, more will be made available to the
sincere seekers.
Many are the seekers who find solace and
guidance in Meditation Times.
We trust this issue shall be beneficial as
well.
This much for now!
Meditation Times
George
Ivanovich
Gurdjieff
(January 14, 1866? – October 29, 1949)
G
urdjieff was an extraordinary man,
a master in the truest sense. His
teachings speak to our most
essential questions: Who am I? Why am I
here? What is the purpose of life and of
human life in particular?
As a young man, Gurdjieff relentlessly
pursued these questions and became
convinced that practical answers lay
within ancient traditions. Through many
years of searching and practice he
discovered answers and then set about
putting what he had learned into a form
understandable to the Western world.
Gurdjieff maintained that, owing to the
abnormal conditions of modern life, we no
longer function in a harmonious way. He
taught that in order to become
harmonious, we must develop new
faculties—or actualize latent
potentialities—through ―work on oneself.‖
He presented his teachings and ideas in
three forms: writings, music, and
movements which correspond to
our intellect, emotions, and physical
body.
Gurdjieff certainly is a pioneer in many
ways. With Gurdjieff ushers a totally new
concept of spiritual life. He actually called
his way ‗the fourth way‘ - just as I call my
way ‗the fourth way‘. The Fourth way
indeed is the way beyond the dimensions
of the known. It is the way of
transcendence. It is similar to what
Hindus call as ‗Turia‘.
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He was immensely misunderstood,
because he was not interested in
imparting knowledge to you. He was not
interested in consoling you. He was not
interested in giving you beautiful theories,
visions, and hallucinations. He was not
interested in your tears, emotions and
sentiments. He was not interested in
being worshipped by you. Instead he was
interested in transforming you.
Gurdjieff the Enigma
of Consciousness
George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (January 14,
1866? – October 29, 1949) was
considered a mystic and a spiritual
teacher. Unlike other masters of the east
He called his discipline ‘The Work’. This
was an indication that everyone has to
work on oneself. According to Gurdjieff‘s
principles and instructions his way was
called or the ‗Fourth Way‘. At one point
he described his teaching as ‘esoteric
Christianity’.
At different times in his life, Gurdjieff
formed and closed various schools around
the world to teach the work. He claimed
that the teachings he brought to the West
was indeed the outcome of his own
experiences and early travels. These
expressed the truth found in ancient
religions and wisdom teachings. It related
to self-awareness in people‘s daily lives
and the place of humanity in the
universe.
The title of his third series of writings,
―Life Is Real Only When ‗I Am‘‖, expresses
the essence of his teachings. When you
have understood the essence of the
phrase ‗I am‘ and you are the
embodiment of such awareness life can
Meditation Times
indeed be real. The phrase ‗I am…‘ is the
outcome of self-enquiry ‗Who am I?‘ His
complete series of books is entitled – ‗All
and Everything‘.
Birth and early Life
Gurdjieff belonged to Armenian ancestry.
He was born to a Greek father and
Armenian mother in Alexandropol - now
Gyumri, Armenia. It was then part of the
Russian Empire. It is said Gurdjieff was
born in the year 1866 in the Caucasus, a
region where many people and traditions
coexisted productively in what remains to
this day a border zone between Asia and
the West. He belonged to a Nomadic
society and therefore had no specific or
permanent place of residence. The family
was constantly on move from one place
to another in search of livelihood. This
gave Gurdjieff tremendous opportunity to
visit far and near areas and meet many
remarkable ones. The Muslims around
Georgia call the Georgian people gurdjis,
which may account for the root of the
name ‗Gurdjieff‘.
The exact date of his birth remains
unknown. It is supposed to fall between
1866 and 1877. Some authors including
Moore argue persuasively that Gurdjieff
was born in the year 1866. However
Patterson accepts 1872 as the year of
birth. This argument was based on a
passport that gave a birthdate of
November 28, 1877, but he stated that
he was born at the stroke of midnight at
the beginning of New Year‘s Day
according to Julian calendar. Gurdjieff
grew up in Kars and traveled to many
parts of the world including Central Asia,
Egypt and Rome before returning to
Russia for a few years in 1912. He later
said: ‗Begin in Russia, end in Russia.‘
June 2011
The only account of Gurdjieff‘s early life
before he appeared in Moscow in 1912
appears in his book ‘Meetings with
Remarkable Men’. This text, however,
cannot be considered as straightforward
autobiography. He spent early years
searching in Central Asia, North Africa,
and other places for a hidden tradition
whose traces he had encountered in
youth. During this search he came into
contact with certain esoteric schools. In
the early 1900‘s he brought to Europe a
teaching that he had developed from the
results of this contact.
In the pre-1912 period Gurdjieff went on
his voyage outlined in ‘Meetings with
Remarkable Men’ where he comes upon
a map of ‗pre-sand Egypt‘ which led him
to study with an esoteric group, the
alleged Sarmoung Brotherhood.
Beyond any human measure He was
intelligent and inquisitive. He recognized
early in his youth that conventional
Western science, philosophy, and religion
could not answer his compelling questions
about what he called ‘the sense and
aim of human existence.’
He got convinced that answers to his
questions might be found in Asia, perhaps
in remote religious communities sheltered
and secluded from the modern world. He
formed a group of like-minded associates,
the Seekers of Truth, and for some
twenty years traveled with them in search
of links to missing knowledge through the
Near East, Central Asia, India, and parts
of North Africa and the Orthodox Christian
world.
Early in 1912, he established himself as
an independent teacher in Moscow (and
the following year also in St. Petersburg)
and began to transmit the ideas and
Meditation Times
practical methods for ‗work on oneself‘
that today bear his name.
Gurdjieff‘s basic teaching is that human
life is lived in waking sleep. However
transcendence of the sleeping state
requires a specific inner work, which is
practiced in private quiet conditions, and
in the midst of life with others. This leads
to otherwise inaccessible levels of vitality
and awareness.
Though Gurdjieff‘s name has become
familiar in recent years, the real nature of
his work is still little known. The Way of
Gurdjieff is an oral tradition. The
understanding of his work can only be
received by direct contact between
teacher and disciple, and by the work of
pupils together in organized groups.
Under conditions of a special atmosphere
of trust that can exist in such a group,
people working together learn to face
their own inner poverty and confusion.
Working in this way, conscience is
awakened along with consciousness.
Consciousness, Conscience, and
Sensation form the tripod upon which an
integrated development of human
potential must be based.
Gurdjieff prepared a nucleus of people to
be able to transmit his teaching after his
death. This nucleus with the assistance of
others who have subsequently been
prepared maintains a series of centers
throughout the world where Gurdjieff's
methods are practiced.
Chronology of
Gurdjieff’s work
From 1913 to 1949 the chronology
appears to be based on material that can
June 2011
be confirmed by primary documents,
independent witnesses, cross-references,
and reasonable inference.
On New Year‘s Day in 1912, Gurdjieff
arrived in Moscow and attracted his first
students. In the same year he married
the Polish Julia Ostrowska in St
Petersburg.
In 1914 Gurdjieff advertised his ballet -
The Struggle of the Magicians, and
supervised his pupils‘ writing of the
sketch ‘Glimpses of Truth’.
In 1915 Gurdjieff accepted P. D.
Ouspensky as a pupil.
And in 1916 he accepted the composer
Thomas de Hartmann and his wife Olga
as students. At this time he had about
thirty pupils.
In the midst of revolutionary upheaval in
Russia, he left Petrograd in 1917 to return
to his family home in Alexandropol.
During the Bolshevik Revolution, Gurdjieff
set up temporary study communities in
Essentuki in the Caucasus, then in
Tuapse, Maikop, Sochi and Poti, all on the
Black Sea coast of southern Russia,
where he worked intensively with many of
his Russian pupils.
In March 1918, Ouspensky separated
from Gurdjieff. Four months later
Gurdjieff‘s eldest sister and her family
reached him in Essentuki as refugees,
informing him that Turks had shot his
father in Alexandropol on 15th May during
the Armenian Genocide (1915–1923). As
Essentuki became more and more
threatened by civil war, Gurdjieff put out
a fabricated newspaper story announcing
his forthcoming ‘scientific expedition’
to Mount Induc. Therein he posed himself
as a scientist. Gurdjieff left Essentuki with
fourteen companions (excluding
Meditation Times
Gurdjieff‘s family and Ouspensky). They
traveled by train to Maikop, where
hostilities delayed them for three weeks.
In spring 1919 Gurdjieff met the artist
Alexandre Salzmann and his wife
Jeanne and accepted them as pupils.
Assisted by Jeanne Salzmann, Gurdjieff
gave the first public demonstration of his
Sacred Dances (Movements at the Tbilisi
Opera House, 22nd June).
In the autumn of 1919, Gurdjieff and his
closest pupils moved to Tbilisi, formerly
known as Tiflis. There Gurdjieff‘s wife,
Julia Ostrowska, Mr. and Mrs. Stjoernval,
Mr. and Mrs. de Hartmann and Mr. and
Mrs. de Salzmann gathered a lot of the
fundamentals of his teaching.
Gurdjieff concentrated on his still un-
staged ballet, ‗The Struggle of the
Magicians’. Thomas de Hartmann - who
had made his debut years ago before as
the Czar of All Russia, worked on the
music for the ballet. And Olga Iovonovna
Lazovich Milanoff Hinzenberg - who years
later married the American architect
Frank Lloyd Wright practiced the ballet
dances.
In 1919, Gurdjieff established his first
Institute for the Harmonious
Development of Man. He was thought
to be greatly influenced by Nikolai Marr, a
Georgian archaeologist and historian.
In late May 1920, when political
conditions in Georgia changed and the old
order was crumbling, his party traveled
by foot to Batumi on the Black Sea coast
and from there to Istanbul. Gurdjieff
rented an apartment on Koumbaradji
Street in Péra and later at 13, Abdullatif
Yemeneci Sokak near the Galata Tower.
The apartment is near the kha‘neqa‘h or
monastery of the Molavieh Order of
June 2011
Sufis founded by Jalalaluddin Muhammad
Rumi, where Gurdjieff, Ouspensky and
Thomas de Hartmann experienced the
Sema ceremony of The Whirling
Dervishes. In Istanbul Gurdjieff also met
Captain John G. Bennett, then head of
British Military Intelligence in
Constantinople. Later, Bennett would
become a follower of Gurdjieff and of
Ouspensky.
In August 1921 and 1922, Gurdjieff
traveled around Western Europe,
lecturing and giving demonstrations of his
work in various cities, as Berlin and
London. He attracted the allegiance of
Ouspensky‘s many prominent pupils. Of
which the editor A. R. Orage was the
notable one.
After he lost a civil action to acquire
Hellerau possession in Britain, Gurdjieff
established the Institute for the
Harmonious Development of Man south of
Paris at thePrieuré des Basses Loges in
Fontainebleau-Avon near the famous
Château de Fontainebleau. Gurdjieff
acquired notoriety as ‗the man who killed
Katherine Mansfield‘ after Katherine
Mansfield died there of tuberculosis under
his care on 9 January 1923. James Moore
and Ospensky convincingly shows
however that Katherine Mansfield knew
that she would soon die, and that
Gurdjieff made her last days happy and
fulfilling.
Starting in 1924 Gurdjieff made visits to
North America, where he eventually
received the pupils taught previously by
A.R. Orage. In the same year while
driving alone from Paris to Fontainebleau,
Gurdjieff had an almost fatal car-accident.
Nursed by his wife and mother, he made
a slow but painful recovery — against
medical expectation. Still convalescent,
Meditation Times June 2011

he formally ‗disbanded‘ his Institute on 26 consciousness but rather live in a state of

August (in fact he dispersed only his less- a hypnotic ‗waking sleep‘.
dedicated pupils), and began writing All
and Everything. He said ‗Man lives his life in sleep, and in
sleep he dies.‘ As a result of this
In 1925 Gurdjieff‘s wife contracted condition, each person perceives things,
cancer. And eventually she died in June circumstances and situations from a
1926 in spite of radiotherapy and of completely subjective perspective. And
Gurdjieff‘s magnetic treatments. each subjective experience differs from
Ouspensky attended her funeral. that of the other.
According to Fritz Peters, Gurdjieff was in
New York from November 1925 to the Gurdjieff stated that malefic events such
spring of 1926, when he succeeded in as wars and so on could not possibly take
raising over place if people were
$1,000,000. more awake. This
state of
In 1935 Gurdjieff unconsciousness is
stopped writing All the cause of
and Everything. misery, calamity,
He had completed conflict, ailments
the first two parts and many other
of the trilogy but psychological
only started on the diseases. He
Third Series. (It asserted that
was later published people in their
under the title Life typical state of
Is Real Only unconsciousness
Then, when ‘I Am’. In Paris, Gurdjieff act as automatons. However there is
lived at 6 Rue des Colonels-Rénard, every possibility that one can ‗wake up‘
where he continued to teach throughout and become a different sort of human
World War II. being altogether when the level of
consciousness changes. Gurdjieff did not
Gurdjieff died on October 29, 1949 at the uses the regular terminology instead he
American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine, created his own terminology to explain
France. His funeral took place at the St. the same phenomenon for which Hindus
Alexandre Nevsky Russian Orthodox and Muslims use the scriptural
Cathedral at 12 Rue Daru, Paris. He is terminology. This is the reason Gurdjieff
buried in the cemetery at Fontainebleau- remains incomprehensible.
Avon.

