We now have passed from the mere usual and worldly relations of teacher
and pupil to that which we will call the _Lodge_ for the nonce.
This Lodge is not to be taken up in the pincers of criticism and
analyzed or fixed. It is at once everywhere and nowhere. It contains
within its boundaries all real Masters, students, guides, and Gurus, of
whatever race or creed or no creed. Of it has been said:
"Beyond the Hall of Learning is the Lodge. It is the whole body of
Sages in all the world. It cannot be described even by those who are in
it, but the student is not prohibited from imagining what it is like."
So therefore at any time any one of its real teachers or disciples will
gladly help any other teacher or disciple. But we are not to conclude
that, because all are trying to spread truth and to teach the world,
we, who call ourselves chela-aspirants or known chelas of any certain
person whom we call Guru, can place ourselves at the same moment under
the _direct_ tutelage of more than one Guru.
Each man who determines in himself that he will enter the Path, has a
Guru. But the time between that determination and the hour when he will
really know The Master may be long indeed; in some cases it is very
short.
We must now occupy a moment in some consideration of divisions.
Just as the merest private in the army has a general who guides the
whole but whom he cannot reach except through the others who are
officers, so in this order we find divisions of Gurus as well as
divisions of disciples.
There is the Great Guru, who is such to many who never know Him or see
Him. Then there are others who know Him, and who are Gurus to a number
of chelas, and so on until we may imagine a chela who may be a known
Guru to another chela below him.
Then, again, there may be chelas who are acting as
Guru--unacknowledged, because _pro tempore_ in function--to one or more
other chelas.
Now he who makes the resolution above-mentioned, does thereby make a
bond that rests in the highest Law. It is not a thing to be lightly
done, because its consequences are of a serious nature. Not serious in
the way of disasters or awful torments or such, but serious in respect
to the clearness and brilliancy of those rays of Truth which we wish to
reach us.
We have thereby in a sense--its degree determined by the sincerity and
power of our motive--taken ourselves out of the common, vast, moving
herd of men who are living--as to this--like dumb animals, and have
knocked at a door. If we have reverenced our teacher we will now revere
our unknown Guru. We must stand interiorly in a faithful attitude. We
must have an abiding, settled faith that nothing may shake. For it is
to mighty Karma we have appealed, and as the Guru _is Karma_ in the
sense that He never acts against Karma, we must not lose faith for an
instant. For it is this faith that clears up the air there, and that
enables us to get help from all quarters.
Then perhaps this determinant or postulant or neophyte decides for
himself that he will for the time take as teacher or guide some other
chela whose teachings commend themselves. It is not necessary that any
out-spoken words should pass between these two.
But having done this, even in thought, he should then apply himself
diligently _to the doctrine of that teacher_, not changing until he
really finds he has another teacher or has gone to another class. For
if he takes up one merely to dispute and disagree--whether outwardly or
mentally, he is thereby in danger of totally obscuring his own mind.
If he finds himself not clearly understanding, then he should with
faith try to understand, for if he by love and faith vibrates into the
higher meaning of his teacher, his mind is thereby raised, and thus
greater progress is gained.
We now come to the possible case of an aspirant of that royal and
kingly faith who in some way has really found a person who has advanced
far upon _the Path_. To this person he has applied and said: "May I be
accepted, and may I be a chela of either thee or some other?"
That person applied to then perhaps says: "Not to me; but I refer you
to some other of the same class as yourself, and give you to him to
be his chela: serve him." With this the aspirant goes, say to the one
designated, and deliberately both agree to it.
Here is a case where the real Master has recommended the aspirant to
a co-worker who perchance is some grade higher than our neophyte, and
the latter is now in a different position from the many others who are
silently striving and working, and learning from any and all teachers,
but having no specialized Guru for themselves. This neophyte and his
"little guru" are connected by a clear and sacred bond, or else both
are mere lying children, playing and unworthy of attention. If the
"little guru" is true to his trust, he occupies his mind and heart with
it, and is to consider that the chela represents Humanity to him for
the time.
We postulated that this "little guru" was in advance of the chela. It
must then happen that he says that which is sometimes not clear to
his chela. This will all the more be so if his chela is new to the
matter. But the chela has deliberately taken that guru, and must try to
understand _the doctrine of that teacher_.
The proper function of the Guru is to readjust, and not to pour in vast
masses of knowledge expressed in clear and easily comprehended terms.
The latter would be a piece of nonsense, however agreeable, and not any
whit above what any well-written book would do for its reader.
The faith and love which exist between them act as a stimulus to both,
and as a purifier to the mind of the chela.
But if the chela, after a while, meets another person who seems to know
as much as his "little guru," and to express it in very easy terms, and
the chela determines to take him as a teacher, he commits an error.
He may listen to his teaching and admire and profit by it, but the
moment he mentally determines and then in words asks the other to be
his teacher, he begins to rupture the bond that was just established,
and possibly may lose altogether the benefit of both. Not necessarily,
however; but certainly, if he acquaints not his "little guru" with the
fact of the new adoption of teacher, there will be much confusion in
that realm of being wherein both do their real "work"; and when he does
acquaint his "little guru" with the fact of the newly-acquired teacher,
that older guru will retire.
None of this is meant for those minds which do not regard these matters
as sacred. A Guru is a sacred being in that sense. Not, of course, in a
general sense--yet even if so regarded _when worthy_ it is better for
the chela,--but in all that pertains to the spiritual and real life. To
the high-strung soul this is a matter of _adoption_; a most sacred and
valuable thing, not lightly taken up or lightly dropped. For the Guru
becomes for the time the spiritual _Father_ of the chela; that one who is
destined to bring him into life or to pass him on to Him who will do so.
So as the Guru is the _adjuster_ in reality, the chela does not--except
where the Guru is known to be a great Sage or where the chela does it
by nature--give slavish attention to every word. He hears the word
and endeavors to assimilate the meaning underneath; and if he cannot
understand he lays it aside for a better time, while he presently
endeavors to understand what he can. And if even--as is often so in
India--he cannot understand at all, he is satisfied to be near the
Guru and do what may properly be done for him; for even then his
abiding faith will eventually clear his mind, of which there are many
examples, and regarding which how appropriate is the line:
"They also serve who only stand and wait."