Sincere interest in Theosophic truth is often followed by sincere
aspiration after Theosophic life, and the question continually recurs,
What are the conditions and the steps to chelaship; to whom should
applications be made; how is the aspirant to know that it has been
granted?
As to the conditions and the discipline of chelaship, not a little
has been disclosed in _The Theosophist_, _Man_, _Esoteric Buddhism_,
and other works upon Theosophy; and some of the qualifications,
difficulties, and dangers have been very explicitly set forth by Madame
Blavatsky in her article upon "Theosophical Mahatmas" in the _Path_ of
December, 1886. To everyone cherishing even a vague desire for closer
relations to the system of development through which Masters are
produced, the thoughtful study of this article is earnestly commended.
It will clear the ground of several misconceptions, deepen the sense of
the seriousness of such an effort, and excite a healthy self-distrust
which is better before than after the gate has been passed.
It is entirely possible, however, that the searching of desire and
strength incited by that article may only convince more strongly
of sincerity, and that not a few readers may emerge from it with
a richer purpose and a deeper resolve. Even where there is not a
distinct intention to reach chelaship, there may be an eager yearning
for greater nearness to the Masters, for some definite assurance of
guidance and of help. In either of these cases the question at once
arises before the aspirant, Who is to receive the application, and how
is its acceptance to be signified?
The very natural, indeed the instinctive, step of such an aspirant
is to write to an officer of a Theosophical Society. None the less
is this a mistake. For a Theosophical Society is an _exoteric_ body,
the Lodge of Masters wholly _esoteric_. The former is a voluntary
group of inquirers and philanthropists, with avowed aims, a printed
Constitution, and published officers, and, moreover, expressly
disavowing any power, as a Society, to communicate with Masters; the
latter is an Occult Lodge, of whose address, members, processes,
functions, nothing is known. It follows, therefore, that there is no
person, no place, no address to which an aspirant may appeal.
Let it be supposed, however, that such an inquiry is preferred to a
person advanced in Occult study, versed in its methods and tests and
qualifications. Assuredly his reply would be directly to this effect:--
"If you were now fitted to be an accepted chela, you would of yourself
know how, where, and to whom to apply. For the becoming a chela _in
reality_ consists in the evolution or development of certain spiritual
principles latent in every man, and in great measure unknown to your
present consciousness. Until these principles are to some degree
consciously evolved by you, you are not in practical possession of the
means of acquiring the first rudiments of that knowledge which now
seems to you so desirable. Whether it is desired by your mind or by
your heart is still another important question, not to be solved by any
one who has not yet the clew to Self.
"It is true that these qualities can be developed (or forced) by the
aid of an Adept. And most applicants for chelaship are actuated by a
desire to receive instructions directly from the Masters. They do not
ask themselves what they have done to merit a privilege so rare. Nor
do they consider that, all Adepts being servants of the Law of Karma,
it must follow that, did the applicant now merit Their visible aid,
he would already possess it and could not be in search of it. The
indications of the fulfilment of the Law are, in fact, the partial
unfolding of those faculties above referred to.
"You must, then, reach a point other than that where you now stand,
before you can even ask to be taken as a chela on probation. All
candidates enter the unseen Lodge in this manner, and it is governed
by Laws containing within themselves their own fulfilment and not
requiring any officers whatever. Nor must you imagine that such a
probationer is one who works under constant and known direction of
either an Adept or another chela. On the contrary, he is tried and
tested for at least seven years, and perhaps many more, before the
point is reached when he is either accepted (and prepared for the first
of a series of initiations often covering several incarnations), or
rejected. And this rejection is not by any body of men just as they
incline, but is the natural rejection by Nature. The probationer
may or may not hear from his Teacher during this preliminary period;
more often he does not hear. He may be finally rejected and not know
it, just as some men have been on probation and have not known it
until they suddenly found themselves accepted. Such men are those
self-developed persons who have reached that point in the natural order
after many incarnations, where their expanded faculties have entitled
them to an entrance into the Hall of Learning or the spiritual Lodge
beyond. And all I say of men applies equally to women.
"When anyone is regularly accepted as a chela on probation, the first
and only order he receives (for the present) is to work unselfishly
for humanity--sometimes aiding and aided by some older chela--_while
striving to get rid of the strength of the personal idea_. The ways
of doing this are left to his own intuition entirely, inasmuch
as the object is to develop that _intuition_ and to bring him to
_self-knowledge_. It is his having these powers in some degree that
leads to his acceptance as a probationer, so that it is more than
probable that you have them not yet save as latent possibilities. In
order to have in his turn any title to help, he must work for others,
but that must not be his motive for working. He who does not feel
irresistibly impelled to serve the Race, whether he himself fails or
not, is bound fast by his own personality and cannot progress until he
has learned that _the race is himself_ and not that body which he now
occupies. The ground of this necessity for a pure motive was recently
stated in _Lucifer_ to be that 'unless the intention is entirely
unalloyed, the spiritual will transform itself into the psychic, act
on the astral plane, and dire results may be produced by it. The
powers and forces of animal nature can be equally used by the selfish
and revengeful as by the unselfish and all-forgiving; forgiving; the
powers and forces of spirit lend themselves only to the perfectly pure
in heart.'