Self-development teachings
Beginning of the work
The Fourth Way
Gurdjieff claimed that people cannot
perceive reality in their current states Gurdjieff argued that many of the existing
because they do not possess forms of religious and spiritual tradition
Meditation Times
on Earth had lost connection with their
original meaning and vitality and so could
no longer serve humanity in the way that
had been intended at their inception.
As a result of this humans were failing to
realize the truths of ancient teachings and
were instead becoming more and more
like automatons, susceptible to control
from outside and increasingly capable of
otherwise unthinkable acts of mass
psychosis such as the 1914-18 war.
At best, the various surviving sects and
schools could only provide a one-sided
development which did not create a fully
integrated human being.
According to Gurdjieff, only one
dimension of the three dimensions of the
person - namely, either the emotions, or
the physical body or the mind - tends to
develop in such schools and sects, and
generally at the expense of the other
faculties or centers as Gurdjieff called
them.
As a result these paths fail to produce a
proper balanced human being.
Furthermore, anyone wishing to
undertake any of the traditional paths to
spiritual knowledge which Gurdjieff
reduced to three were required to
renounce life in the world.
1. the path of the fakir,
2. the path of the monk, and
3. the path of the yogi
Gurdjieff thus developed a ‗Fourth Way‘
which would be open to the requirements
of modern man living modern lives in
Europe and America. Instead of
developing body, mind, or emotions
separately, Gurdjieff‘s discipline worked
on all three to promote comprehensive
and balanced inner development.
June 2011
In parallel with other spiritual traditions,
Gurdjieff taught that one must expend
considerable effort to effect the
transformation that leads to awakening.
The effort that one puts into practice
Gurdjieff referred to as ‘The Work or
Work on oneself’.
According to Gurdjieff, ‗...Working on
oneself is not so difficult as wishing to
work, taking the decision.‘ Though
Gurdjieff never put major significance on
the term ‗Fourth Way‘ and never used the
term in his writings, P.D. Ouspensky from
1924 to 1947 made the term and its use
central to his own teaching of Gurdjieff‘s
ideas. After Ouspensky‘s death, his
students published a book titled ‗The
Fourth Way‘ based on his lectures.
Gurdjieff's teaching addressed the
question of humanity‘s place in the
universe and the importance of
developing latent potentialities. This
latent potentiality is regarded as our
natural endowment as human beings but
rarely brought to fruition. He taught that
higher levels of consciousness, higher
bodies, inner growth and development
are real possibilities that nonetheless
require conscious work to achieve.
In his teaching Gurdjieff gave a distinct
meaning to various ancient texts such as
the Bible and many religious prayers. He
explained that those texts possess a very
different meaning than what is commonly
attributed to them and understood as
well. ‗Sleep not‘; ‗Awake, for you know
not the hour‘; and ‗The Kingdom of
Heaven is within‘ are examples of biblical
statements which point to a psychological
teaching whose essence has been lost
with the passage of time. And in the
absence we are carrying the scriptures
like corpses.
Meditation Times
Gurdjieff taught people how to increase
and focus their attention and energy in
various ways and to minimize
daydreaming and absentmindedness.
According to his teaching, this inner
development in oneself is the beginning
of an essential process of change. It aims
transforming people into what Gurdjieff
believed they ought to be.
Gurdjieff discredited ‗morality‘ for inner
development. Morality he describes as
varying from culture to culture. Quite
often it is contradictory and superficial.
Gurdjieff emphasized the importance of
conscience. This he regarded as the same
in all people. However it remains hidden
deep in their sub-consciousness. This it
remains sheltered from damage by the
way people live and inaccessible as well.
Its growth requires ‗work on oneself‘.
To provide conditions in which inner
attention could be exercised more
intensively, Gurdjieff also taught his
pupils ‗sacred dances‘ or ‗movements‘,
later known as the Gurdjieff movements,
which they performed together as a
group. He also left a body of music,
inspired by what he heard in visits to
remote monasteries and other places,
written for piano in collaboration with one
of his pupils, Thomas de Hartmann.
Gurdjieff also used various exercises,
such as the ‗Stop‘ exercise, to prompt
self-observation in his students. Other
shocks to help awaken his pupils from
constant day-dreaming were always
possible at any moment.
Methods
The Work implies training in the
development of consciousness. During his
lifetime Gurdjieff used a number of
June 2011
different methods and materials, including
meetings, music, movements (sacred
dance), writings, lectures, and innovative
forms of group and individual work for the
development of human consciousness.
Part of the function of these various
methods was to undermine and undo the
ingrained habit patterns of the mind and
bring about moments of insight. Since
each individual substantially differs from
the other he requires different
methodology. Gurdjieff did not have a
one-size-fits-all approach and adapted
and innovated as circumstance required.
In Russia he was described as keeping his
teaching confined to a small circle,
whereas in Paris and North America he
gave numerous public demonstrations of
his methodology.
Gurdjieff felt that the traditional methods
of self-knowledge — those of the fakir,
monk, and yogi (acquired, respectively,
through pain, devotion, and study) - were
inadequate on their own and often led to
various forms of stagnation and one-
sidedness. His methods were designed to
augment and provide a new boost for the
traditional paths with the purpose of
hastening the developmental process.
He sometimes called these methods The
Way of the Sly Man because they
constituted a sort of short-cut through a
process of development that might
otherwise carry on for years without
substantive results. The teacher,
possessing consciousness, sees the
individual requirements of the disciple
and sets tasks that he knows will result in
a transformation of consciousness in that
individual. Instructive historical parallels
can be found in the annals of Zen
Buddhism where teachers employed a
variety of methods (sometimes highly
Meditation Times
unorthodox) to bring about the arising of
insight in the student.
Music the harbinger
of inner growth
The Gurdjieff music divides into three
distinct periods. The first period is the
early music. This category included
music from the ballet Struggle of the
Magicians and music for early
Movements, dating to the years around
1918.
The second period music, for which
Gurdjieff arguably became best known,
written in collaboration with Russian
composer Thomas de Hartmann, is
described as the Gurdjieff-de Hartmann
music. Dating to the mid-1920s, it offers
a rich repertory with roots in Caucasian
and Central Asian folk and religious
music, Russian Orthodox liturgical music,
and other sources.
This music was often first heard in the
salon at the Prieure, where much was
composed. Since the publication of four
volumes of this piano repertory by Schott,
recently completed, there has been a
wealth of new recordings, including
orchestral versions of music prepared by
Gurdjieff and de Hartmann for the
Movements demonstrations of 1923-24.
Solo piano versions of these works have
been recorded by Cecil Lytle and Keith
Jarrett.
The last musical period is the
improvised harmonium music which often
followed the dinners Gurdjieff held in his
Paris apartment during the Occupation
and immediate post-war years, until his
death in 1949?
June 2011
A virtually encyclopedic collection of
surviving recordings was recently
released. A detailed booklet includes
thoughts from producer Gert-Jan Blom
and a preface by Robert Fripp.
In all, Gurdjieff in collaboration with de
Hartmann composed some 200 pieces.
And most recently in May 2010, 38
minutes of unreleased solo piano music
on acetate was purchased by Neil
Kempfer Stocker from the estate of his
late step-daughter Dushka Howarth.
Sacred Movements
of Gurdjieff
Movements, or sacred dances, constitute
an integral part of the Gurdjieff Work.
Gurdjieff sometimes referred to himself as
a ‗teacher of dancing‘ and gained initial
public notice for his attempts to put on a
ballet in Moscow called Struggle of the
Magicians.
Films of movements‘ demonstrations are
occasionally shown for private viewing by
the Gurdjieff Foundations and one is
shown in a scene in the Peter Brook
movie Meetings with Remarkable
Men.
Group work
Alike music, sacred movements, Gurdjieff
realized the significance of group works.
Accordingly Gurdjieff taught that group
efforts. These efforts both enhance and
surpass individual efforts preparing them
to practice a new psychology of evolution.
To accomplish this, he needed to
constantly innovate and create new alarm
Meditation Times
clocks to awaken his sleeping students, as
Jesus did 1900 years before. Students
regularly met with group leaders; both
separately and in group meetings, and
came together for ‗work periods‘ where
intensive conscious labor, connected with
the forms mentioned above. Work in the
kitchen was a special task and sometimes
elaborate meals were prepared. This food
was the lowest of the three being foods,
food, air and impressions. Air and
impressions being even more important,
special exercises were given for them.
According to Gurdjieff, the work of
schools of the Fourth Way never remains
the same for long. In some cases, this
has led to a break between student and
teacher as is the case of Ouspensky and
Gurdjieff. The outward appearance of the
School and the group work can change
according to the circumstances and
situations.
He believed that the inner individual
expression, such as the practice of self-
remembering with self-observation and
the non-expression of negative emotions,
always remains the same and could never
change, for that is the guarantee of
ultimate self-development.
A follower of Gurdjieff, former American
Fabrics magazine publisher William C.
Segal, tells of periods of hard labor
around the clock which in the Gurdjieff
System are known as ‘super-efforts’.
According to Gurdjieff, only super-efforts
count in the Work. In 1948 and 1949,
Segal was sporadically in contact with
Gurdjieff, who had been the teacher of
avant-garde lesbian Jane Heap. In 1951,
at 26, Peter Brook became a pupil of
Heap in London and Segal published the
magazine Gentry. As Segal would write in
the poem ‘Silence Clarity’,
June 2011
―... It is through the body that sits here/
that I go to my true nature.‖
A voice at the borders of silence would
conclude,
―... It is through the mind that stands
still/ that I experience my true nature.‖
Writings of Gurdjieff
Gurdjieff wrote and approved for
publication three volumes of his written
work under the title All and Everything.
The first volume, Beelzebub’s Tales to
His Grandson, is a lengthy allegorical
work that recounts the explanations of
Beelzebub to his grandson concerning the
beings of the planet Earth.
There are two English Translations of this
unique work. One was carried out under
his strict supervision (Beelzebub 1950-
1999) when he was still alive and the
other after his death first published in
1991 without notifying the readers.
Gurdjieff deliberately tried to increase the
effort needed to read and understand the
book. As a result the book is perhaps not
the best introduction to Gurdjieff‘s ideas
since part of the book‘s intention is to
frustrate and usurp the normal patterns
of thought.
The second volume, Meetings with
Remarkable Men, is written in an
accessible manner, and purports to be an
autobiography of his early years, but
also contains many allegorical
statements.
His final volume, left intentionally
unfinished, shows the Master‘s hand. Life
is Real Only Then, when ‘I Am’
Meditation Times
contains a fragment of an
autobiographical description of later
years, as well as transcripts of some
lectures.
Gurdjieff‘s own writings are generally not
considered the best introduction to his
thought. His own writings do not present
any sort of systematization that clearly
existed in his private teachings. Several
of Gurdjieff‘s students kept records of
these teachings and published their own
accounts. The most highly regarded of
these accounts are considered to be those
of P D Ouspensky.
Truly Gurdjieff explained to Ouspensky
‗... For exact understanding exact
language is necessary.‘
In his first series of writings, Gurdjieff
explains how difficult it is to choose an
ordinary language to convey his thoughts
exactly. He continues ‗...the Russian
language is like the English...both these
languages are like the dish which is called
in Moscow ‘Solianka’, and into which
everything goes except you and me...‘
In spite of the difficulties, he goes on to
develop a special vocabulary of a new
language, all of it his own. He uses these
new words particularly in the first series
of his writings. However, in The Herald of
Coming Good, he uses one particular
word for the first time: ‗Tzvarnoharno‘,
allegedly coined by King Solomon.
Opinions and influence
Opinions on Gurdjieff‘s writings and
activities are divided. Sympathizers
regard him as a charismatic master who
brought new ways into Western culture, a
June 2011
psychology and cosmology that enable
insights beyond those provided by
established science.
On the other hand, there are critics who
assert that he was simply a charlatan with
a large ego and a constant need for self-
glorification. Gurdjieff is said to have had
a strong influence on many modern
mystics, artists, writers, and thinkers,
including Osho, Frank Lloyd Wright, Keith
Jarrett, George Russell (composer), Alan
Watts, Timothy Leary, Robert Anton
Wilson, Robert Fripp, Jacob Needleman,
John Shirley, Carlos Castaneda, Dennis
Lewis, Peter Brook, Kate Bush, P. L.
Travers, Robert S de Ropp, Walter Inglis
Anderson, Jean Toomer, Alejandro
Jodorowsky, Louis Pauwels, James Moore
and Abdullah Isa Neil Dougan.
Osho has put Gurdjieff along with Raman
Maharishi and Ramkrishna in highest
category. Osho has created meditations
around Gurdjieff‘s contributions.
Gurdjieff‘s notable personal students
include Jeanne de Salzmann, Willem
Nyland, Lord Pentland (Henry John
Sinclair), P. D. Ouspensky, Olga de
Hartmann, Thomas de Hartmann, Jane
Heap, John G. Bennett, Alfred Richard
Orage, Maurice Nicoll, Lanza del Vasto,
George and Helen Adie and Katherine
Mansfield.
The Italian composer and singer Franco
Battiato was sometime inspired by
Gurdjieff‘s work, for example in his song
‗Centro di gravità permanente‘. This is
one of most popular modern Italian pop
songs.
Aleister Crowley visited his Institute at
least once and privately praised
Gurdjieff‘s work, though with some
reservations. During WWI, Algernon
Meditation Times
Blackwood took up spying while reporting
to John Buchan, author of The Thirty
Nine Steps. After the war, during the
Roaring Twenties, Blackwood studied with
Gurdjieff and Ouspensky.
Gurdjieff gave new life and practical form
to ancient teachings of both East and
West. For example, the Socratic and
Platonic emphasis on ‗the examined life‘
recurs in Gurdjieff‘s teaching as the
practice of self-observation. His teachings
about self-discipline and restraint reflect
Stoic teachings. The Hindu and Buddhist
notion of attachment recurs in Gurdjieff‘s
teaching as the concept of identification.
Similarly, his cosmology can be ‗read‘
against ancient and esoteric sources,
respectively Neoplatonic and in such
sources as Robert Fludd‘s treatment of
macrocosmic musical structures.
Fourth Way Enneagram
An aspect of Gurdjieff‘s teachings which
has come into prominence in recent
decades is the enneagram geometric
figure. For many students of the Gurdjieff
tradition, the enneagram remains a
‗koan‘, challenging and never fully
explicated. There have been many
attempts to trace the origins of this
version of the enneagram. However
certain similarities to other figures have
been found, but it seems that Gurdjieff
was the first person to make the
enneagram figure publicly known and that
only he knew its true source.
However there are others have used the
enneagram figure in connection with
personality analysis, principally in the
Enneagram of Personality as developed
by Oscar Ichazo, Claudio Naranjo,
Helen Palmer and others. Most aspects
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of this application are not directly
connected to Gurdjieff‘s teaching or to his
explanations of the enneagram.
The science-fiction and horror novelist
John Shirley has written an introductory
work on Gurdjieff for Penguin/Tarcher,
Gurdjieff: An Introduction to His Life
and Ideas.
Groups and Gurdjieff
Foundation
Gurdjieff inspired the formation of many
groups after his death, all of which still
function today and follow his ideas. The
Gurdjieff Foundation is the largest
organization which is directly influenced
by the ideas of Gurdjieff. It was organized
by Jeanne de Salzmann during the early
1950s, and led by her in cooperation with
other pupils of Gurdjieff. There are main
four branches of the Foundation.
Various pupils of Gurdjieff and his direct
students have formed other groups.
Willem Nyland, one of Gurdjieff‘s closest
students and an original founder and
trustee of The Gurdjieff Foundation of
New York, left to form his own groups in
the early 1960s.
Jane Heap was sent to London by
Gurdjieff, where she led groups until her
death in 1964.
Louise Goepfert March, who became a
pupil of Gurdjieff in 1929, started her own
groups in 1957 and founded the
Rochester Folk Art Guild in the Finger
Lakes region of New York State. Her
efforts were closely linked to the Gurdjieff
Foundation of New York.
Meditation Times
Independent groups were also formed
and led by John G. Bennett and Mrs.
Staveley. In 2005 Alan Francis, after co-
founding the Gurdjieff Foundation in
Oregon in 1999, formed the as yet
unaffiliated Russian Center for
Gurdjieff Studies in Moscow.
Gurdjieff student Lord Pentland
connects the Gurdjieff group-work with
the later rise of encounter groups. Groups
also often meet to prepare for
demonstrations or performances to which
the public is invited.
Criticism
Gurdjieff‘s work is not free from
criticisms. Louis Pauwels among others
criticizes Gurdjieff for his insistence on
considering people as ‗asleep‘ in a state
closely resembling ‗hypnotic sleep‘.
Gurdjieff said, even specifically at times,
that a pious, good, and moral man was
no more ‗spiritually developed‘ than any
other person; they are all equally ‗asleep‘.
Henry Miller approved of Gurdjieff‘s not
considering himself holy but, after writing
a brief introduction to Fritz Peters‘ book
Boyhood with Gurdjieff, Miller wrote that
man is not meant to lead a ‗harmonious
life‘, as Gurdjieff claimed in naming his
institute.
Critics note that Gurdjieff gives no value
to most of the elements that comprise the
life of an average man. According to
Gurdjieff, everything an ‗average man‘
possesses, accomplishes, does, and feels
is completely accidental and without any
initiative. A common everyday ordinary
man is born a machine and dies a
machine without any chance of being
anything else. This belief seems to run
June 2011
counter to the Judeo-Christian tradition
that man is a living soul.
Gurdjieff believed that the possession of a
soul (a state of psychological unity which
he equated with being ‗awake‘) was a
‗luxury‘ that a disciple could attain only by
the most painstaking work of over a long
period of time. The majority—in whom
the true meaning of the gospel failed to
take root went the ‗broad way‘ that ‗led to
destruction‘. Gurdjieff attributed the
human tendency to spiritual corruption
and ignorance to astronomical
(astrological) influences (particularly the
influence of the moon). Christian theology
accounts for the proclivity of the majority
to fail to achieve salvation as due to the
power of original sin.
In Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson
Gurdjieff expresses his reverence for the
founders of the mainstream religions of
East and West and his contempt for what
successive generations of believers have
made of those religious teachings.
His discussions of ‗ortho-doxhydooraki‘
and ‗hetero-doxhydooraki‘—orthodox
fools and heterodox fools, from the
Russian word durak (fool)—position him
as a critic of religious distortion and, in
turn, as a target for criticism from some
within those traditions. Gurdjieff has been
interpreted by some, Ouspensky among
others, to have had a total disregard for
the value of mainstream religion,
philanthropic work and the value of doing
right or wrong in general.
Gurdjieff‘s former students who have
criticized him argue, despite his seeming
total lack of pretension to any kind of
‗guru holiness‘, that the many anecdotes
of his sometimes unconventional behavior
display the unsavory and impure
character of a man who was a cynical
Meditation Times
manipulator of his followers. Gurdjieff‘s
own pupils wrestled to understand him.
For example, in a written exchange
between Luc Dietrich and Henri Tracol
dating to 1943: ‗L.D.: How do you know
that Gurdjieff wishes you well? H.T.: I feel
sometimes how little I interest him—and
how strongly he takes an interest in me.
By that I measure the strength of an
intentional feeling.‘
Louis Pauwels wrote Monsieur Gurdjieff
(first edition published in Paris, France in
1954 by Editions du Seuil). In an
interview, Pauwels said of the Gurdjieff
work:
‗... After two years of exercises which
both enlightened and burned me, I found
myself in a hospital bed with a
thrombosed central vein in my left eye
and weighing ninety-nine
pounds...Horrible anguish and abysses
opened up for me. But it was my fault.‘
Pauwels claims Karl Haushofer, the father
of geopolitics whose protégée was Deputy
Reich Führer Rudolf Hess, as one of the
real ‗seekers after truth‘ described by
Gurdjieff. According to Rom Landau, a
journalist in the 1930s, as reported to
him by Achmed Abdullah at the beginning
of the 20th century, Gurdjieff was a
Russian secret agent in Tibet who went by
the name of ‘Hambro Akuan Dorzhieff’
(i.e. Agvan Dorjiev), chief tutor to the
Dalai Lama. However, reports have it that
Dorzhieff went to live in the Buddhist
temple erected in St. Petersburg and after
the revolution, he was imprisoned by
Stalin. James Webb conjectures that
Gurdjieff may have been Dorzhieff‘s
assistant Ushe Narzunoff (i.e. Ovshe
Norzunov) but this remains untenable.
Colin Wilson writes about
June 2011
‗...Gurdjieff‘s reputation for seducing his
female students. (In Providence, Rhode
Island, in 1960, a man was pointed out to
me as one of Gurdjieff‘s illegitimate
children. The professor who told me this
also assured me that Gurdjieff had left
many children around America).‘
In the early 1930s Gurdjieff publicly
ridiculed one of his pupils, Alfred Richard
Orage. In response, his wife Jessie
Dwight wrote the following poem about
Gurdjieff:
‗He calls himself, deluded man, The Tiger
of The Turkestan.
And greater he then God or Devil
Eschewing good and preaching evil
His followers whom he does glut on are
for him naught but wool and mutton,
And still they come and sit agape
With Tiger‘s rage and Tiger‘s rape
Why not, they say, the man‘s a god;
We have it on the sacred word.
His book will set the world on fire. He
says so - can God be a liar?
But what is woman, says Gurdjieff, Just
nothing but man‘s handkerchief. I need a
new one every day, Let others for the
washing pay.
In The Oragean Version, C. Daly King
surmised that the problem that Gurdfieff
had with Orage‘s teachings was that the
‗Oragean Version‘ was not emotional
enough and was not based on ‗incredulity‘
and faith. King wrote that Gurdjieff did
not state it as clearly and specifically as
this, but was quick to add that nothing
Gurdjieff said was specific or clear.
According to Osho, the Gurdjieff system is
incomplete, drawing from Dervish sources
inimical to Kundalini. Some Sufi orders,
such as the Naqshbandi, draw from and
are amenable to Kundalini.
Meditation Times June 2011

