Theosophy - Chelas by H.P. Blavatsky
CHELAS ΔΔ
by H.
P. Blavatsky
NOTWITHSTANDING
the many articles which have appeared in this magazine upon the above subject,
much misunderstanding and many false views seem still to prevail. What are Chelas,
and what are their powers? Have they faults, and in what particular are they
different from people who are not Chelas? Is every word uttered by a Chela to
be taken as gospel truth?
These questions
arise because many persons have entertained very absurd views for a time about
Chelas, and when it was found that those views should be changed, the reaction
has been in several cases quite violent.
The word "Chela"
simply means a disciple; but it has become crystallized in the literature of
Theosophy, and has, in different minds, as many different definitions as the
word "God" itself. Some persons have gone so far as to say that when
a man is a Chela he is at once put on a plane when each word that he may unfortunately
utter is taken down as ex cathedra, and he is not allowed the poor privilege
of talking like an ordinary person. If it be found out that any such utterance
was on his own account and responsibility, he is charged with having misled
his hearers.
Now this wrong idea
must be corrected once for all. There are Chelas and Chelas, just as there are
MAHATMAs and MAHATMAS. There are MAHATMAS in fact who are themselves the Chelas
of those who are higher yet. But no one, for an instant, would confound a Chela
who has just begun his troublous journey with that greater Chela who is a MAHATMA.
In fact the Chela
is an unfortunate man who has entered upon "a path not manifest,"
and Krishna says that "that is the most difficult path."
Instead of being
the constant mouthpiece of his Guru, he finds himself left more alone in the
world than those who are not Chelas, and his path is surrounded by dangers which
would appall many an aspirant, were they depicted in natural colors, so that
instead of accepting his Guru and passing an entrance examination with a view
to becoming Bachelor of the Art of Occultism under his master's constant and
friendly guidance, he really forces his way into a guarded enclosure, and has
from that moment to fight and conqueror - or die. Instead of accepting he has
to be worthy of acceptance. Nor must he offer himself. One of the Mahatmas has,
within the year, written--"Never thrust yourself upon us for Chelaship;
wait until it descends upon you."
And having been
accepted as a Chela, it is not true that he is merely the instrument of his
Guru. He speaks as ordinary men then as before, and it is only when the master
sends by means of the Chela's Magnetism an actual written letter, that the lookers-on
can say that through him a communication came.
It may happen with
them, as it does with any author occasionally, that they evolve either true
or beautiful utterances, but it must not be therefore concluded that during
that utterance the Guru was speaking through the Chela. If there was the germ
of a good thought in the mind, the Guru's influence, like the gentle rain upon
the seed, may have caused it to spring into sudden life and abnormally blossom,
but that is not the master's voice. The cases in fact are rare in which the
masters speak through a Chela.
The powers of Chelas
vary with their progress; and every one should know that if a Chela has any
"powers," he is not permitted to use them save in rare and exceptional
cases, and never may he boast of their possession. So it must follow that those
who are only beginners have no more or greater power than an ordinary man. Indeed
the goal set before the Chela is not the acquisition of psychological power;
his chief task is to divest himself of that overmastering sense of personality
which is the thick veil that hides from sight our immortal part -the real man.
So long as he allows this feeling to remain, just so long will he be fixed at
the very door of Occultism, unable to proceed further.
Sentimentality then,
is not the equipment for a Chela. His work is hard, his road stony, the end
far away. With sentimentality merely he will not advance at all. Is he waiting
for the master to bid him show his courage by precipitating himself from a precipice,
or by braving the cold Himalayan steeps? False hope; they will not call him
thus. And so, as be is not to clothe himself in sentiment, the public must not,
when they wish to consider him, throw a false veil of sentimentality over all
his actions and words.
Let us therefore,
henceforth, see a little more discrimination used in looking at Chelas.
Theosophist, October,
1884
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