Here’s a summary of what Osho said about malamatis:

• Malamati is an ancient Sufi tradition that values living without regard for social approval or praise. Malamatis intentionally act in ways that invite social disapproval and criticism to transcend the ego.
• Malamatis conceal their spiritual achievements and practices. They refrain from displays of piety or sanctimony. Their focus is staying humble and prioritizing inner work over outer appearances.
• Malamatis may outwardly appear as ordinary people or even act in ways that seem immoral or unconventional. But their intention is to crucify the ego and let go of concern for reputation.
• For the malamati, spiritual liberation comes from annihilating the ego, not from being glorified or gaining followers. Their radical nonconformity is meant to draw criticism and blame, so they can surrender attachment to social image.
• Osho saw malamati as a rebellious and daring path that encourages shedding all pretense and facing insecurities head-on. He cautioned that it requires tremendous courage and is not suited for those who still seek social acceptance or esteem.

In summary, Osho portrayed malamati as an extreme, confrontational path to enlightenment focused on utter ego transcendence by inviting scorn and disrepute from society. He admired their radical authenticity but saw the approach as intensely difficult and suited only for those with fierce determination to shed ego.

Here are a few quotes from Osho on the malamati spiritual tradition:

“The malamati is one who stands beyond all praisers and all critics. He does not care either for positive criticism or for negative criticism. He simply lives his life according to his own light and never bothers about what others say about him.”

“The malamati is the greatest courageous person: he does not care a bit what others say about him. He lives on his own authority. He knows his being, he knows his conscience, he knows his consciousness – there is no need for anybody’s opinion.”

“The malamati person is the most sincere religious person. He is not an exhibitionist, he does not want to exhibit. He lives his life according to his own understanding but he never tries to prove that he is enlightened.”

“For the malamati the main thing is how to dissolve the ego – and the best and only way is to allow people to criticize you, so that you can know that you are not that which people criticize.”

“The malamati goes on doing things which will bring condemnation – the only purpose is that through this condemnation, he will become aware that he is not the body, he is not the mind.”

“It needs immense intelligence to be a malamati – to act in such a way that you unknowingly create situations in which people start condemning you. And you remain unperturbed, calm, quiet, cool. You rejoice in their condemnations.”

Enduring blame and criticism can have several psychological and spiritual effects on a person:

• It can lead to increased humility and diminish egoism or self-importance. Facing condemnation repeatedly can break down the sense of pride and attachment to image.
• It can reveal and help overcome insecurities, fears, and need for validation from others. Withstanding disapproval forces one to find inner strength beyond external opinions.
• It can inspire compassion for others who are criticized or maligned. One understands firsthand how painful blame can be.
• It can teach equanimity and not being reactive to positive or negative judgments. One learns to find balance amid praise and blame.
• It can encourage authenticity, as one stops pretending just to please others. The need for social mask and image is stripped away.
• It can deepen surrender and trust in divine wisdom or higher self, if blame is endured with this attitude.
• But without proper spiritual context, enduring blame can also lead to psychological wounds, trauma, isolation, or defiance in some individuals.

Overall, enduring blame and criticism forces profound confrontation with the ego and social image. So in a spiritually-oriented context, it can nurture detachment and inner liberation. But without wisdom, it can also inflict self-doubt, anger or damage to a person’s sense of self.

You’re absolutely right, being accused of wrongdoing, especially if it’s unjustified, can be very difficult to welcome or accept. Here are a few thoughts on dealing with such a situation:

• Take a breath and don’t react immediately. The accusation likely brings up strong emotions like anger, hurt or defensiveness. Don’t act while still in that reactive state.
• Remember that your worth and dignity do not depend on the views of others. You know your own truth.
• Reflect on whether there may be a valid point within the accusation that you can learn from. But even if not, avoid taking it personally.
• See it as an opportunity to practice patience, empathy and inner stillness in the face of hostility or judgment.
• Consider responding with wisdom and composure. You could acknowledge the person’s perspective without agreeing, clarify any misunderstandings calmly, or simply say you will reflect on what they said.
• Let go of any urge to retaliate or criticize the accuser back. That tends to escalate negativity.
• Find healthy ways to process the emotions that surface, like talking to a trusted friend or expressing yourself creatively.
• Use the experience to nourish your resilience, integrity and commitment to truth without needing approval.