Gurdjieff‘s views have arguably become Hartmann, and published in 1973 as

best known through the published works
of his pupils. PD Ouspensky wrote ‗In
Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of
an Unknown Teaching‘, which some,
Rodney Collins among others, regard as a
crucial introduction to the teaching.
Others refer to Gurdjieff‘s own books
detailed below as the primary texts.
Published accounts of time spent with
Gurdjieff have appeared written by A. R.
Orage, Charles Stanley Nott, Thomas and
Olga de Hartmann, Fritz Peters, René
Daumal, John G. Bennett, Maurice Nicoll,
Margaret Anderson and Louis Pauwels,
among others. Many others found
themselves drawn to his ‗ideas table‘:
Frank Lloyd Wright, Kathryn Hulme, P. L.
Travers, Katherine Mansfield, Jean
Toomer and Ethel Merston.
Views from the Real World: Early Talks in
Moscow, Essentuki, Tiflis, Berlin, London,
Paris, New York, and Chicago, as
recollected by his pupils.
The feature film Meetings with
Remarkable Men (1979), based on
Gurdjieff‘s book by the same name,
depicts rare performances of the sacred
dances taught to serious students of his
work, known simply as the movements.
Jeanne de Salzmann and Peter Brook
wrote the film, Brook directed, and
Dragan Maksimovic and Terence Stamp
star, as does South African playwright
and actor

Three books by Gurdjieff were published

in the English language in the United
States after his death:

1. Beelzebub‘s Tales to His Grandson

published in 1950 by E. P. Dutton &
Co. Inc.,
2. Meetings with Remarkable Men,
published in 1963 by E. P. Dutton &
Co. Inc., and
3. Life is Real Only Then, When ‗I Am‘,
printed privately by E. P. Dutton &
Co. and published in 1978 by
Triangle Editions Inc. for private
distribution only.
4. Thistrilogy is Gurdjieff‘s legominism,
known collectively as All and
Everything.