"It may be stated, however, that even those natural forces cannot be
discovered by any man who has not obtained the power of getting rid of
his personality in some degree. That an emotional desire to help others
does not imply this freedom from personality may be seen by the fact
that, if you were now perfected in unselfishness in the _real_ sense,
you would have a conscious existence separate from that of the body
and would be able to quit the body at will: in other words, to be free
from all sense of self is to be an Adept, for the limitations of self
inhibit progress.
"Hear also the words of the Master, taken from Sinnett's _The Occult
World_. 'Perhaps you will better appreciate our meaning when told that
in our view the highest aspirations for the welfare of humanity become
tainted with selfishness if, in the mind of the philanthropist, there
lurks the shadow of a desire for self-benefit or a tendency to do
injustice, even when these exist unconsciously to himself.'
"While setting forth these facts, as well as the dangers and
difficulties--both those set ones appointed by the laws of the Lodge
and the more innumerable ones adjudged by Karma and hastened by the
efforts of the neophyte, it should also be stated that the Masters
desire to deter no man from entering the path. They are well aware,
however, from the repeated trials and records of centuries, and from
their knowledge of our racial difficulties, how few are the persons who
have any clew to their own real nature, which is the foe they attempt
to conquer the moment they become pupils of the occult. Hence They
endeavor, so far as Karma permits, to hold unfit individuals back from
rash ventures, the results of which would recoil upon their unbalanced
lives and drive them to despair. The powers of evil, inadequately
defied by the ignorant man, revenge themselves upon him as well as upon
his friends, and not upon those who are above their reach. Although
these powers are not hideous objective shapes coming in tangible ways,
they are none the less real and dangerous. Their descent in such
instances cannot be prevented; _it is Karma_.
"To lose all sense of self, then, implies the loss of all that ordinary
men must value in themselves. It therefore behooves you to seriously
consider these points:
"1st. What is your motive in desiring to be a chela? You think that
motive is well known to you, whereas it is hidden deep within you,
and by that hidden motive you will be judged. It has flared up from
unseen regions upon men sure of themselves, has belched out in some
lurid thought or deed of which they esteemed themselves incapable, and
has overthrown their life or reason. Therefore test yourself ere Karma
tests you.
"2d. What the place and duties of a true neophyte are.
"When you have seriously considered both for twenty-one days, you may,
if your desire remains firm, take a certain course open to you. It is
this.
"Although you do not now know where you can offer yourself to Masters
themselves as a chela on probation, yet, in forming that desire in
your heart and in re-affirming it (if you do) after due consideration
of these points, you have then to some extent called upon the Law,
and it is within your power to constitute yourself a disciple, so far
as in you lies, through the purity of your motive and effort _if both
are sufficiently sustained_. No one can fix a period when this effort
will bear fruit, and, if your patience and faith are not strong enough
to bear you through an _unlimited_ (so far as you know) period of
unselfish work for humanity, you had better resign your present fancy,
for it is then no more than that. But if otherwise, you are to work for
the spiritual enlightenment of Humanity in and through the Theosophical
Society (which much needs such laborers), and in all other modes and
planes as you best can, remembering the word of Masters: 'He who does
what he can and all that he can, and all that he knows how to do, does
enough for us.' This task includes that of divesting yourself of all
personality through interior effort, because that work, if done in the
right spirit, is even more important to the race than any outward work
we can do. Living as you now are, on the outward plane chiefly, your
work is due there and is to be done there until your growth shall fit
you to pass away from it altogether.
"In following this course you work towards a fixed point under
observation,--as is, indeed, the whole Theosophic body, which is now,
_as a body_, a chela of Masters, but specialized from other members in
the sense that your definite aim and trust are understood and taken
into consideration by the unseen Founders and the Law. The Theosophical
Society then stands to you, for the time being, as any older chela
might who was appointed for you to aid and to work under. _You are
not_, understand, a chela on probation, since no one without authority
can confer or announce such a privilege. But if you succeed in lifting
yourself and others spiritually, it will be known, _no matter what the
external silence may seem to be_, and you will receive your full dues
from Those who are honest debtors and ministers of the Just and Perfect
Law. You must be ready to work, to wait, and to aspire in _silence_,
just as all do who have fixed their eyes on this goal. Remember that
your truest adviser is to be found, and constantly sought, _within
yourself_. Only by experience can you learn to know its voice from
that of natural instinct or mere logic, and strengthen this power, by
virtue of which the Masters have become what They are.
"Your choice or rejection of this course is the first test of yourself.
Others will follow, whether you are aware of them or not, for the first
and only right of the neophyte is--_to be tried_. Hence silence and
sorrow follow his acceptance instead of the offer of prompt aid for
which he looks. Yet even that shall not be wanting; those trials and
reverses will come only from the Law to which you have appealed."