The First Rule For
Candidates to
Discipleship is
“Deserve, Then Desire”
Helena P.
Blavatsky
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Editorial Note:
The present
article was first published at
the Supplement of “The
Theosophist”, in India,
July, 1883. This
remarkable text is also included in
“Theosophical Articles”,
H. P. Blavatsky, Theosophy
Company, Los Angeles,
1981, volume I, pp. 308-314.
We add a few
explanatory notes.
(Carlos Cardoso
Aveline)
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The Chela is not only called to face all
the latent evil propensities of his nature, but, in
addition, the whole volume of maleficent power
accumulated by the community and nation to which he
belongs.
As the word “Chela”
has, among others, been introduced by Theosophy into the nomenclature of
Western metaphysics, and the circulation of our magazine [1] is constantly widening, it will be as well if some more
definite explanation than heretofore is given with respect to the meaning of
this term and the rules of Chelaship, for the benefit of our European if not
Eastern members.
A “Chela” then, is one who has offered himself or
herself as a pupil to learn practically the “hidden mysteries of Nature and the
psychical powers latent in man”. The spiritual teacher to whom he proposes his
candidature is called in India a Guru; and the real Guru is always an Adept in
the Occult Science. A man of profound knowledge, exoteric and esoteric,
especially the latter; and one who has brought his carnal nature under
subjection of the WILL; who has developed in himself both the power (Siddhi) to control the forces of nature,
and the capacity to probe her secrets by the help of the formerly latent but
now active powers of his being: - this is the real Guru.
To offer oneself as a candidate for Chelaship is easy
enough, to develop into an Adept the most difficult task any man could possibly
undertake. There are scores of “natural-born” poets, mathematicians, mechanics,
statesmen, etc., but a natural-born Adept is something practically impossible.
For, though we do hear at very rare intervals of one who has an extraordinary
innate capacity for the acquisition of occult knowledge and power, yet even he
has to pass the self-same tests and probations, and go through the same
self-training as any less endowed fellow aspirant. In this matter it is most
true that there is no royal road by which favourites may travel.
For centuries the selection of Chelas - outside the
hereditary group within the gon-pa
(temple) - has been made by the Himalayan Mahatmas themselves from among the
class - in Tibet, a considerable one as to number - of natural mystics. The
only exceptions have been in the cases of Western men like Fludd [2], Thomas Vaughan, Paracelsus, Pico
di Mirandola, Count St. Germain, etc., whose temperamental affinity to this
celestial science more or less forced the distant Adepts to come into personal
relations with them, and enabled them to get such small (or large) proportion
of the whole truth as was possible under their social surroundings.
From Book IV of Kiu-te, Chapter on “the Laws of
Upasans”, we learn that the qualifications expected in a Chela were:
1. Perfect physical health;
2. Absolute mental and physical purity;
3. Unselfishness of purpose; universal charity; pity
for all animate beings;
4. Truthfulness and unswerving faith in the law of
Karma, independent of any power in nature that could interfere: a law whose
course is not to be obstructed by any agency, not to be caused to deviate by
prayer or propitiatory exoteric ceremonies;
5. A courage undaunted in every emergency, even by
peril to life;
6. An intuitional perception of one’s being the
vehicle of the manifested Avalokiteshvara or Divine Atman (Spirit);
7. Calm indifference for, but a just appreciation of
everything that constitutes the objective and transitory world, in its relation
with, and to, the invisible regions.
Such, at the least, must have been the recommendations
of one aspiring to perfect Chelaship. With the sole exception of the 1st, which
in rare and exceptional cases might have been modified, each one of these
points has been invariably insisted upon, and all must have been more or less
developed in the inner nature by the Chela’s UNHELPED EXERTIONS, before he
could be actually put to the test.
When the self-evolving ascetic - whether in, or
outside the active world - had placed himself, according to his natural
capacity, above, hence made himself master of, his (1) Sharira - body; (2) lndriya
- senses; (3) Dosha - faults; (4) Dukkha - pain; and is ready to become
one with his Manas -mind; Buddhi - intellection, or spiritual
intelligence; and Atma - highest
soul, i.e., spirit. When he is ready for this, and, further, to recognize in Atma the highest ruler in the world of
perceptions, and in the will, the highest executive energy (power), then may
he, under the time-honoured rules, be taken in hand by one of the Initiates. He
may then be shown the mysterious path at whose thither end the Chela is taught
the unerring discernment of Phala, or
the fruits of causes produced, and given the means of reaching Apavarga - emancipation, from the misery
of repeated births (in whose determination the ignorant has no hand), and thus
of avoiding Pratya-bhava - transmigration.