A legominism according to Gurdjieff is

‗one of the means of transmitting
information about certain events of long-
past ages through initiates‘. A book of his
early talks was also collected by his
student and personal secretary, Olga de
Meditation Times
Sacred Dances
There are certain inconsistencies in the
writings and teachings of Gurdjieff. He
used his own terminology to explain the
matter for which already terminology
existed. For instance there is basic
existential energy that each individual
comes with and the energy travels
through channel. This channel has been
known as Kundalini. Gurdjieff has used
the word Kundabuffer to explain this
phenomenon. Yet still Gurdjieff created
sacred dances. These worked like
miracles. All the dances were in circles –
just whirling but remaining aware inside,
by and by making the circles smaller and
smaller.
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, moving, moving. If you have
been travelling in a train for twenty
hours, after you have come home, and
you have left the train, if you close your
eyes you will feel that you are still
travelling. Still you are travelling. The
body has stopped, but the mind is still
feeling the vehicle.
So just do this technique. Gurdjieff
created phenomenal dances, very
beautiful. In this century he worked
miracles. But Gurdjieff really created
miracles. He prepared a group of a
hundred people for meditative dancing,
and he was showing that dance to an
audience in New York for the first time. A
June 2011
hundred dancers were on the stage
whirling. Those who were in the audience,
even their minds began whirling. There
were a hundred white-robed dancers just
whirling. When he indicated with his
hand, they would whirl, and the moment
he would say, ‘Stop,’ there would be dead
silence.
That was a stop for the audience, but not
for the dancers – because the body can
stop immediately. It is only afterwards
the mind actually takes the movement
inside. It goes on and on. It was beautiful
even to look at, because a hundred
persons suddenly became dead statues. It
created a sudden shock in the audience
also, because a hundred movements –
beautiful movements, rhythmical
movements – suddenly stopped. You
would be looking at them moving,
whirling, dancing, and suddenly the
dancers stopped. Then your thought
would also stop. Many in New York felt
that it was a weird phenomenon: their
thoughts stopped immediately.
But for the dancers, the dance continued
inside, and the inside whirling circles
became smaller and smaller until they
became centred. One day it happened
that they were coming just to the edge of
the stage, dancing. It was expected,
supposed, that Gurdjieff would stop them
just before they danced down the stage
onto the audience. A hundred dancers
were just on the edge of the stage. One
step more and they would all fall down
into the hall. The whole hall was
expecting that suddenly Gurdjieff would
say stop, but he turned his back to light
his cigar.
He turned his back to the dancers to light
his cigar, and the whole group of a
hundred dancers fell down from the stage
upon the floor – on a naked stone floor.
Meditation Times
The whole audience stood up. They were
screaming, shouting, and they were
thinking that many must have broken
their bones – it was such a crash. But not
a single one was hurt; not even a single
bruise was there. They asked Gurdjieff
what had happened. No one had been
hurt, and the crash was such that it
seemed impossible. The reason was only
this: they were really not in their bodies
at that moment. They were slowing down
their inner circling.
When Gurdjieff saw that all of them were
completely oblivious of their bodies, he
allowed them to fall down. If you are
completely oblivious of your body, there
is no resistance. A bone is broken
because of resistance. If you are falling
down, you resist: you go against the pull
of gravity. That going against, that
resistance is the problem – not gravity. If
you can fall down with gravity, if you can
cooperate with it, then no possibility of
being hurt will arise.
Gurdjieff can be best described as a blend
of Theosophist and the protagonist of Neo
Pythagorean or Rosicrucian-Hermetic
doctrines that prevailed during the 19 and
20th century. What Theosophical
movement had been teaching in last two
decades of the 19th century, Gurdjieff,
combined with his strong temper and
adventurous spirit tried to achieve in
practice. With all the talk about India and
‘Masters’, Theosophists still remained an
influential, yet an impotent debater.
Gurdjieff, yearned for ‘the right stuff’ of
superhuman mastery and actualization of
the ‘miraculous’ a pervasive theme during
the final years of the 19th century, a
period characterized as a time of
decadence and self-doubt.
Gurdjieff had strong Theosophical ‘roots’.
These can be traced in his analysis of a
June 2011
human being. He divides man into four
‘bodies’:
1. Carnal or Physical Body
2. Astral or Kesdjan Body (feelings,
desires)
3. Mental or Spiritual Body (mind,
mental faculty)
4. Divine or Causal Body (‘I’
consciousness, will, soul)
This brings forth a few observations:
1. Evidently, the doctrine of multiple
bodies reflects the Theosophical
influence and its offshoots. We can
find it in developed Western
esoteric traditions however only in
rudimentary forms. It has been
mentioned in Plotinus's ‘Enneads’,
and that too casually as jism-i-latif
or subtle body in Sufism. It is also
mentioned as zelem in Kabbalah,
or various soul-bodies in medieval
and Renaissance Christianity.
However its true source is Hindu-
Buddhist Yogic and Tantric lore
assimilated in many wisdom
doctrines. The ‘theory’ of 5 koshas
or sheaths which can be lumped in
3 bodies: physical (including bio
plasmatic, ‘pranic’ sheath), psychic
and causal bodies. The vital
difference lies in Gurdjieff's
insistence on non-existence of
‘higher’ bodies in normal human
beings (as we shall see, he was
inconsistent re this matter - just as
in many others. Also, the achieved
immortality is also equivocally
stated: sometimes it is confined to
this solar system, sometimes to all
solar systems and sometimes not
spatio-temporally restricted.
2. Gurdjieff did not use the bodiless
terminology, both of East and West
Meditation Times
(Atman, Buddha Nature, Spirit,
Inner Christ, Ar-Ruh al-Qudsi
(Supreme Spirit), Hsing or Original
Nature). For him, potentially Trans
temporal and indestructible or
eternal ‘spiritual’ element in human
being remains equal to a ‘higher’
body and not encased within.
This puts forward interesting and
unanswered questions on the ‘unity’ of
the whole Gurdjieffian doctrine. All
ancient teachings, of the East and the
West, describe the relation of essential
human soul and the ground of the
Universe in similes suggesting continuity
of existence - either in radical non-dual
monist version of Advaita Vedanta, Ch’an
or Zen Buddhism or in a more
differentiated approach of Hermetism,
Gnosticism, the majority of Sufism,
Kabbalah, Suddha Vedanta.
Frequently encountered metaphors
suggest this relation between soul -
cosmos like the rays from the sun or
waves in the ocean. In this respect
Gurdjieff, who continued to propagate
emanations doctrines with an equivocal
stance, in the bulk of his writing seem to
have radically departed from virtually all
esoteric teachings. In his case,
strenuously won immortality nevertheless
restricts indestructible being to isolated
whizzing to and fro within confines of a
cosmos. Later this is defined as ‘cosmic
consciousness’ or temporary loss of
expanded selfhood- whatever this or that
passage taken out of context may aver.
3. Gurdjieff’s vision of human
composition is in many ways
similar to Assagioli’s Psycho
synthesis. For both of them, the
central attribute of the innermost
self is will. Although, some doubts
June 2011
remain. It appears like Assagioli
has a subtler approach about the
indestructible self. However in
shallower and lower levels of dis -
identification it is a pure witnessing
‘I’. In deeper and more potent
dimensions of its ‘life’ it is
Transpersonal or Higher Self-
virtually bodiless Atman or Spirit.
4. Alike most Theosophists, Gurdjieff
calls the 4th body soul. It is the
soul Gurdjieff's ‘Work’ is all about.
But, equally ironic, in his version of
Thanatology - the study of the
medical, psychological, and
sociological aspects of death and
the ways in which people deal with
it, Gurdjieff radically departs both
from traditional wisdom doctrines
and Theosophy: if not worked upon
sufficiently and not awakened,
even soul is mortal. It is ‘eaten by
the Moon’ - probably the weirdest
destiny that has ever befallen the
spiritual element in man. So, in his
rather incongruous blend of
Theosophy, Neo Pythagoreans,
Rosicrucianism and Alchemy, even
the inborn spiritual self is doomed
to extinction in ordinary human
beings.
Meditation Times
There are still more doubts about
Gurdjieffian esoteric physiology. These I
take in following paragraphs.
Essence and Personality
These two crucial concepts can be taken
as the central human polarity.
Essence:
Essence is a Mutable Concept.
Essence is, in astrological parlance, the
sum total of individual incarnational and
or behavioral tendencies one is usually
not aware of, but lives their mechanical
life according to the essence promptings.
Essence grows, decays, but a person is
generally not aware of its processes. It is
innate, the mould of one’s personality and
the matrix of a human being’s conscious
life. With a bit of stretch, the essence
could be compared either to
temperament, or to the Freudian Id, or at
least to a host of essential subconscious
qualities emerging out of it. We can
equate it to the psychoanalytic
subconscious. It is said essence is
nothing ‘spiritual’. This term has
completely different connotations in other
wisdom doctrines as well. Gurdjieff is, as
usual, confusing about this concept. ‘A
small child has no personality as yet. He
is what he really is. He is essence. His
desires, tastes, likes, dislikes, express his
being such as it is. But as soon as so-
called ‘education’ begins, personality
begins to grow. Personality is created
partly by the intentional influences of
other people, that is, by ‘education,’ and
partly by involuntary imitation of them by
the child itself. In the creation of
personality a great part is also played by
‘resistance’ to people around him and by
June 2011
attempts to conceal from them something
that is ‘his own’ or ‘real.’ A man is real I,
his individuality, can grow only from
his essence.
It can be said that a man’s individuality is
his essence, grown up, and mature. But
in order to enable essence to grow up, it
is first of all necessary to weaken the
constant pressure of personality upon it,
because the obstacles to the growth of
essence are contained in personality.
From this passage it is obvious that the
goal is not the return to the quasi-
Freudian infantile state, but the
‘maturing’ of the unconscious. At this
juncture, various strata of the
unconscious are not differentiated;
instead, evidently, the essence is the
Freudian Id or the ‘subconscious’.
In spite of concentrated exercises of the
Fourth Way How sub consciousness can
possibly be transmuted into super
consciousness remains one of many
Gurdjieff's inconsistencies and weak
points. Moreover, it happens fairly often
that essence dies in a man while his
personality and his body are still alive. A
considerable percentage of the people we
meet in the streets are empty inside, that
is, they are actually already dead. So,
while the most frequent Gurdjieffian
abuse of the word ‘essence’ simply refers
to the unconscious, sometimes he means
the subconscious only, and though, rarely
espouses a weird doctrine of the ‘death of
essence’. Just to add to the confusion,
further esoteric who are indebted to
Gurdjieff generally returned to the more
conventional Oriental designation:
essence is Supreme Self, Buddha Nature
and personality a false, ego-d individual
consciousness consisting of a host of sub
personalities, spurious ‘I’s or selves.
Meditation Times
Personality
Personality is something inauthentic, a
sort of fluctuating mask a human being
adopts in dealing with the world (inner
and outer). Essentially, it can be
compared to ancient ‘persona’, false
series of ‘I’ or ‘acting’ spurious self one
unconsciously adopts as optimal in
dealings with the life’s challenges.
Gurdjieff insists on multiplicity of false ‘I’
- one could apply to the Satan’s
illuminating answer: ‘My name is a
legion’.
Succinctly Gurdjieff's insistence on the
dichotomy between essence and
personality is just another weapon in his
arsenal, stored for attack on ‘ordinary
man’s’ hypnotized, sleepy and inauthentic
existence. Both building blocks of human
being are just raw, mechanical matrices
of human bondage.
Polarity between ‘carnal’ and ‘spiritual’ is
alien to Gurdjieff ‘Work’. There is no
‘struggle for one’s soul’. Conventionally
speaking, one encounters this in all
monotheistic traditions. True, he
frequently plays with these concepts, but,
evidently, his ‘God’ is a reflection of the
deistic Enlightenment Deity not interested
in human affairs or a Gnostic God cut off
from the worlds left to the whims of
Demiurgic, which in Gnostic and Platonic
philosophies, implies the creator and
controller of the material world generally
hostile forces. It is some weird and
concocted mechanical laws not more
convincing than one can encounter in the
Jain cosmology. It is something like the
Newtonian paradigm pushed to the
extreme and utterly improbable
conclusions. Both concepts are
fundamental to Gurdjieff ‘Work’ and
June 2011
integrated with the rest of his
psychology: for instance, crucial Fourth
Way elements of human transformation,
s, are frequently described as ‘being
contained in essence’.
Three ‘Stories’ or ‘Brains’
and Respective s:
Gurdjieff has divided a human into three
‘stories’ or compartments metaphorically,
‘brains’, although this has nothing to do
with the anatomical organ. Roughly, the
division goes as follows:
1. Upper story incorporating
Intellectual Centre plus Higher
Intellectual Centre
2. Middle story including Emotional
Centre and Higher Emotional
Centre
3. Lower story refers to Sexual
Centre plus Instinctive Centre
plus Moving Centre
‘Higher’ centres in upper two stories are
only potential; existing, yet dormant.
They are accessible and yet hopefully
operating in men and women who have
passed through strenuous exercises of
Gurdjieffian ‘Work’.
What virtually all Gurdjieffians ignore or
simply have not deigned to ask is: where
these centres reside?
Conventionally, the answer is that they
are located in physical body or lower
story in abdomen, middle story in chest
and upper story in head. But anatomy is
sufficiently advanced to discover anything
resembling these ‘s’ if they exist in this
mortal coil. Yet nothing so far of it is
Meditation Times
clear. We are left with a host of possible
choices:
1. As a Theosophist, Gurdjieff includes
‘etheric’, or, in modern parlance,
bioplasmic or bioenergy ‘Kirlian
photography’ body into the physical
body framework. Essentially, this
corresponds to the Yogic ‘vital
sheath’. The question which
naturally arises is how these s,
located in such a ‘low’ body, could
give rise to supra mundane
consciousness, especially
considering the fact that Gurdjieff,
in his cosmology, adheres to quasi
materialist explanations? If a centre
is constrained to a specific
‘vibratory level’ - how can it skip
other levels and whizz across the
emanationist ladder which is
deterministically structured? In
normal physics language, it would
be as absurd as expect a hydrogen
atom to contain ‘all’ uranium energy
levels. The ‘answer’ is given in the
following chapters on Gurdjieffian
alchemy. However there is nothing
convincing in it at all.
2. s are situated in respective bodies:
the ‘lower’ ones in physical,
‘emotional’ in astral and
‘intellectual’ in mental. This
classification one can find in
Ouspensky’s works. Just as again
nothing remains visible or
detectable in the physical body.
Realistically - the s concept is most
vulnerable to the banal question:
why accept their existence at all?
They seem to combine in an
awkward manner Platonic and
Thomist psychology. It implies s are
psychological functions located in a
body-soul compound: vegetative
June 2011
soul, passionate or animal and
rational soul. This triple division
corresponds exactly to Gurdjieff's
three stories or ‘brains’ and
Theosophical or Hindu idea of
energy wheels or chakras located in
subtle supra physical bodies.
3. The confusion arises because these
two approaches are not
harmonized: for, ‘orthodox’ chakras
do not have any psychological
functions. The majority of them are
dormant like ‘Ajna’ in the head,
while Plato’s psyche logistic or
rational soul is perfectly functional
in an ordinary human. Also, in
Oriental traditions some say
spiritual pole is dormant and
physiological active - with the
exception of ‘lower’ centres which
do not have even dormant spiritual
function.
4. Expanding on the Platonic
metaphor, one could ponder
something like this: Plato speaks of
immortal soul. Evidently, his
‘centres’ are located not in physical,
but in supraphysical ‘soul body’,
which is not further dissected. Such
a view is endorsed in chief
dialogues, ‘Apologia’, ‘Phaedo’ and
‘The Republic’. Socrates, as the
story goes, will (probably) lead an
immortal life, conversing with
Homer, Orpheus and comp., with all
his mental and emotional s
operating. As a simple paradigm, it
would fit nicely with Gurdjieff's
views, save for a few irreconcilable
points: Gurdjieff-Ouspensky ‘theory’
contains more than one body. More,
the Caucasian Master has
elaborated an intricate web of
interrelated connections between s
Meditation Times
leading to aberrant or functional
behavior, all set in a materialist
lingo or emotional centre steals
energy for its gratification etc.,.
Multiplicity of bodies in Gurdjieff's
system and unity of one, soul body
with various functions/s in Plato's
psychology are mutually exclusive.
A subvariant of ‘protoplatonic’
interpretation is that a centre in a
‘lower’ body acts as a focus or
radiating ‘’ for higher body, which is
termed a , but in actuality is a
whole ‘higher’ body. But, as I said:
this is, to say the least, not very
probable interpretation.
5. In his posthumous work Gurdjieff
casually gave the most plausible to
the modern mind and at the same
time cursory and offhand brief
review of the centres: he equated
them with various plexuses and
sympathetic and parasympathetic
nervous systems combined with
parts of brain. This is rather fuzzy
description. Needless to say - this is
completely differs with virtually
everything he had been talking on
the subject for more than 30 years.
Leaving the question of location
unresolved, we shall point to the
most probable source of Gurdjieff's
doctrine of higher s. Gurdjieff based
his doctrine basically on Theosophy.
Here it is, in a characteristically dull
and annoying style. Accordingly the
lower man is a composite being,
whose real nature is a unity, or
immortal being, comprising a trinity
of Spirit, Discernment, and Mind
which requires four lower mortal
instruments or vehicles through
which he operates in matter and
obtains experience from Nature.
June 2011
This trinity is that called Atma – Buddhi –
Manas in Sanskrit. Atma is Spirit, Buddhi
is the highest power of discerning and
judgements, and Manas is Mind. This
threefold collection is the real man; and
beyond doubt the doctrine is the origin of
the theological one of the trinity of
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The four
lower instruments or vehicles are shown
in this table: Real Man: Atma, Buddhi,
Manas, Lower Vehicles: The Passions and
Desires, Life Principle, Astral Body, and
Physical Body. These four lower material
constituents are transitory and subject to
disintegration in themselves as well as to
separation from each other. When the
hour arrives for their separation to begin,
the combination can no longer be kept
up, the physical body dies, the atoms of
which each of the four is composed begin
to separate from each other, and the
whole collection being disjointed is no
longer fit for one as an instrument for the
real man. This is what is called ‘death’
among us mortals, but it is not death for
the real man because he is deathless,
persistent, and immortal. He is therefore
called the Triad, or indestructible trinity,
while they are known as the Quaternary
or mortal four. Let us recapitulate. The
Real Man is the trinity of Atma-Buddhi-
Manas, or Spirit and Mind, and he uses
certain agents and instruments to get in
touch with nature in order to know him.
These instruments and agents are found
in the lower Four -- or the Quaternary –
each principle in which category is of itself
an instrument for the particular
experience belonging to its own field, the
body being the lowest, least important,
and most transitory of the whole series.’
Meditation Times
The upper imperishable
triad
Manas – manas is a principle which has
dual functions - Mind, Intelligence: which
is the higher human mind, whose light, or
radiation links the MONAD, for the
lifetime, to the mortal man.
The future state and the Karmic destiny
of man depend on whether Manas
gravitates more downward to Kama rupa,
the seat of the animal passions, or
upwards to Buddhi, the Spiritual Ego. In
the latter case, the higher consciousness
of the individual Spiritual aspirations of
mind (Manas), assimilating Buddhi, are
absorbed by it and form the Ego, which
goes into Devachanic bliss.
Buddhi or The Spiritual Soul refers to the
vehicle of pure universal spirit. Atma or
Spirit or refers to One with the Absolute,
as its radiation.
Now, things are much more transparent:
Gurdjieff equated his concept of soul with
Blavatsky and Besant Higher Ego or
Spiritual Soul. This is a correct
correspondence in theosophical worldview
- if we toss aside traditional Sankhya or
Vedanta doctrines. Soul is Higher Manas
or Mind dwelling in causal body.
Theosophical ‘Buddhi’ is Gurdjieff's ‘higher
emotional centre’, and ‘Atma’ corresponds
to ‘higher intellectual centre’. Not
surprisingly, Gurdjieff's ‘Man number 5’ is
the one who has acquired soul, but has
still two more steps to go to become ‘Man
number 7’. A juicy part is that, in all
probability, Gurdjieff went beyond original
Theosophy and tacitly incorporated the
Adhyar Theosophy esoteric innovations
originated by C.W. Leadbeater, who
changed Blavatsky’s teaching of the
June 2011
Monad so as to add another two ‘upper
levels or planes’.
In Gurdjieff’s system one can easily
detect a curious feature: the summit of
human development according to the
Fourth Way, ‘Man number 7’, has two
worlds above-unattained. This clearly
indicates that Gurdjieff felt that Neo
theosophical Monad and Logos are
beyond his practical interest, but not
outside his ‘theoretical’ framework.
Just to make things a bit more
complicated: now, when all seems to fit
nicely, one must not overlook the central
Gurdjieffian ogre of contradiction: in the
majority of his writings, he insists that
‘higher’ bodies do not exist. This is a non-
Theosophical concept, but have to be
created - something more reminiscent of
the Taoist alchemy than any other
wisdom doctrine, whether traditional or
post-19th century. This issue shall be
addressed in more detail in chapters
dealing with cosmology and psychology.
The entire Gurdjieffian ‘Work’ and the
‘Fourth Way’ rest on harmonious
development of a human being which, in
his system, means work on all centres
through a structured network of very
elaborate exercises aiming at
empowerment, harmonization and
coordination of various s that would
facilitate crystallization of permanent ‘I’
or soul. If there are no s then, apart
from a few exercises good for health and
strengthening of perception, his central
goal is null and void-just another
specimen in a procession of human self-
deceptions.
Meditation Times
A Hackney Carriage
Metaphor
Here, Gurdjieff retells an analogy already
present in Upanishads, which gives
ancient Hindu insight into human
condition. Just George consciously
misread Upanishadic Advaitin
interpretation metaphor: as a carriage
human or physical body is drawn by a
horse or emotions or astral body. A
shabby coachman, with meagre powers
and understanding or intellect or mental
body tries his best, but the central
problem is that a passenger in a box or
whatever ‘I’ turns out at the moment, a
false self or sub personality instead of
true self or soul is asleep and probably
snoozing.
The central aim of Gurdjieff's ‘Work’ is
that the passenger becomes Divine body
or soul, fully operating and possessing
authentic will. Needless to say, the
majority of monist doctrines speak of the
passenger in completely different terms:
‘He is the unseen seer, the unheard
hearer. Other than he there is no seer,
other than he there is no hearer. He is
your Self, the Inner Controller, the
Immortal’ (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad).
One could cut Gurdjieff some slack by
allowing the passenger to be equated to
jiva, or jivatman- a deluded ‘soul spark’
of Vishista-Advaita or small ‘self’ or ‘I’ of
Assagioli’s Psycho synthesis, the ray from
Transpersonal or Spiritual Self. This would
make a frame of the Fourth Way at least
coherent re spiritual psychology: one
wouldn’t expect Supreme Self and cosmic
consciousness, but the empowered and
fully conscious jiva in causal or divine
body. But, these nuances are beyond
June 2011
Gurdjieff’s more practical and pragmatic
approach.
The Fourth Way
Gurdjieff’s rather weird claim on
originality of his entire esoteric system
stems from his description of other
wisdom doctrines. Briefly he has
relegated all human spiritual endeavour
from time immemorial to disharmonious
overdevelopment of one of his ‘brains’ or
‘stories’. These are ways of the faqir who
works almost exclusively on the lower
centre or physical body, monk whose
chief battlefield is middle story or heart or
emotions and yogi who focuses on upper
story or mind or thinking. According to
Gurdjieff- those who practice strenuously
one of these ‘ways’ can probably achieve
a non-mechanical existence, but at the
expense of having other faculties
degenerate and atrophy in time.
A classic example would be a monk
whose intense devotional life is followed,
ineluctably, by mental and physical
decrepitude because he has not
exercised, as far as the story goes, his
intellectual and corporeal faculties. This
may be an overstatement, but completely
in line with Gurdjieff's teaching. Also-
Gurdjieff insisted that his system would
out top any other in ‘speed’ necessary to
achieve the desired goal of overcoming
the ordinary, dull and mechanical man’s
condition.
Evidently, judging from numerous
historical examples Boddhidharma, the
founder of Ch’an or Zen Buddhism also
introduced a set of physical exercises that
were later used in martial arts by
Buddhist monks as a means of self-
Meditation Times
defence; great French philosopher, mystic
and scientist Pascal’s life consisted of
eruptions from both ‘heart’ and ‘mind’) -
Gurdjieff's scheme is too crude and
simplistic. Faqir Man number 1, monk
Man number 2, yogi Man number 3 are
grotesque stereotypes. But- it looks like
they served the purpose of accentuating
supposedly new Gurdjieff's approach to
human development- the Fourth Way.
The Fourth Way is, according to its
proponents and followers, original and
‘modern’ because it ‘works’ on all s from
the outset. In short its aim is a
harmonious human being. In the history
of European culture this is not anything
new.
Cosmology:
Macrocosm and Microcosm
The Laws
Before delving into Gurdjieff’s
‘cosmological’ ramblings, we have to put
forth a few ideas describing his notorious
‘laws’: ‘The Law of Three’ and ‘The Law of
Seven’ which supposedly govern
everything existing. The exposition is
mainly based on Ouspensky’s books since
Gurdjieff's own pubescent efforts are
completely arid and empty of any
cognitive value. The Law of Three
postulates that worlds are governed by
three omnipresent forces: positive,
negative and neutralizing or what
Gurdjieff calls: Holy Affirming, Holy
Denying and Holy Neutralizing. These
‘forces’ resemble the three gunas from
Sankhya Yoga system of Hindu
philosophy, but differ insofar as they
June 2011
change their respective roles: positive can
‘switch’ to negative in fuzzily defined
circumstances and so on.
More the Fourth Way people insist in
‘finding’ Trinity everywhere in life similar
to orthodox Marxists and Engels’s ‘Laws
of Dialectics’ or Christian esotericists and
the omnipresent Trinity. This sloppy
reasoning is reinforced by mentally
excavating various trinities from archaic
cultures: the three bodies of Buddha in
Mahayana Buddhism, three substances in
Western post-Paracelsian alchemy, three
faces of Hindu God, one could go on
forever. Just- this has nothing to do with
existence or nonexistence of three forces.
And here starts the real trouble: The Law
of Three was not discovered in any
physical or chemical experiment. It
cannot explain any existing physical law,
nor can it contribute in any way to
‘deeper’ understanding of forces ruling
physical nature-it would be meaningless
to even infer to the ‘supernature’.
Watching Gurdjieffians hopelessly trying
to find The Law of Three in the world and
ascribing various arbitrary concepts like
positive force is equated to proton,
negative to electron, and neutralizing
oscillates between neutron and
electromagnetic field to the laws of
physics or chemistry can be termed a sad
spectacle, indeed.
So- what is this Triamazikamno or the law
of three? Evidently, a remnant of archaic
and magical thinking that has survived in
esoteric circles and feeds on the
disciples’s gullibility and lack of scientific
culture. In any respect Triamazikamno is
an example of concocted quasi intellectual
esoteric dogma which cannot be verified
nor tested, but imparts its adherents a
Meditation Times
sense of superior Gnosis cloaked in
scientific language.
One important corollary of The Law of
Three is Gurdjieff’s version of alchemy;
actually, this is an elaborated scheme his
pupil Ouspensky has recorded in his
works and which serves as the
‘theoretical’ pillar for practical exercises
and describes their functioning in a quasi-
materialist manner. Needless to say, this
is purely fantastic, incoherent and
arbitrary scheme.
We shall address it briefly for the sake of
completion: it connects Gurdjieffian
cosmology and psychology therefore
Macro and Microcosms and tries to
translate archaic alchemical worldview
into something even faintly acceptable to
the modern world. In short, The Law of
Three folded ness can be expressed thus:
when a substance is the conductor of
active force, it is called carbon and
designated as C; when another substance
is the conductor of passive force, it is
called oxygen and designated as O; when
a substance is the conductor of the
neutralizing force, it is called nitrogen and
designated as N.
When a substance is taken without
relation to the force manifesting through
it, or, more frequently, when a substance
is acted upon by all three forces, it is
called hydrogen and designated by letter
H. What can we conclude from this
information? First, it plays arbitrarily with
the established chemical notation;
second, it is completely dependent on The
Law of Three and expressed in dualistic,
‘force-matter’ manner; third, although it
claims origin in the ancient doctrine of 4
elements (water, fire, earth, air), it is at
variance with it because Gurdjieffian
‘hydrogen’ contains C-O-N triad.
June 2011
The origin of this peculiar notation is
again theosophical: we read in
Blavatsky’s ‘The Secret Doctrine’: ‘The
numbers 3 and 4 are respectively male
and female, spirit and matter and their
union is the emblem of life eternal in
spirit on its ascending arc and in matter
as the ever resurrecting element by
procreation and reproduction. The former
(the 3) is invisible (as spirit) and the
latter (the 4) is on the plane of objective
perception (as matter). This is why all the
matter of the universe, when analyzed by
science to its ultimate, can be reduced to
four elements only C-O-N-H; and why the
three primaries, the noumena of the four,
or graduated spirit or force have
remained a terra incognita.’
So, aside Gurdjieff’s originality in further
development (vibratory levels-wise) of
the C-O-N-H symbology, we can see that
he has adopted the theosophical
alchemical notation and remade it to fit
his pseudo materialist mythology. With
this, he got raison for the Work: the
entire project could now be summarized
as the transformation of substances that
constitute different levels of vibratory
universe, human being and the food
connoting everything, from cereals to
thoughts and impressions and the ‘Work’
is the most expedient way of
transmutation since substances are ‘stuff
consciousnesses are made of’ and the
harmonious human development equals
expansion and unification of
consciousness or being. The next is the
most ‘musical’ Gurdjieff's law-The Law of
Seven or The Law of Octaves. Simply
stated, this ‘law’ sets forth Gurdjieffian
cosmology using septotonic musical scale
as conceptual blueprint. Why a musical
scale, why seven-tone scale, why this
particular arrangement, and, finally, why
would anyone consider seriously this
Meditation Times June 2011

