According to Osho, a true guru has no need for disciples; it is the disciple’s need that projects the master. The guru–disciple polarity exists only in the disciple’s mind and dissolves the moment understanding dawns. A master is a catalytic presence, not a doer or leader; like the sun, he shines whether or not any flower opens—disciples benefit by allowing, not because the master requires them.
A real guru doesn’t need students; students need the guru until they understand, and then both roles disappear.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Disciples need a guru, does a guru need disciples?
A flower opens in a deep forest. Nobody will ever pass. The fragrance will still continue to spread around. It does not wait for a traveller, does not wait for somebody to come and appreciate -- that's not the point at all. If somebody comes and appreciates -- good; if nobody comes and nobody appreciates, it is as good as the other. There is no distinction. no difference. The Master and the disciple both exist in the disciple. When the disciple's mind becomes awakened, he will laugh and he will come to know who is a disciple and who is a Master. The whole game becomes ridiculous. But since the disciple is not yet alert, the game continues. Krishnamurti is right when he says no Master is needed. Yes, one day you will also know that no Master is needed, but you will know only when somebody has awakened you…
What makes someone a guru, a spiritual master?
When you are not there, when you have completely disappeared, the other becomes an open book to you. The more other-oriented you are, the less you can know what is happening to the other. The more you become self-oriented, the more possibility there is of knowing what is happening within someone else. A moment comes when you are completely dissolved. Then you know the other totally. Then the other is not the other; he is not something separate from you. You don't react him; there is no need. There is a response, not a reaction. Only in this way can one become a guru and help others, otherwise not. To me, a spiritual master needs this capacity of being totally uninvolved, of being totally unrelated -- just being an absence: with nothing to impose, nothing to project, no need to react. Then he can help you. He cannot come to…
Beloved Osho, once, in kathmandu, I asked you about the need of the disciple for a master. Then I asked you if the master needs the disciple, and you showered on me some words that I received in tears, like petals of an unknowable flower. Would you please be so kind and speak to us about the need of the master for the disciples. Aren't you the formless form, with whom existence is fulfilling our longing? Aren't we, in some way, your food, your nourishment?
The same is the situation between the disciple and the master. Something higher than love, something deeper than love and togetherness exists in those moments of silence, those moments of communion, when the disciple forgets that he is separate from the master, when the disciple melts and merges into the master. The master is already merged into existence. Merging into the master you are really merging with existence itself. The master functions only as a door, and a door is an emptiness; you pass through it. The master is the door to the beyond. And the beyond exists in the organic unity, in the communion, in the merger, in the melting of the master and the disciple. It is the highest form of love. It is the greatest prayer, the deepest gratitude, and the most ecstatic experience available to human consciousness. The master is missing something when he is alone;…
Anyone is ready to be a Guru; whenever the chance comes, man becomes a Guru. To become a shishya is extremely difficult. There was a Sufi— a fakir. He was passing along a road. A small child was carrying a lamp to light in the temple. The fakir asked, “Did you light this lamp?” The child said, “I did.” “Did this flame appear before your eyes?” “Before my eyes.” “Then, where did this flame come from?” The child blew out the lamp and asked the Sufi, “The flame has gone before your very eyes—tell me, where has it gone? If you can tell where it has gone, then I will also try to tell from where it came.” The Sufi fell at the child’s feet and said, “I am in search of Gurus—and I have found one in you as well.
You said that you don't "work" on people, so what is the meaning of having disciples?
A Master is just a presence, an encompassing present... Like a cloud he surrounds you. If you allow him, he enters to the deepest core of your being. Not that he enters! You simply allow... it happens. And in that moment when the disciple is allowing and the Master is present: a chemical change, better to call it alchemical, mutation -- the disciple also disappears, the same way as the Master has disappeared. The ego is no longer there. The disciple has also become a nondoer. Now he can function as a presence to others. He can be a Master. Sariputta, one of Buddha's disciples, one day entered into Buddha and allowed Buddha to enter in him. He became enlightened. Immediately, Buddha said, "Now, Sariputta, no need to hang around me. Now go. Go to the farthest corners of the country. Many people are thirsty. Now you have the water…