But since the advent of the Theosophical Society [3], one of whose arduous tasks it was
to re-awaken in the Aryan mind the dormant memory of the existence of this
science and of those transcendent human capabilities, the rules of Chela selection
have become slightly relaxed in one respect. Many members of the Society
becoming convinced by practical proof upon the above points, and rightly enough
thinking that if other men had hitherto reached the goal, they too if
inherently fitted, might reach it by following the same path, pressed to be
taken as candidates. And as it would be an interference with Karma to deny them
the chance of at least beginning - since they were so importunate, they were
given it. The results have been far from encouraging so far, and it is to show
these unfortunates the cause of their failure as much as to warn others against
rushing heedlessly upon a similar fate, that the writing of the present article
has been ordered. The candidates in question, though plainly warned against it
in advance, began wrong by selfishly looking to the future and losing sight of
the past. They forgot that they had done nothing to deserve the rare honour of
selection, nothing which warranted their expecting such a privilege; that they
could boast of none of the above enumerated merits. As men of the selfish,
sensual world, whether married or single, merchants, civilian or military
employees, or members of the learned professions, they had been to a school
most calculated to assimilate them to the animal nature, least so to develop
their spiritual potentialities. Yet each and all had vanity enough to suppose
that their case would be made an exception to the law of countless centuries’
establishment as though, indeed, in their person had been born to the world a
new Avatar! All expected to have
hidden things taught, extraordinary powers given them because - well, because
they had joined the Theosophical Society. Some had sincerely resolved to amend
their lives, and give up their evil courses; we must do them that justice, at
all events.
All were refused at first, Col. Olcott, the President,
himself, to begin with; and as to the latter gentleman there is now no harm in
saying that he was not formally accepted as a Chela until he had proved by more
than a year’s devoted labours and by a determination which brooked no denial,
that he might safely be tested. Then from all sides came complaints - from
Hindus, who ought to have known better, as well as from Europeans who, of
course, were not in a condition to know anything at all about the rules. The
cry was that unless at least a few Theosophists were given the chance to try,
the Society could not endure. Every other noble and unselfish feature of our
programme was ignored - a man’s duty to his neighbour, to his country, his duty
to help, enlighten, encourage and elevate those weaker and less favoured than
he; all were trampled out of sight in the insane rush for adeptship. The call
for phenomena, phenomena, phenomena, resounded in every quarter, and the
Founders were impeded in their real work and teased importunately to intercede
with the Mahatmas, against whom the real grievance lay, though their poor
agents had to take all the buffets.
At last, the word came from the higher authorities
that a few of the most urgent candidates should be taken at their word. The
result of the experiment would perhaps show better than any amount of preaching
what Chelaship meant, and what are the consequences of selfishness and
temerity. Each candidate was warned that he must wait for years in any event,
before his fitness could be proven, and that he must pass through a series of
tests that would bring out all there was in him, whether bad or good. They were
nearly all married men and hence were designated “Lay Chelas” - a term new in
English, but having long had its equivalent in Asiatic tongues.
A Lay Chela is but a man of the world who affirms his
desire to become wise in spiritual things. Virtually, every member of the
Theosophical Society who subscribes to the second of our three “Declared
Objects” is such; for though not of the number of true Chelas, he has yet the
possibility of becoming one, for he has stepped across the boundary-line which
separated him from the Mahatmas, and has brought himself, as it were, under
their notice. In joining the Society and binding himself to help along its
work, he has pledged himself to act in some degree in concert with those
Mahatmas, at whose behest the Society was organized, and under whose
conditional protection it remains. The joining is then, the introduction; all
the rest depends entirely upon the member himself, and he need never expect the
most distant approach to the “favor” of one of our Mahatmas, or any other
Mahatmas in the world - should the latter consent to become known - that has
not been fully earned by personal merit. The Mahatmas are the servants, not the
arbiters of the Law of Karma. LAY-CHELASHIP CONFERS NO PRIVILEGE UPON ANY ONE
EXCEPT THAT OF WORKING FOR MERIT UNDER THE OBSERVATION OF A MASTER. And whether
that Master be or be not seen by the Chela makes no difference whatever as to
the result: his good thoughts, words and deeds will bear their fruits, his evil
ones, theirs. To boast of Lay Chelaship or make a parade of it, is the surest
way to reduce the relationship with the Guru to a mere empty name, for it would
be prima facie evidence of vanity and
unfitness for farther progress. And for years we have been teaching everywhere
the maxim “First deserve, then desire” intimacy with the Mahatmas.
Now there is a terrible law operative in nature, one
which cannot be altered, and whose operation clears up the apparent mystery of
the selection of certain “Chelas” who have turned out sorry specimens of
morality, these few years past. Does the reader recall the old proverb, “Let
sleeping dogs lie”? There is a world of occult meaning in it. No man or woman
knows his or her moral strength until it
is tried. Thousands go through life very respectably, because they were
never put to the pinch. This is a truism doubtless, but it is most pertinent to
the present case.