bizarre matrix of universe and man. Sol Sun 12 Fa Planets 24 Mi Earth 48 Re

These are, in all probability, questions Moon 96 Furthermore, there are
only faith can answer. intervals/ ‘shocks’, in two instances:
between Do and Si, and between Fa and
Cosmology: Mi.
The Ray of Creation A careful reader can easily detect weak
spots and absurdities:
One of the most extravagant and bizarre
occult cosmologies to emerge as yet is 1. Why would anyone try to explain or
Gurdjieff's, presented as clearly as describe universe or multiverse
possible in works of Ouspensky. Gurdjieff using the language of a musical
himself gave scattered hints in his scale, since other, much more
voluminous fiction ‘Beelzebub’s Tales’, powerful explanatory sets of
where he mentions various cosmoses, but symbols and transformations
only in Ouspensky’s books we can get all possessing endlessly superior
the intricacies of this fantasy on rampage cognitive value, are available?
expressed in a twisted quasi-scientific
lingo. First, we shall succinctly present 2. Gurdjieff’s own claim that his
the main scheme, and then plunge into a ‘system’ stems from Babylonian
more detailed analysis. Gurdjieffian antiquity is ludicrous. Ancient
cosmology is reminiscent of various cosmologies were confined to the
emanationist metaphysics of ancient solar system and its planets. They
times (both east and west). do not operate with Galaxies except
in the case of astrology, when their
It contains a few peculiarities that betray geocentric cosmos is set against
its eclectic nature. The most prominent of Zodiac. In this, essentially
these being: the musical scale as the Hermetic-Ptolemaic spherical onion-
conceptual matrix of the universe, like cosmos with earth in the -
vibratory nature of different levels of there is no emanationist ladder
reality, utterly strange enumeration of encompassing Milky Way or
laws and naming of cosmoses, ‘original’ Galaxies. Evidently, ancient
version of materialism-according to musical, ‘provincial’ geocentric
Gurdjieff, all his ‘atoms’ and ‘cosmoses’ universe has been ‘adapted’ to
are material. But it is evident that these include astronomical chart of post
words have little or nothing in common Renaissance science. Also, Gurdjieff
with ordinary usage of the terms. This followed typical theosophist
cosmology is represented in the famous fascination with number seven
‘Ray of Creation’, which ‘stitches’ together adding a few innovations of his
emanated levels, layers, and cosmoses of own- ‘shocks’, vibratory ‘elements’
the universe and the musical scale. etc.

It goes as follows: Note World 3. The most nonsensical feature is that

all these ‘cosmoses’ as Gurdjieff
Number of laws operating Do Absolute 1 called different layers of emanation,
Si All Galaxies 3 La All Suns 6 from Proto cosmos to Microcosmos
Meditation Times
are simply elements of this,
physical universe. It amounts to
linguistic depravity to assign
familiar names like Milky Way or
Sun to supposedly supra physical
realities reminiscent of theosophical
‘planes’ or Kabbalistic worlds) and
insist that these ‘cosmoses’ are
subjected to various number of
‘laws’, defined as rather arbitrary
combinations of The Law of Three.
To state that different laws of
physics rule the Sun by the way-
how can one equate ‘All Suns’ with
‘Milky Way’? And the Moon is
utterly preposterous.
4. Gurdjieff’s claim to antiquity of his
‘Ray of Creation’ can be simply
refuted. He misuses septotonic or
seven-tone musical scale as the
explanatory matrix. But this scale
was formed only after the 10th
century C.E. The old Middle East
and Greece used pentatonic or five-
tone scale. His assertion that
septotonic scale was first
discovered, then forgotten, and
then discovered again does not
merit a serious discussion.
Gurdjieffian Synthesis:
Cosmology and Alchemy
In essence, if one could ignore Gurdjieff's
inconsistencies the central vision of the
‘Work’ can be summarized thusly:
Gurdjieff has interconnected his
cosmology, psychology. Bearing in mind
his vibratory material quasi-emanationist
picture of the universe, one must also
take notice that he characterized every
level of the vibration/cosmos with
particular substance- previously
mentioned hydrogen oscillating at certain
June 2011
frequency. Since according to Gurdjieffian
anthropology human beings are
composed and function according to
definite laws of ingestion, behavior and
live at certain frequencies or hydrogen
levels, the aim of the ‘Work’ is to set
them free from constricting circumstances
‘laws’ by a variety of techniques which
include self-remembering and specifically
designed movements plus other exercises
galore.
According to the doctrine, these exercises
‘super effort’ will cause alchemical
transmutation in human beings,
generating and or solidifying ‘higher’
bodies and s which operate with different
hydrogens enabling one to crystallize and
shift their consciousness to the higher
ladder of vibration. Hence, one’s being
undergoes alchemical transformation, and
lives on higher frequency substances
hydrogen, i.e., C-O-N triads, achieving
‘level-wise’ immortality and permanent
expanded consciousness. Gurdjieff has
set a table of correspondences, which we
will reproduce only upper parts of in his
terminology, ‘Men’ numbers 1 to 4 are
still too ‘earthbound’ even Man number 4.
Two elements of these tables are
especially conspicuous. Gurdjieff has left
two highest worlds beyond human
achievement. Actually he populated them
with superhuman entities like Demiurge
and Archangels, in sharp distinction to the
majority of wisdom esoteric doctrines;
second, he somehow ‘elevated’ Man
number 5 by insisting on ‘switching’
permanently on s which are located in
‘lower’ bodies a strange development,
indeed; as if further ascent requires
‘going back’. Since author’s opinion is that
he just reinterpreted Blavatsky’s
theosophist Atma – Buddhi - Manas
doctrine which is unidirectionally
Meditation Times
ascending so as to fit within his neo-
alchemical framework. This is not as
bizarre as it might seem at the first
glance. Also, I would say that he got
stuck between his variant of alchemy and
Leadbeater vision of the universe: his top
two levels, tacitly unattainable for human
beings, are simply Neo theosophical
highest planes of Monad and Logos.
Enneagram
The most important ‘mystic’ or ‘occult’
symbol Gurdjieff's ‘Work’ has introduced
to the West is enneagram, an occult glyph
resembling in some respects Rosicrucian
geometrical constructs or Kabbalistic Tree
of life. As the story goes (1, 7, 8), it is
prominent among Islamic mystics, Sufis.
But there is a little problem. Not one
known Sufi order and there are more than
hundreds of them, most notable being
Naqshbandis, Mevlevis, Chistis, Qadiris at
al. knows of and uses this symbol.
2. However, things can be argued in a
Ennenagram represents a modified
remnant of Neo-Platonic and Hermetic
tradition that has percolated and survived
in Islamic ‘esoteric’ circles; especially a
branch of Ismaili Shiites, spiritual
descendants of the sixth Imam Jafar-as-
Sadiq, his co-worker Jabir Ibn Hayyan the
most influential Islamic alchemist and
famous Ihwan-al-Safa. A branch of Ismaili
esoterics, centred on Sarmoun monastery
in the Pamir area, is said to keep the
remnants of the enneagram gnosis.
Before embarking into more detailed
analysis of the enneagram, a few
comments have to be made:
1. Considering a few branches of
mathematics algebraic topology,
plus some subvariants like graph
theory or lattice theory, any 2
June 2011
dimensional graph/glyph
immediately loses its Pythagorean
mystique. If one can functionally
transform a graph, ‘distort’ it,
rotate, ‘stretch’ topologically, a
square is equal to a circle the
supposition of a graph as a
container of profound mysteries
becomes ludicrous & preposterous.
If a circle and an ellipse are
topologically identical, there is no
need to become pathologically
addicted to one or another.
Identically, all medieval graphs the
pentagram, triangle, various
variants of the cross, purportedly
contain ‘compressed’ paranormal
powers or serving as inducers or
transformers of supra physical
energies are, when confronted with
modern 19/20th century
mathematical paradigmata, emptied
out of their supposedly inherent
‘spiritual power’.
slightly different manner: true,
there is nothing ‘para physical’ per
se in any known n-dimensional
geometrical object. But, during
human history certain glyphs
became ‘charged’ with spiritual or
paranormal energies due to
perpetual focusing and refocusing of
human mind in the course of sacral
and initiatory ceremonies or
contemplation, thereby creating a
‘ladder’ between ‘Heaven’ and
‘Earth’. More, such glyphs can be
divided in several classes, and
enneagram can be interpreted in a
few ways that make sense either as
a summary of alchemical process or
as the mandala covering both
Macrocosmos and Microcosmos
according to the ancients’
Meditation Times June 2011