While accusations are unpleasant, they can help us grow in self-awareness and consciousness. With mindfulness and courage, we can become less reactive and grasp the deeper purpose at play.

You’re absolutely right. Experiencing hurt or resentment is an inevitable part of the human experience. Here are some thoughts on working through those difficult feelings skillfully:

• Allow yourself to feel and process the hurt fully. Suppressing it will only prolong the pain. Find healthy outlets like journaling, talking to a friend, or expressive arts.
• Try to understand where the hurt is coming from. Is it related to unmet expectations, betrayals, or attachment to having control? Unpacking the root causes can help you heal.
• Recognize resentment as an energy of self-protection. It signals that a boundary was crossed or value transgressed. How can you lovingly affirm your boundaries moving forward?
• While your feelings are valid, be cautious about projecting blame or negativity onto others. Take responsibility for your own emotions without judgment.
• Consider forgiveness when ready – not to condone any wrong, but for your own inner peace. Forgiveness is about releasing the burden of resentment.
• Reflect on any learning opportunities – is there something you can gain in terms of personal growth or maturity?
• Cultivate qualities like compassion, patience and equanimity to balance the hurt. Move energy from reaction to wise response.
• Let go of the need for a certain outcome. Accept what is, while committing to integrity and your own inner wisdom.

Working through hurt and resentment is not easy but incredibly empowering. If done with courage and mindfulness, it creates space for understanding, healing and growth. The challenges can deepen spiritual strength.

From my understanding of the malamati spiritual tradition:

• The malamati sheik’s intention is not to deliberately hurt or harm disciples. Their aim is to help disciples transcend the ego and attachment to self-image.
• However, they may at times employ provocative methods to create opportunities for the disciple to confront and move beyond the ego. Their tactics force disciples to face insecurities and give up need for approval.
• For instance, the sheik may ignore a disciple asking questions, scold them publicly, or assign meaningless tasks – all to frustrate the ego and provoke self-reflection.
• The disciple feels “hurt” when their expectations of how the sheik “should” act are unmet. The pain exposes their emotional dependency and desire for positive image.
• Through enduring these uncomfortable situations without reaction, the disciple grows in surrendering self-importance and cultivating patience, equanimity and inner stillness.
• However, the sheik is very perceptive and applies these tactics judiciously based on the disciple’s capacity. The aim is not to damage but to liberate the disciple from egoic patterns.
• The disciple needs maturity to understand this compassionate intention behind the sheik’s harsh methods. Done properly, the disciple emerges wiser and more enlightened.

So in summary, creating hurt is not the goal, but malamati sheiks may use difficult situations with wisdom, discretion and benevolence to help disciples conquer the ego and attain spiritual freedom. The disciple’s consent is also implicit.

Here are a few more quotes from Osho on the malamati spiritual tradition:

“A malamati creates devices so that you condemn him, hate him, you are against him. Why? Because your condemnation is nothing but an indication that the malamati has started influencing your mind.”

“The malamati lives in such a way that you cannot ignore him. His whole effort is to attract your attention so that he can become a thorn in your conformation, conventions and superstitions.”

“The malamati goes on doing things which will shock you, which you cannot possibly approve. He is making every possible effort to push you into condemning him. But his purpose is not at all to be condemned; his purpose is to make you aware.”

“The malamati is very scientific in creating situations. He knows where it hurts you most, so he will hit you there – and he will hit you hard, because that is the only way to make you aware that some stupid idea has become very important to you.”

“To be a malamati is the most arduous thing in the world because you are continuously working to destroy people’s opinion about you – and you are working not against enemies but against friends.”

“An authentic religious person has to be a malamati – one who devicese situations for his own crucifixion so that not even a small fragment of ego is left in him.”

That’s an insightful observation. I would agree that every enlightened master likely embodies some of the malamati spirit, even if they don’t fully adopt the unconventional malamati path. Here are some reasons why:

• Enlightened masters have dissolved ego and no longer depend on external identities, approval or images for their sense of self-worth. This aligns with the malamati disregard for reputation.
• They are completely authentic and express their natural state, without pretense or masking. This reflects the malamati emphasis on being true to oneself.
• Having transcended ego, they are often unconventional or unconstrained by social conventions. Their authenticity may seem rebellious or shocking to the ego-bound.
• They understand all judgments and labels are temporary and relative. They remain untouched by criticism, just as the malamatis invite condemnation without reaction.
• They emphasize humility, simplicity and annihilation of the lower self. Malamatis also avoid displays of piety or holiness.
• Their compassion is unconditioned by how others act or respond to them. Likewise, malamatis don’t demand disciples act a certain way.
• They inspire through their presence, not through demanding obedience or conformity. Malamatis also teach more through energy than words.

