According to Osho, the work of a mystery school is Upanishadic: sitting in the master’s presence so his living energy-field awakens the sleeping disciple to his own consciousness. Through silence, words, or a simple look, the master catalyzes deconditioning, restores freedom and creativity, and helps the disciple be utterly himself—beyond society’s programming—so a new being is born and slavery ends.
Be near an awakened master so you wake up to your true self instead of living by others’ ideas.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved Osho, could you please explain exactly what the work of the mystery school is?
This is something to be understood. There is a knowledge: you can have as much as you want. yet you will remain ignorant. And there is an ignorance which is really innocence: you do not know anything, but still you have come to the place where everything is known. So there is a knowledge which is ignorant, and an ignorance which is wisdom. The student is interested in knowledge. But sometimes it happens: you may come to a master as a student, just out of curiosity, and you may be caught in his charisma, you may be caught by his eyes, you may be caught by his heartbeat. You had come as a student but you are turning to the second stage -- you are becoming a disciple. The student unnecessarily goes from one place to another place, from one scripture to another scripture. He collects much, but it is…
Twenty-five centuries ago in greece there were many mystery schools. Are you a mystic? Please tell us about your mystery school.
You do not understand the word `mystery' or the word `mystic' or the phenomenon of a mystic or a mystery school. If anything can be said about them, they are no longer mystic. A mystic is one who knows but cannot say it. He can live it; you can look into his eyes, you can look into his gestures, you can feel it in his presence, but there is no way to say it. It does not mean that the mystic remains silent. Many mystics have remained silent for the simple reason that everything you say falls short; the essential thing that you wanted to say is not contained in the words. When you hear your own words you know that which you wanted to convey is not conveyed. So many mystics have remained silent. A few mystics have chosen to speak because it is possible not to say it…
Beloved master, how come people do not see this as a mystery school, a place of healing, a "religio" to oneself and to the world all around, the most powerful religion there is... A place to find yourself, and to find yourself loved by yourself and all those around you?
Never was any gold made out of base metals. It was just a pretense. They had tubes and bottles and lamps and the whole paraphernalia -- it looked as if it was a scientific lab, but that was just in the front of the school. Behind that facade the real alchemy was going on. Those were mystery schools, and certainly they were not cheating anybody. They were trying to transform the base metal in you into gold -- but that was metaphorical language. And they had to do that; otherwise, Christianity was there to kill all these people, because religion was Christianity's monopoly. How do you dare! All that you are expected to do is to believe in Jesus Christ. What is the need of a mystery school and a search inwards? Jesus has given you all that is needed. You simply believe in him. He is the savior, and…
But in fact Gurdjieff did not die. Ouspensky died on that date. He could not understand the distinction that a intellectual conviction, howsoever great, is not comparable to trust. Trust is a totally different phenomenon. It has nothing to do with intellect or with feeling. It is neither intellectual nor emotional, neither of the heart nor of the mind. It is of the being. And for that the only way is to be available to the Master's presence, to let His aura enter in you, let His fragrance penetrate to the every nook and corner of your being. In the East we call it darshan. Darshan simply means seeing. When somebody goes to a Master, what can you expect just sit silently and see, drink, listen to the music of His heart?
Beloved master, would you please speak more about the new phase of your work? Sri ramakrishna, sri raman, and even j. Krishnamurti, appear one-dimensional. Did gurdjieff attempt a multidimensional approach? Was it the cause of his being so greatly misunderstood?
In the Middle Ages the mystics disappeared behind the garb of alchemy; they had to disappear because of the Christians. The Christians were destroying all kinds of sources which were in any way in conflict with Christian ideology. They were not allowing anybody to practice anything else; even to talk about anything else was not permitted: "Christianity and only Christianity is the way." The mystics had to disappear. They created a beautiful deception, they created the idea of alchemy. They started saying, "We are alchemists; we have nothing to do with spirituality. All that is rot. We are seeking and searching for the secret of immortal life, of eternal youth. We are trying to find ways and means to transform base metals into gold." And just to deceive the public they made chemistry labs. If you had entered into an alchemist's world, you would have encountered jars and medicines and…