worldview. In sum- cognitively worthy data or observations

mandala/hologram enneagram is follows from their application.
the symbolic representation of
everything existing. We shall Gurdjieff’s fullest exposition of his ‘laws’
proceed with the critique of lies in chapters 39 and 40 of ‘Beelzebub’s
Gurdjieff's interpretation of the Tales’, but, alas, even a careful reader
enneagram and expound a with the guide cannot profit much from
meaningful enneagram exposition this jabber. So, the majority of
at the end. enneagram ‘studies’ rely on Ouspensky’s
‘In Search of the Miraculous’, as well as
other secondary works of Bennet, Collin
Critique of Gurdjieffian
et al. A fairy tale-like ‘history’ of the
Enneagram enneagram Gurdjieff has presented in his
unreliable autobiography ‘Meetings with
Gurdjieff's use of the enneagram symbol Remarkable Men’ places the origin of the
is most visible in his post -1915 Russian glyph in the times of Sumero-Babylonian
and European years, when he gathered a civilization, ca 2,500 years B.C.E. and
cluster of disciplined devotees and made purports that esoteric knowledge it
stage appearances with them, both in contains has survived barely unchanged
Europe and the US mainly in the 1920s. till the present era, when Gurdjieff has
Usually, his disciples danced, performing acquired gnosis of the enneagram in the
enneagram-based Gurdjieffian monastery of the Sarmoun brotherhood
‘movements’ which are 39 in all. These as we have said, an ‘occult’ society
movements required self-observation affiliated with Sufism and Ismaili
themselves, until under Gurdjieff's esotericism, somewhere in the area of
command ‘Stop!’ they would freeze up in Hindu Kush, Pamir and east Afghanistan.
an act of supposedly self-remembering,
when, at least in theory, Gurdjieff would
transmit spiritual or, more likely, bio
energy equivalent to Taoist chi’s to their
susceptible psyches with the aim to
elevate and expand their consciousness
and being- an exercise in some points
resembling the transfer of Sufi barrakah
or blessing, or spiritual energy or Tantric
shaktipat. Also, the profile of dances,
devised by Gurdjieff himself, betrays
influences of Sufi, various Caucasian,
Central Asian and Vajrayana or Tibetan
traditions. The symbol does not figure
prominently in Gurdjieff’s own writings.
He preferred to ramble on the so-called
‘Law of Three’ or ‘Triamazikamno’ and the
‘Law of Seven’ or ‘Heptaparaparshinokh’.
However these are not ‘laws’ in modern
sense of the word since no corpus of
Meditation Times
The enneagram as represented and
interpreted in Ouspensky’s and hinted at
in Gurdjieff’s works, is characterized by
following features:
1. The points on the circle satisfy the
relations: they are connected by
two figures one connects the
number 1 to 4 to 2 to 8 to 5 to 7
and back to 1; the other connects
3, 6 and 9. The 142857 sequence is
based on the fact that dividing 7
into 1 yields an infinite repetition of
the sequence 142857. In fact,
dividing 7 into any whole number
not a multiple of 7 will yield the
infinite repetition of the sequence
142857. Just they failed to notice a
few logical inconsistencies: if the
law of three is ‘embedded’ into
enneagram by the triangle 963 (or
369 or 396 take your pick), how
come that the law of seven is not
simply represented by 7 nearly as ancient as the ‘Sarmoun’
interconnected points? Instead, we
have 6 points which ‘subtly’ stand
for The Law of Seven by division of
7 into 1.
If we were to cling to consistency, 963
sequence (or any similar, say, 396)
should point to a rational number of the
form 1/q, where q is somehow ‘magically’
connected to 3. Of course nothing of it.
So, the internal ‘logic’ of the enneagram
is: three you got because there are 3
points, but seven is not equal to seven
points, but six, which only ‘point to’ seven
by division. And this division (1/7) yields
one of those repeatable sequences, what
is one among many seemingly
‘miraculous’ occurrences and properties
number theory abounds with. This,
without any further assignment of even
semi rational variables psychological,
cosmological, esoteric, metaphysical to
June 2011
the points relegates the entire enneagram
numerology to the field of rebuses and
crossword puzzles, and nothing more.
2. Gurdjieff Ouspensky contention that
enneagram goes back to Babylon
at least, if one follows their
‘numerological’ interpretation of the
glyph can be easily dealt a death
blow: since 1/7 is equal to
0.142857142857....., it could not
have possibly be 4,500 years old
since the decimal point, necessary
for the representation of the
142857 sequence was not known in
Europe before the 14/15th century
or in the whole world as early as
the story goes, because it was
adopted by Arabs from India not
before the 8/9th century C.E., and
enneagram has never been
associated with India. More even in
this case, zero as a number is not
story would necessitate.
3. The enneagram symbol appears for
the first time with Gurdjieff and his
circle. There is no single trace of it
in the works of other authors in any
time before, nor was it found in a
single document parchment,
chiselled stone, paper, or clay seal
elsewhere. That it, apart from
Gurdjieff and his followers, there is
not a shred of evidence such a
symbol existed anywhere in the
world. Or it if did and does, being at
best a marginal presence, it hardly
deserves such an attention.
4. Everything that was said re
Gurdjieffian cosmology and the
falsity of ascribing the holiness of
number seven to them, since this
notion originates with Theosophy,
Meditation Times
applies to the enneagram equally: if
one of the two central ideas
contained within the glyph is ‘The
Law of Seven foldedness’ the
Gurdjieffian interpretation collapses
due to unimportance of the ‘seven
mythology’ for the ancients’
numerology. Or, to put it in a
slightly more nuanced way: number
seven was ‘sacred’ for ancient
peoples only with regard to their
geocentric cosmology and its
concomitant symbols. Their
numerologies Hebrew, Greek, Latin,
Syrian, or Arabic do not give
number seven much importance.
5. However, the strongest objection to
Gurdjieffian enneagram is not
aimed at its incoherence or
spuriousness of its supposed origin,
but at its aridity and sterility. In
short: cognitive power contained in
Gurdjieff's interpretation of the
enneagram is virtually nil. Even if
we accept Gurdjieff’s musical
cosmology, alchemy, psychology,
hydrogen and the rest we gain
nothing from enneagram. Any nine-
pointed symbol could serve the
purpose, and probably, if one were
a Fourth Way ‘addict’, better and
more comprehensive glyph could be
constructed (avoiding ludicrous
Sumerian references).
In Gurdjieffian circles enneagram is
generally used to ‘explain’ rather trivial
human activities, like cooking or planning
a date. Also, the Fourth Wayfarers
frequently try to glue to the clockwise
motion on the enneagram circle some
crucial Gurdjieffian concepts like
transformation of hydrogen in food
digestion or other activities, physical and
psychological in my opinion, sad
June 2011
examples of self-delusion. The so called
Gurdjieffian movements are ‘enneagram
based’ at least in theory. Many adherents
of the eclectic Gurdjieffian tradition
perform Movements around the
enneagram points and lines. But, this is
just a strand in the web of bizarre fate
that has befallen the old glyph.
The ‘enneagram industry’ has virtually
exploded, flooding the spiritual
supermarket, in the late 60s, when
Bolivian-turned-American guru Oscar
Ichazo made the enneagram the central
symbol of his occult school Arica, which is
a blend of reinterpreted traditional
doctrines like Kabbalah, Tibetan
Tantricism, Zen and modern
psychotherapies. Similarly, he also
changed the enneagram interpretation-
and, one might say, radically. In this
‘tradition’ which includes Chilean
psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo, American
writer Helen Palmer and a host of ex-
Catholic monks enneagram has become
a sort of pop-psychological tool for
personality typing. Needless to say, this
kind of enneagram has nothing in
common with the Gurdjieffian one except
one trait: arbitrariness and illogicality.
The ‘personality types and growth’
enneagram hit the market and has been
an immense success since. It is the
veritable irony of history that a fossil of
paleontological spiritual cognition has
become a New Age icon. As Charlie Brown
would put it, ‘My mind is reeling with
cynical remarks.’
The Traditional Enneagram
We shall briefly address the traditional
interpretation of the enneagram as a
precursor of the ‘hologram’ view of the
universe, i.e., as the universal mandala.
Meditation Times
This part is based on fusion of scholarly
works, oral instruction and other means
of information. I shall retain privilege of
not disclosing my sources, as well as
giving complete sketch, but not a too
detailed picture. A reader is expected to
do some research for themselves.
First and foremost – enneagram is rooted
in ancient Mediterranean or Middle
Eastern esoteric worldview, and this
Weltanschauung considers Cosmos and
Man as two poles of one Reality.
Therefore, we got exact correspondences
between unfoldment of the Universe and
psycho energetic processes in human
beings as described in alchemy.
Enneagram as a glyph contains the story
of creation or enfoldment of the universe
and the transformation of human being
on the road to immortality and
veneration. The story is told in ancient
terminology with now obsolete concepts
also, I shall use more familiar Greek and
Latin terms to describe various stages of
the process - not abstaining from
sprinkling the story with comparative
notions familiar in other wisdom
doctrines.
Three various interpretations shall be
addressed: one that operates with
essentially ‘Tantric’ concepts in the
broadest sense of the term and which
aims at fusion with the Spiritual Self will
be more elaborated; others, more
‘practical’ and ‘magical’, only sketched .
All these views work with similar
concepts, but differ in significant ways.
June 2011
Enneagram in Tantric
Alchemy: Macrocosm
In the Fig. 2 we can see the process of
cosmic enfoldment in general agreement
with Tantric world view.
Fig. 2
In this Weltanschauung, the circle
denotes the Unmanifest Absolute. This is
En Sof of Kabbalists, Dhat or
Amma/Darkness of the Sufis, Wu Ch’i of
Neo-Confucianism, Paramashiva of
Kashmir Shaivism, or ineffeble Godhead
beyond The One of later Neoplatonists
like Iamblichus. The Emptiness/Fullness
no one can even speak of nor can think
of. The next step is the emerging of
primal ‘I AM’, the Manifest Absolute (one
can freely discard arrows in the picture
since they don’t tell the story).
In the glyph, this corresponds to the point
9, and is equal to the Keter of Kabbalists,
Wujud or God's Being of the Sufis,
Shiva/Shakti in embrace of Kashmir
Shaivism, Tai Ch’i or the Grand Ultimate
of the Neo-Confucianists or The One/To
Hen of Neoplatonists.
Then, the unfoldment of the Absolute
takes the radical split in manifestation, as
represented in primitive thought as
‘Primeval Male/Active Principle’ and
‘Primeval Female/Passive Principle’
(positioned on points 3 and 6 ).
Meditation Times
In essence - this is Mind and its Creative
Energy. Also, these principles are
frequently (but not always) equated with
different levels of supraphysical
existence: worlds, planes, lokas.
Mind or Consciousness is designated
(approximately) as: Hokmah in Kabbalah,
Aql-iKulli/Universal Intellect of the Sufis,
Shiva in Kashmir Shaivism, Yang (or,
sometimes, Ch’ien) of Neo-Confucianism
and Nous/Mind of the Neoplatonists. Also,
in semi-mythic mindset of Hermetic-
Neoplatonic eclectic worldview, this
equals Noetic or Causal Universe.
The Creative Energy is Binah in the
Kabbalah, Nafs-i-Kulli/Universal Soul of
the Sufis, Yin (or, sometimes, K’un) of the
Neo-Confucianists, Shakti in Kashmir
Shaivism and Psyche/Anima Mundi/World
Soul of Neoplatonism. In Western
esotericism it is frequently associated
with Psychic or Imaginal Universe.
The final steps (Fig. 3) in the
manifestation of the universe are as
follows: Neoplatonic Hyle (Sufi Hayula or
Western Alchemists's Prima Materia) is
the essential matter of Physical Universe.
In somewhat clumsy terms, active-
passive principles polarity is reflected on
this level (these notions appear in
Jabirian alchemy which penetrated and
was later modified in the West) as
‘Sulphur’ (point 4) and ‘Mercury’ (point
June 2011
5). In this, still macrocosmic stage of
manifestation of the Absolute, these are
not to be confused with chemical
substances, but are polar forces acting in
Prima Materia/Ether, further
manifested/emanated as four principal
elements: fire (1), air (2), earth (8) and
water (7).
This exactly replicates s in Tantric Yoga
where we have, bottom up: four
elements, ether, Sun and Moon (active
and passive principles) of the ‘third eye’
and the Shiva/Shakti embraced in the
crown centre/Sahasrara-utter
transcendence of the Unmanifest beyond
any . Succinctly in the language of
Western Gnosis which uses the terms of
later Neoplatonism:
1. The Unmanifest Absolute
2. The Manifest Absolute/To Hen/The
One
3. Nous/Mind
4. Psyche/World Soul/Anima
Mundi/Energy
5. Hyle/Prima Materia/Primal Matter
manifested in four elements, which
combine to build everything in
physical universe Points after 2 can be
also rendered as: 3. Noetic or Causal
Universe 4. Psychic or Imaginal
Universe 5. Physical Universe
Enneagram in Tantric
Alchemy: Microcosm
Since our chief concern is a concise
expose of enneagram’s raison d’etre, we
will not delve into intricacies of Kundalini
Yoga, which is essentially nothing but
internal alchemy. Enneagram originated
in the milieu of ‘the Greater West’ (from
Rome via ancient Greece to Islamic sects
like Ismailis and their branch Assasins in
Meditation Times
the Caucasus), and I shall summarize
their alchemical Work, which is equivalent
to the Tantric Eastern Yogic approach in
essential way, but differs in so far that it
avoids direct work with energies which is
the trademark of ‘energetic’ Hindu and
Tibetan Yogas.
As has been pointed out:
‘Alchemists relied mainly upon deductive
reasoning based on two: a priori
assumptions - the unity of matter and the
existence of a Philosopher’s Stone.
Alchemy is said to have arisen in the
temples of ancient Egypt and China. And
from beginning to its end alchemy
remained bound up with religious beliefs.
In fact some of the alchemical strands
may be traced back to ancient
mythological systems other than those
found in the forms of religion practiced by
Jews, Christians, Gnostics, Neo-Platonists,
Muslims, Hindus and Taoists/Buddhists.
Medieval works on alchemy abound in
references to the sulphur-mercury theory.
According to this theory Nature brings
forth all metals from mercury mingled
with its own sulphur. When mercury and
sulphur are perfectly pure and combine in
the most appropriate natural equilibrium
then the product is the most perfect of
metals that is gold.
Different kinds of metal exist because
sulphur and mercury are not always pure
and that they do not always unite in the
same proportion. So the defects in purity
and proportion lead to the formation of
‘base’ metals but since the base metals
are also essentially composed of the same
constituents as gold or silver the
accidents of combination may be rectified.
To alchemists achievement of the Stone
was the greatest and final goal. To them
June 2011
it represented imperfect man’s search for
perfection.’
In summary: on the microcosmic level,
the would-be-adept works with different
chemical substances and elements in
order to achieve the crown of the
alchemical Work: Lapis Philosophorum,
Elixir Vitae – Philosopher’s Stone which is
the Supreme Self.
Before describing the process (Fig. 4), I
must emphasize one point: there is no
step-by-step retracing the process in the
Western esotericism. One can do exactly
this in Tantric Yoga, but, then, one could
discard the enneagram completely.
Internalized spiritual alchemy, or
Kundalini Yoga, operates directly with
‘elements’ which are assigned to the s
below throat. Western adept, on the other
hand, works with ‘animated’ chemical
substances like lead and copper, and by
transforming them and himself in the
process, arrives at the same destination.
The composition is partially described in
Burckhardt’s work on alchemy,
complemented by Nasr’s rendition of
Ikhwan-al-Safa - with the notable
exception that Burckhardt’s interpretation
is based on the European alchemy and
stops at the stage of solar consciousness:
he patiently told the story of attaining the
Sun/gold, but has not said anything on
the Philosopher’s Stone.
Meditation Times
Without going into infinitesimal details of
the alchemical process one can find at
page 184 et passim of the mentioned
book, I will assign different metals,
symbolized by ‘planets’, to the
enneagram points and show the reason of
the Work. The points are as follows: 4-
gold/Sun 2-iron/Mars 1-lead/Saturn 8-
copper/Venus 7-tin/Jupiter 5-silver/Moon.
These are metals of the alchemical
process. Alchemical works try,
desperately, to describe why
quicksilver/Mercury is not a part of the
process-with meagre success. Also, they
drop sulphur out of the story. Since
sulphur and mercury (this time not as
polar forces of Prima Materia, but as, so
to speak, higher levels of solar and lunar
consciousnesses) are essential for the
attainment of Lapis or Elixir Vitae and, at
the same time, discontinuous from other
steps of the Magnum Opus, I shall set
them apart from other substances just as
the triangle in the enneagram is clearly
separated from the other lines and points.
So: 6-quicksilver/Mercury 3-sulphur 9-
Lapis Philosophorum, Elixir Vitae, Spiritual
Self.
The alchemical process begins with
Nigredo, spiritual crisis represented by
lead/Saturn/1 (on the enneagram). Then,
we can follow all the steps via interior
lines of the enneagram: lead/Saturn/1-
tin/Jupiter/7--silver/Moon/5--
copper/Venus/8--iron/mars/2--
gold/Sun/4
We have got the gold/Sun, the goal of
‘ordinary’ alchemists (of course,
theoretically speaking). This process,
which includes ‘active’ or ‘male’
substances/’planets’ on the right side and
‘passive’ or ‘feminine’ on the left side of
the enneagram looking from the top, has
left us with solar and lunar
June 2011
consciousnesses (or states of being) at
points 4 and 5 respectively. To complete
the Opus one must move around the
circle to the points of the base of the
triangle, ‘sulphur’/3 and ‘mercury’/6,
interpreted (this time Gurdjieffian lingo
becomes useful) as higher ‘octaves’ of
‘gold’ and ‘silver’, or, tantrically speaking,
solar and lunar poles of the centre located
in the pineal gland/Ajna chakra. When
these energies fuse in the point 9,
Philosopher’s Stone or Elixir Vitae,
equated with the Supreme Self, is
attained.
I have presented here traditional and
‘older’ version of alchemy. As a result of
innovations brought forth by Paracelsus,
Swiss polihistor, doctor and occultist,
virtually all post 16th century alchemy
operates with three ‘elemental
substances’: sulphur, mercury and salt.
There is an alternative, not ‘mystic’
reading of terminal steps of the Opus, as
embodied in the triangle of the
enneagram. According to this tradition, an
alchemist stays ‘confined’ within physical
universe, and sulphur and mercury are
exactly what they have been all the time:
polar forces of Prima Materia/Ether.
In this case, the point number 9,
Philosopher's Stone or Elixir Vitae, has
nothing to do with the Spiritual Self, but
is, as it were, the ‘condensed’ Ether or
Primal Matter in ‘pure state’. Then, it can
be used as a magical tool for performing
miraculous transformations in this,
physical world (healing, chemical
transmutations or anything similar). The
phase state of Elixir Vitae is mutable:
liquid, condensed, ‘plasmatic’.
Two other, completely consistent views
on the enneagram will be only sketched,
since the author has neither time nor
Meditation Times
interest to reveal in detail everything he
(or his friends and associates, be they
‘here’ or ‘there’) was given:
1. In one reading, the circle corresponds
to the Intellect /Mind, and the triangle to
the Psyche/Anima Mundi/World Soul -
three points denoting classical triple
division of human soul, but this time on
Macrocosmic scale: vegetative, animal
and rational. Internal hexagram is
Hyle/Prima Materia with four ‘elements’.
2. In still another, the closest to the
tradition (but not the most operating),
interpretation, we got the following:
considering that Islamic ‘science’ (or,
better, corpus of cultural tradition ) of
abjad ( Arabic version of Hebrew
gematria - numerology operating with
letters of the alphabet) pretty clearly
connects various numbers with
substances/’planets’-one can get a All the dances were in circles – just
realistic archaic cosmology and alchemy
working with more traditional
assignations: in this case, one does not
get entangled in ‘extreme’ metaphysical
concepts like the Unmanifest Absolute,
but proceeds from the circle which simply
designates Hyle/Prima Materia. Alchemy,
on the other hand, places mercury on the
top of the triangle/9, and other
substances follow from the numerological
correspondences where ‘planets’ are ‘tied’
to elemental forces of classical 4
elements.
Gurdjieff Movements
Non Action Through Action
Gurdjieff gave this very precisely as a
powerful tool for growth. The practice of
movements creates exceptional
June 2011
conditions for transforming the body –
machine into a place where the forces of
intelligence, heart, and action can freely
expand, through the development of a
certain quality of attention and relaxation.
Sincere efforts are needed, but efforts in
lightness…
Osho on Gurdjieff
Sacred Dances
Sutra from Vigyan Bhairav Tantra ‘In a
moving vehicle, by Rhythmically swaying,
experience. Or in a still vehicle, by letting
yourself swing in slowing invisible circles’.
Osho: 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.
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, moving, moving. If you have
been traveling in a train for twenty hours,
after you have come home, after you
have left the train, if you close your eyes
you will feel that you are still traveling.
Still you are traveling. The body has
stopped, but the mind is still feeling the
vehicle.
So just do this technique. Gurdjieff
created phenomenal dances, very
beautiful. In this century he worked
miracles – not miracles like Satya Sai
Baba. Those are not miracles. Any street
magician can do them. But Gurdjieff
really created miracles. He prepared a
group of a hundred people for meditative
dancing, and he was showing that dance
to an audience in New York for the first
Meditation Times June 2011