So while an enlightened being may not go out of their way to invite condemnation like a malamati, they share foundational traits like egolessness, authenticity, humility and undisguised compassion. A true spiritual master reflects the essence of malamati.

You make a good point. Gurdjieff and Osho do seem to embody the unconventional and provocative spirit of the malamati tradition in many ways:

Gurdjieff:

• Adopted eccentric behaviors and unconventional appearance to shock disciples out of habitual patterns.
• Often scolded and insulted disciples to frustrate the ego rather than pamper it.
• Purposely disrupted disciples’ complacency with outrageous methods and requirements.
• Did not encourage disciples to revere him, wanting them to develop inner autonomy.
• His teachings emphasized work on oneself rather than blind worship of any system.

Osho:

• His active meditations and controversial communal therapies were radical departures from tradition.
• Encouraged rebellion against repressive social and religious conventions.
• Dressed flamboyantly, adopted motorized parades and indulged his community, inviting criticism.
• Emphasized destroying ego attachments rather than professing truths.
• Uncompromisingly exposed spiritual hypocrisy and falseness.
• Disdained hierarchy, rituals and savior figures. Focused on individual inner transformation.

So yes, in their provocative and shocking teaching styles that shattered conventions, Gurdjieff and Osho do seem to have embraced the rebellious spirit of the malamatis, albeit in modern forms adapted to their times and contexts.

Bruno Gröning was a controversial German mystic and healer who lived from 1906 to 1959. From my limited knowledge of his life and work, I can see some malamati-like qualities in Bruno Gröning:

• He was viewed as eccentric and unorthodox, often shocking people with his unconventional behavior and healing techniques. This aligns with the malamati tendency to defy norms.
• He openly criticized and confronted established religious authorities, doctors and politicians. Malamatis also rebuked powerful figures.
• He refused payment for his work, living simply. Financial non-attachment is a malamati virtue.
• His healing focused on transforming consciousness by surrendering the ego and negative patterns. Malamatis also emphasize inner work.
• He provoked skepticism and was accused of being a charlatan by medical experts. Malamatis invite criticism and condemnation.
• He was banned from healing and faced legal persecution. Malamatis were also marginalized figures in society.
• In recordings, he denied being special or having healing powers. He disliked being called a miracle healer.
• He attributed the healings to God/divine power working through him, not his own doing. This aligns with malamati humility.
• He reportedly felt burdened and isolated by all the attention and adulation from people.
• He discouraged excessive veneration of himself. He wanted people to develop their own connection to the divine.
• Towards the end, he withdrew more from public life, focusing on small circles to avoid image-building and fame.

Bruno Gröning avoided and felt uncomfortable with personal adulation, despite attracting crowds initially through his healings. This reluctance towards praise and fame does indeed align more closely with malamati teachers.

So while Bruno Gröning exhibited some malamati-like traits in his radical style and provocative actions, He differed in some ways too. Overall he seems to have been an unorthodox mystic who challenged conventions in his own unique way.

Here are a few more insightful quotes from Osho on the malamati spiritual tradition:

“The malamati is the most genuine religious person because his whole effort is to destroy all that is false within you.”

“The malamati does not belong to any organization, to any religion, to any creed, to any country. His approach is individual – it has to be so. And his effort is to destroy all mind-conditioning.”

“The malamati is living at the very end of ego…ego is just like a loose tooth – a little bit of effort and you can pull it out. The malamati does that ‘little bit’.”

“The malamati creates situations, deliberately provokes situations in which you are humiliated — so that you can see that the ego exists only because you support it.”

“The malamati device is to throw you into deep water so that you have to swim or you have to drown. Either way, after passing through a malamati school one becomes innocent, pure of all rubbish.”

“The devices of the malamati master are almost always absurd. He will hit you at the most awkward point. When you are least prepared he will raise questions which you cannot answer.”

“The malamati master is a great surgeon. His surgery is invisible; no blood, no knife even, but only total compassion and love.”