Mystery School

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…

Beloved Osho, the other night you spoke of the mystery school. At that moment I thought of pythagoras. Since you started speaking again, I've wanted to ask questions about him -- his name comes to me often. The main part of his teachings I love are the three p's: preparation, purification, perfection. Would you speak on them again?

Preparation does not mean preparing for a verbal examination or a written examination. Preparation means preparing for an existential examination; it means going deeper into meditation. Unless you were meditative you could not enter those universities. And they had big campuses: Takshila had ten thousand scholars in it, Nalanda had twelve thousand scholars in it. Even today the greatest universities don't have more than that number, but their quality is very ordinary; students have simply passed the school examinations and they are ready to enter. No existential preparation is needed. Preparation means that you drop all your conditionings, you drop your prejudices, you drop what you think you know and you do not know: you get as innocent as possible. Your innocence will be the preparation -- that will allow you to enter into the university campus. Then purification... In preparation you drop the conditionings which were given by the…

Render to the immortal gods the consecrated cult; guard then thy faith: ... Revere the memory of the illustrious heroes, of spirits, demi-gods....

BE A GOOD SON, JUST BROTHER; SPOUSE TENDER; AND GOOD FATHER. CHOOSE FOR THY FRIEND, THE FRIEND OF VIRTUE; YIELD TO HIS GENTLE COUNSELS, PROFIT BY HIS LIFE; AND FOR A TRIFLING GRIEVANCE NEVER LEAVE HIM; IF THOU CANST AT LEAST: FOR A MOST RIGID LAW BINDS POWER TO NECESSITY. For example: a person speaks out of necessity because he cannot resist the temptation to speak. Buddhas also speak, but with no necessity: it is out of power, out of abundant power They are silent; there is no temptation, no obsession to speak. They can remain silent for ever. But still they speak. If they speak. they speak out of power. You love out of necessity. Buddhas also love -- they love out of... so much energy is there that it has to be shared. So much power is happening, it has to be given. You live out of necessity,…

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…