time. A hundred dancers were on the
stage whirling. Those who were in the
audience, even their minds began
whirling. There were a hundred white-
robed dancers just whirling. When he
indicated with his hand, they would whirl,
and the moment he would say, ‘Stop,’
there would be dead silence.
That was a stop for the audience, but not
for the dancers – because the body can
stop immediately, but the mind then
takes the movement inside; it goes on
and on. It was beautiful even to look at,
because a hundred persons suddenly
became dead statues. It created a sudden
shock in the audience also, because a
hundred movements – beautiful
movements, rhythmical movements –
suddenly stopped. You would be looking
at them moving, whirling, dancing, and
suddenly the dancers stopped. Then your
thought would also stop. Many in New
York felt that it was a weird phenomenon:
their thoughts stopped immediately.
The whole audience stood up. They were
screaming, shouting, and they were
thinking that many must have broken
their bones – it was such a crash. But not
a single one was hurt; not even a single
bruise was there. They asked Gurdjieff
what had happened. No one had been
hurt, and the crash was such that it
seemed impossible. The reason was only
this: they were really not in their bodies
at that moment. They were slowing down
their inner circling.
Thus when Gurdjieff saw, that now they
were completely oblivious of their bodies
he allowed them to fall down. If you are
completely oblivious of your body, there
is no resistance. A bone is broken
because of resistance. If you are falling
down, you resist: you go against the pull
of gravity. That going against, or that
resistance, is the problem – not gravity. If
you can fall down with gravity, if you can
cooperate with it, then no possibility of
being hurt will arise.

But for the dancers, the dance continued

inside, and the inside whirling circles
became smaller and smaller until they
became centreed. One day it happened
that they were coming just to the edge of
the stage, dancing. It was expected,
supposed, that Gurdjieff would stop them
just before they danced down the stage
onto the audience. A hundred dancers
were just on the edge of the stage. One
step more and they would all fall down
into the hall. The whole hall was
expecting that suddenly Gurdjieff would
say stop, but he turned his back to light
his cigar.

He turned his back to the dancers to light

his cigar, and the whole group of a
hundred dancers fell down from the stage
upon the floor – on a naked stone floor.
Meditation Times June 2011

Spiritual way is like the Olympic Flame that is being carried by celebrated
athletes from the last venue to the new for the SPORT TO CONTINUE.

Each athlete in turn runs with the Holy – Mystically lit Olympic Flame a certain
distance before handing over THE FLAME to the next athlete. And thus
continues the journey of this mystical flame.

In the process each adds his being while carrying the flame in his hands
running through different places and times.

So too it is the methodologies – the tariqat - the Nisbet that changes the hands
moving from one master to another.

In the subsequent meditation sessions I shall carry the eternal flame to a new
dimension and a new horizon for the birth of new man – serene and integrated
within and without.

ya #lahI ta Abd kaym rhe yh islisla

May this system - process – tariqat of the transcendence of human

consciousness continue till eternity lasts!
Meditation Times June 2011

Oct 7th 1875—June 7th 1947

Meditation Times June 2011

One soul two bodies

N
aqshbandi Sheik Raghuber have known this live perennially in eternal
Dayal RA was born on Oct 7th bliss.
1875 two and a half years after
Lalaji RA. He is the beloved ` $zavaSyimd< svR< yiTk jgTya< jgt
younger brother of The Naqshabndi
Sheikh Sufi Ramchandra – Lalaji RA. The ten Ty-en -–uÃIwa ma g&x> kSyiSvÏnm!
two sheiks are the embodiment of the
scriptural assertion – one being
permeates through all. Allow its glories to When Lalaji was seven years of age his
manifest. mother has passed away. However the
ceremony to begin schooling was
Indeed it is one Cosmic Soul permeating performed during her life time at the age
through the entire cosmos, dwells within of six. That time the Sheikh Chachaji was
each one of us. The Cosmic Being that
remains un-manifest in its cosmic form
gets embedded and assumes human form
as embodied being. This embodied being Enlightenment is the
remains conditioned by body-mind- realization of the
intellect realm. The spiritual journey is assertion of Isha-
the process of freeing the Cosmic Being – Upanishad: one
Essential nature from the quagmire of the consciousness or being
conditioning. And with Enlightenment the
permeates through the
Light of the Being manifests through the
finite Body-Mind-Intellect. entire cosmos

