When Osho left-his-body on January 19, 1990, he left an empty chair as his legacy. He didn’t appoint a successor to his work. In context of the evolution of human consciousness, it is important to understand the implications of this.

For thousands of years, the master-disciple relationship has been a useful device for creating a suitable climate, the right ambience, for human awakening. Yet, in a remarkable series of dis-courses called No Mind: The Flowers of Eternity(Chapter 7), Osho states “the age of the gurus has ended”; "the world of masters and disciples will not be relevant anymore”. He goes on to say that “a new dawn, a new man is absolutely needed, one who will destroy what is rotten and old, superstitious, and has no roots in intelligence."

I once heard Osho say that the master-disciple relationship is inherently flawed, because it relies on the assumption that the master is somehow higher than the disciple; that the master has a certain quality the disciple lacks, or a higher knowledge the disciple doesn't have. Hence, the relationship - the basic gestalt - is undignifying, insulting to man’s intelligence.

To understand Osho's empty chair is to understand that humanity doesn’t need masters and disciples anymore. It is to understand that man’s intellect has advanced to where it can see reality directly, without a middleman between himself and existence. The religious methodologies of the past were perfect techniques for their time. But man has come a long way since the days of Zen in old Japan; since the times when great masters like Buddha, Raman Maharshi, and Rumi graced the earth. Man's mind is more sensitive now; his intellect more advanced. What were once effective techniques for spiritual awakening in the past can be hindrances to inner growth and development in a modern world.

Perpetuating such out-of-date traditions as the master-disciple relationship can only serve to keep man spiritually retarded, his mind stupid. Accepting responsibility for one's own awakening is to take a conscious step forward, into a golden future, free and unfettered from the whole religious past. Our concern should not only be with waking up, but growing up - and entering spiritual adulthood with all the dignity that is one's birthright. For the New Man, intelligence is the only light.