Enlightenment is the realization of the

assertion of Isha-Upanishad: one
only 4 years of age. The ceremony was
consciousness or being permeates
performed with gaiety and fervor.
through the entire cosmos. Those who
Meditation Times
However from the very beginning
innocently he was following and imitating
his beloved elder brother. Even before his
mother departed Lalaji’s father had
already wasted most of the property and
money in the bad company of the rich of
the town. Under these circumstances
what could be the way of their livelihood
or education of these children.
Chachaji learned Urdu and Persian from
an old Maulvi. He also learnt the Urdu
Poetry from the same teacher. At the age
of ten Lalaji was admitted in tenth
standard at Farukhabad Misson High
School. The classes run in opposite
direction then. As a result Tenth standard
was the beginning and the standard one
was designated as the Entrance Class.
And with this the student graduates from
the school.
At the age of eighteen in the year 1891
Lalaji somehow with tremendous hardship
completed his MIDDLE degree in English.
While chachaji continued the study with
the same Maulvi and he could only attend
the English school for two-three years.
His way of life and living was very simple.
From the very beginning he was very
loving, trusting, kind, full of mannerism,
contended, full of gratitude, forbearance,
and patience.
His father got the two brothers married at
a very young age in respectable families.
However after the death of his father the
entire responsibility fell on the shoulders
of Lalaji. His father has wasted money
and property through bad company. In a
town where the boys were endowed with
June 2011
wealth, prosperity and a large number of
attendants now they have to be
contended bare feet sometimes. And in
place of proper a five yards long Cloth for
Indian Dhoti wear they have to be
contended with a small wrap cloth alone.
In the area ‘Nitganj’ near ‘Ghumna’
market the two families lived in a small
house. And because of improper facilities
for studies Lalaji had rented a small room
in the school of Mufti Sahab – a Muslim
who run an Islamic school for training the
children. Nearby in another room lived an
enlightened Naqshbandi Sufi Sheikh
Maulana Fazal Ahmad Khan RA who
made his living through teaching the
students.
The small town where Lalaji lived was on
the banks of the Holy Ganges. And there
on the banks lived another enlightened
Hindu saint Swami Brahmanand. Quite
often Lalaji used to visit this saint in the
company of his fellow classmates. Swami
Brahmanand and Naqshbandi Sheikh
used to meet quite often alone. Swami ji
used to call Sheikh enlightened and one
of high order – Qutab-e-vakt –
unparalleled master beyond time.
In 1891 Lalaji got the job in Fatehgarh
magistrate court on a monthly salary of
Rs. 10.00 per month. This was the only
money for the sustenance of the family.
Lalaji used to walk 6 mile to and fro for
work.
Chachaji was then 16-17 years of age
with a strong wrestling built. His focus
was on exercises, sports, and wrestling.
Meditation Times
Childlike innocence and simplicity was in
his nature. Secretly he learned Indian
drum instruments Tabla and Pakhawaj.
And he attained excellence in these
instruments.
Lalaji was simple, benevolent, sincere,
patient, full of etiquette, and had the
qualities of forbearance etc. It seemed he
was born with these qualities. And these
are the signs of greatness. He had
tremendous quality of controlling
instincts, desires, and ego. Poverty and
financial hardships indicate the purity and
inner qualities from birth.
He was the Enlightened master from
birth. Having experienced various
vicissitudes of life and thus following the
path of awareness Lalaji’s presence
became catalyst in the process of
transformation of millions.
And now after 137 years when he
made the first step on this earth his
magnetic presence, influence and
energy field is spreading
beyond time and space continuum.
The single small step that Lalaji
took on this earth
became the giant step for humanity
beyond time and space.
Meeting with the Master -
Sheikh
The same year after Lalaji got the job one
day while returning from Fatehgarh he
got late. There was intense thunder, and
June 2011
lightning. Amidst all this dark clouds
converged to create darkness. It was
winter season. Lalaji’s condition became
deplorable. Drenched to the skin on the
cold wintry evening he was returning to
his room. Teeth cluttering and shivering
out of cold Lalaji caught the sight of
Maulana Fazal Ahmad Khan RA who said,
‘In spite of so much thunder, lightning
and storm you are here.’
Over the period of time Lalaji had become
so much captivated by the subtle
presence and the magnetic pull of the
Sheikh that he will pass in front of the
Sheikh’s room and pay respects before
going to his room. This was his prayer
and daily routine. And the sheikh in turn
will wait for Lalaji.
Lalaji used to narrate this incident with
great reverence and intent. ‘There was so
much attraction, affableness, love, care,
and the fragrance of his being overflowing
these words beyond any description.’
In that state Lalaji vowed to the sheikh.
The two eyes caught one another
tremendous energy flowed through his
being that Lalaji became oblivious of his
body and mind. It was the state beyond
body-mind realm. It was the first
experience of Samadhi or as Zen calls
Satori. This is the state of bodiless
consciousness. The being wants to
capture the entire cosmos within. No
words can encompass the magnanimity of
such a moment of awareness.
Meditation Times June 2011

Naqshbandi Sheikh Sufi Ramchandra – Lalaji RA (1873-1931)

Meditation Times June 2011

Shrine Maulana Fazal Ahmad Khan RA

Shrine Lalaji Ra Left Shrine view – Right Inside view with aspirants vowing

It is the experience of déjà vu. All the shown in its pristine magnanimity and lo
while the petals were aspiring to open and the petals are open. Beauty and fragrance
now suddenly the sun or awareness has is released into the being. One becomes
Meditation Times
utterly silent. As if you have entered the
deep recess of your being.
In that state the Sheikh commanded Lalaji
to go inside and change the wet clothes
while he is preparing the fire to maintain
the warmth. Thereafter go back home.
Lalaji followed the words of the sheikh.
After changing the wet clothes Lalaji
returned at the feet of the master who has
already lit the fireplace. Lalaji sat on the
same bed sharing the comforter of the
sheikh.
Lalaji says the energy field was intense. It
appeared as if the entire being is getting
immersed in the unknown and
unknowable. Not only that the body-mind
realm was melting and dissolving in the
ocean of serenity that the Sheikh was. The
outer turmoil thunder, and lightning, was
disappearing in that light of awareness.
Both inner and the outer were pulsating in
one rhythm. The heart, emotions, feelings,
thoughts and all senses were melting in
that light to attain to its atomic existence.
Lalaji had become embodiment of light
and awareness.
This was first experience of the totality of
the Sheikh. The communion lasted for two
hours. With the communion the storm that
had plagued the world symbolizing the
inner state of conflict, pain and agony had
subsided.
It seemed that this outer storm brought
the two into commune.
Remember unless one is caught in the
turmoil within or without the journey
of transcendence never begins.
June 2011
‘Every pain, conflict, turmoil, agony or
disturbance can become a satori… a
Samadhi. It can become a breakthrough,
because it is really the state of pain that
becomes a breakthrough. It is through
pain that one transcends.
Pain gives you the opportunity to
introspect. Never through pleasure has
one reached the beyond. Because in
pleasure one indulges and one becomes
more and more oblivious of one’s being.
When everything is going well, who
bothers? Then one is on a merry-go-
round, lost. But when pain is there,
suffering is there, one naturally becomes
more alert, more aware – one has to be:
the pain is a great challenge. Pain is
transcendence.’
[Horizons-beyond Mind by Taoshobuddha]
And when rain and the storm subsided
Lalaji got the permission of the Sheikh to
return home. Lalaji says, coming out of
the cottage of the sheikh it appeared as if
the earth, the sky, the plants and trees,
and the entire animated creation was
dancing in and absorbed in that light. All
the psychic centers were opening. Not only
had this Lalaji attained to the state of
Fana-fi-ul-Murid – a state when your
master is dissolved in the being of the
disciple.
On reaching home Lalaji did not have
dinner. Absorbed in that state of light and
awareness, the entire being was imbuing
inner serenity Lalaji went to sleep. Early
that morning around four Lalaji envisioned
a large congregation of enlightened
masters. All of a sudden a magnificent
podium descended from the horizon with a
hoary headed resplendent being of
radiance enthroned on it. Holding the
Meditation Times
hands of Lalaji the Sheikh Maulana Fazal
Ahmad RA presented Lalaji to the
enthroned resplendent being of radiance.
The MahaSheikh accepted Lalaji saying
indeed your life is inclined towards truth
and awareness from birth.
Such are no more dreams instead visions.
In dream you consciousness is at the
Shrine Naqshbandi Chacha Ji RA and his consort Sufi Jaidevi RA
Later next day when Lalaji narrated this
dream-vision to the Sheikh tears of joy
overflowed and said, ‘Indeed you are
inclined towards truth from the birth. And
certainly truth and awareness is your
way.’
Saying this two dissolved into oneness
imbuing the inner serenity. Amazed the
Sheikh broke the serenity with the
message. ‘Indeed you are very dear to
me. Quite often I used to watch your
movements. And when full of love and
respect you used to pay salutations love
used to spring forth in my being for you
spontaneously. And thus you were being
nourished by tawwazjoh, and faiz – the
energy field. Indeed it the grace of Allah
and the masters. Such pure and
sanctified beings rarely assume human
June 2011
body-mind realm. Dreams are the
outcome of your need. And vision happens
when consciousness is at the plane of the
being. This is not your doing. Instead
vision is the descent from the unknown
and unknowable as an effect of your
awareness or the inner state.
form whose presence and manifestation
aspirants, saints, masters, and seekers on
path always aspire.
Certainly you will attain to the realm of
fana-fi-ul-sheikh and Fana-fi-ul-
murid. It was the ushering of a new life
and a new beginning.
Later in his life Lalaji explained these
events.
‘The first and the foremost light of
awareness descended in the lap of my
mother. The warmth of this
incandescence nourished my life my being
for seven years. And the most benevolent
and merciful did not leave me uncared for
long. On a marvelous day of the 19th year
of life left my entire being under the
Meditation Times
benign care of one benevolent, kind,
caring, light of the inward path,
luminosity of awareness, one on the path
of truth – the sheikh Maulana Fazal
Ahmad Khan RA.
The very first day this light of the being
instilled in me the tenets of awareness,
love, and truth. And further instructed
imitate truth so much that it becomes an
important tool. And to continue the
journey along the path takes assistance
from Maya to preserve inner nature.
However always depend on truth alone.’
Thus this light nourished my being for 16
years both inner and the outer. And
always he instructed me to remain aware
of the outward tradition and ostentations.
And spread light and awareness beyond
the horizons of time and space.
He opined until inner harmony and
oneness is attained duality and nafs – ego
will continue to create despondency and
deprive the seekers of inner serenity. And
unless light of awareness descends and
manifests all prayer and worship shall
simply be ostentation and mere rituals.
Thus the life of bondage, despondency
and misery will continue unabated.
Thus he emphasized on meditative
practices and then following the tenets of
religiousness, principles and instructions
Naqshbandi Sufi Brij Mohan Lal RA (1898-1955)
June 2011
of the master, actions can be
transformed. This will bring inner
transformation and transcendence beyond
the finiteness. Those who rely on
knowledge instead of awareness and
continue singing bhajans and life of rituals
are indeed far from truth.
One day it happened that Lalaji went on
walking along with the sheikh on
Farukhabad-Fatehgarh road. Along the
way he narrated the life of pain, financial
hardships etc. to the sheikh. They
continued walking a little further Badhpur
(place of the way) and reached a very
small bridge. The sheikh was moved by
the words of Lalaji and tremendous
compassion sprang in his heart that all of
a sudden he placed his right hand on the
shoulder of Lalaji and lovingly spoke:
‘Beloved indeed you are very lucky and
intelligent. Be thankful to God that you
have received this unfathomable
invaluable treasure very easily as
bargain. Saying this two returned. And
Lalaji narrates while going along the way
and the sheikh was listening to laments
serenely the world was with me. And the
moment Sheikh instructed to return and
uttered those words the world and its
dualities had vanished. And in place there
was serenity and contentment.
Meditation Times
Naqshbandi Sheikh Onkar Nath Bhaiyyaji RA (1934-2008)
Love of Lalaji for his Sheikh
Chachaji Ra used to narrate the love, and
respect that Lalaji had for his Sheikh Sufi
Fazal Ahmad Khan RA. It is an example
for us how to remain in the company of a
master totally meditative flowing within
the energy field of the master.
Chachaji narrated that he has never seen
Lalaji raising his head in front of his
Sheikh or talking too much or in a high
pitch. The words like ‘Hukum’ – thy will –
the cosmic law; and ‘Hujur’ – yes master
were on his lips ever. Lalaji never
galloped or swayed his hands in front of
the sheikh or turn his back towards the
sheikh. Whether inside or outside he was
always aware of master’s grace. To him
his life was the grace of His Sheikh.
The sheikh on the other hand was very
jovial with pleasant gestures. Most of the
time he used to keep eyes open in
meditation. However he was never
June 2011
oblivious of the etiquette for the
congregation. And as soon Lalaji will
come the sheikh will become quite. It
appeared as if a special one has come.
The harmony was such that any thought
coming to the sheikh will immediately
reflect on the screen of Lalaji and he will
fulfill that immediately.
This was an example of ‘ananya –prem’ –
love indescribable that knows no limit,
and surrender. His whole salary he used
to offer at the holy feet of his sheikh who
in turn will send for his wife at home
through Chachaji RA. Lalaji considered
everything and all resources coming from
the Sheikh.
These are very simple things and may
appear meaningless to you. No! Never
consider such thing as meaningless.
These reflect the being and the inner
state of the person. Also it is the
Meditation Times
expression of Jesus prayer and
understanding or the essence – God alone
provides the bread for each day.
Lucky indeed are those who are
connected to such masters. It does not
matter whatever be the outer appearance
or texture – Hindu or Muslim. Not only
this lucky are the sheikhs as well who has
such devoted disciple.
Chachaji and the Sheikh
Chachaji used to say that in the beginning
he was totally unaware of master –
disciple etiquette. However after some
time he understood the nuances of this
master-disciple communion. From the
early childhood he had the habit of
imitating his elder brother innocently
therefore he started coming in the
commune.
Chachaji was very interested in narrating
anecdotes and jokes. As a result as soon
as he will reach the format and the color
of the congregation will change. The
sheikh will initiate the process and thus
will begin a joke or story. Sheikh was
very loving and respectful towards
chachaji. Quite often the sheikh will
prepare the smoke – chillum – the clay
cone for the smoke. Thus the two will
cherish the company. Quite often the
sheikh will listen to the music played by
Chachaji attentively.
Lalaji however did not approve of this.
Seeing the displeasure of Lalaji the sheikh
would implore on him not to worry and
say – he is my toy and like an elderly one
I enjoy playing with him and his childlike
innocence.
The innocence of chachaji was not
childish. Instead it was childlike
innocence that Jesus spoke of in
June 2011
response to the question from
Nicodumus.
‘Only those who are childlike can enter
the kingdom of my father.’
Chachaji was then 17-18 years of age.
His innocence was spontaneous and not
cultivated. And this innocence remained
his mark throughout. Thus the love
between the sheikh and chachaji grew
and attained to new dimensions.
Love transformed into bliss, compassion,
harmony and serenity. And such was the
unique way of transformation between
the master – disciple. In fact the sheikh
was setting a new methodology for the
transformation of human consciousness
for future.
Chachaji later applied these tenets and
incorporated into his methodology for the
transformation of the inner beings of the
seekers. And it is our responsibilities to
further carry the flame into new horizons.
Spiritual way is like the Olympic Flame
that is being carried by celebrated
athletes from the last venue to the new
venue for the sport to continue with the
participation of many. Each athlete in turn
runs with the Holy – Mystically lit Olympic
Flame a certain distance before handing
over to the next athlete. And thus
continues the journey of this mystical
flame. In the process each adds his being
while carrying the flame in his hands
running through different places and
times.
So too it is the methodologies – the
tariqat - the Nisbet that changes the
hands moving from one master to
another. In the subsequent meditation
sessions I shall carry the eternal flame to
a new dimension and a new horizon for
Meditation Times
the birth of new man – serene and
integrated within and without.
I will continue to elaborate and develop
these methodologies into meditation
techniques and the role of other masters
in this process.
All these meditation sessions during this
spring of eternal consciousness are
available on YouTube Channel of
Taoshobuddha and the sincere seekers
can connect to the energy field of these
masters through these video
presentations. Indeed I mean only sincere
seekers not the dogs of the world as the
June 2011
Sheikh Chachaji used to say – a guard is
necessary at the threshold of the master
so that only real seekers can enter.
Alham Dil Allah – Subhan Allah – Allah ho
Akbar.
[Excerpt: Leaves from a Sufi Heart Volume 3 by
Naqshbandi Sheikh Taoshobuddha]
www.youtube.com/user/Taoshobuddha9
TRIBUTE NAQSHBANDI SUFI RAGHUBER
DAYAL – CHACHAJI RA
http://youtu.be/vyNcn7vR3rU