One who undertakes to try for Chelaship by that very
act rouses and lashes to desperation every sleeping passion of his animal
nature. For this is the commencement of a struggle for the mastery in which quarter
is neither to be given nor taken. It is, once for all, “To be, or Not to be”;
to conquer, means ADEPTSHIP; to fail, an ignoble Martyrdom: for to fall victim
to lust, pride, avarice, vanity, selfishness, cowardice, or any other of the
lower propensities, is indeed ignoble, if measured by the standard of true
manhood. The Chela is not only called to face all the latent evil propensities
of his nature, but, in addition, the whole volume of maleficent power
accumulated by the community and nation to which he belongs. For he is an
integral part of those aggregates, and what affects either the individual man,
or the group (town or nation) reacts upon the other. And in this instance his
struggle for goodness jars upon the whole body of badness in his environment,
and draws its fury upon him. If he is content to go along with his neighbours
and be almost as they are - perhaps a little better or somewhat worse than the
average - no one may give him a thought. But let it be known that he has been
able to detect the hollow mockery of social life, its hypocrisy, selfishness,
sensuality, cupidity and other bad features, and has determined to lift himself
up to a higher level, at once he is hated, and every bad, or bigoted, or
malicious nature sends at him a current of opposing will power. If he is
innately strong he shakes it off, as the powerful swimmer dashes through the
current that would bear a weaker one away. But in this moral battle, if the
Chela has one single hidden blemish - do what he may, it shall and will be
brought to light.
The varnish of conventionalities which “civilization”
overlays us all with must come off to the last coat, and the Inner Self, naked
and without the slightest veil to conceal its reality, is exposed. The habits
of society which hold men to a certain degree under moral restraint, and compel
them to pay tribute to virtue by seeming to be good whether they are so or not,
these habits are apt to be all forgotten, these restraints to be all broken
through under the strain of chelaship. He is now in an atmosphere of illusions -
Maya. Vice puts on its most alluring face, and the tempting passions try to
lure the inexperienced aspirant to the depths of psychic debasement. This is
not a case like that depicted by a great artist, where Satan is seen playing a
game of chess with a man upon the stake of his soul, while the latter’s good
angel stands beside him to counsel and assist. For the strife is in this
instance between the Chela’s Will and his carnal nature, and Karma forbids that
any angel or Guru should interfere until the result is known.
With the vividness of poetic fancy Bulwer Lytton has
idealised it for us in his “Zanoni”, a work which will ever be prized by the
occultist; while in his “Strange Story” he has with equal power shown the black
side of occult research and its deadly perils. Chelaship was defined, the other
day, by a Mahatma as a “psychic resolvent, which eats away all dross and leaves
only the pure gold behind”. If the candidate has the latent lust for money, or
political chicanery, or materialistic scepticism, or vain display, or false
speaking, or cruelty, or sensual gratification of any kind, the germ is almost
sure to sprout; and so, on the other hand, as regards the noble qualities of
human nature. The real man comes out. Is it not the height of folly, then, for
any one to leave the smooth path of common-place life to scale the crags of
chelaship without some reasonable feeling of certainty that he has the right
stuff in him? Well says the Bible: “Let him that standeth take heed lest he
fall” [4] - a text that would-be
Chelas should consider well before they rush headlong into the fray! It would
have been well for some of our Lay-Chelas if they had thought twice before
defying the tests. We call to mind
several sad failures within a twelvemonth. One went bad in the head,
recanted noble sentiments uttered but a few weeks previously, and became a
member of a religion he had just scornfully and unanswerably proven false. A
second became a defaulter and absconded with his employer’s money - the latter
also a Theosophist. A third gave himself up to gross debauchery, and confessed
it with ineffectual sobs and tears, to his chosen Guru. A fourth got entangled
with a person of the other sex and fell out with his dearest and truest
friends. A fifth showed signs of mental aberration and was brought into Court
upon charges of discreditable conduct. A sixth shot himself to escape the
consequences of criminality, on the verge of detection! [5] And so we might go on and on.
All these were apparently sincere searchers after
truth, and passed in the world for respectable persons. Externally, they were
fairly eligible as candidates for Chelaship, as appearances go; but “within all
was rottenness and dead men’s bones”. The world’s varnish was so thick as to
hide the absence of the true gold underneath; and the “resolvent” doing its
work, the candidate proved in each instance but a gilded figure of moral dross,
from circumference to core. . . .
In what precedes we have, of course, dealt but with
the failures among Lay-Chelas; there have been partial successes too, and these
are passing gradually through the first stages of their probation. Some are
making themselves useful to the Society and to the world in general by good
example and precept. If they persist, well for them, well for us all: the odds
are fearfully against them, but still “there is no Impossibility to him who
WILLS”. The difficulties in Chelaship will never be less until human nature
changes and a new sort is evolved. St. Paul (Rom. vii, 18, 19) might have had a
Chela in mind when he said “to will is present with me; but how to perform that
which is good I find not. For the good I would I do not; but the evil which I
would not, that I do”. And in the wise “Kiratarjuniya of Bharavi” it is
written:
“The enemies which rise within the body,
Hard to be overcome - the evil passions -
Should manfully be fought; who conquers these
Is equal to the conqueror of worlds.” (xi, 32.)
NOTES:
[1] “The Theosophist”.
[2] Robert Fludd.
[3] H. P. B. refers in this
article to the original Theosophical
Society, which ceased to exist few years after she died in 1891. In 1894-1895,
Annie Besant abandoned the original teachings, persecuted William Q. Judge and
provoked the first division in the theosophical movement. Mrs. Besant would
soon start having personal talks with “Lord Christ” and numerous other masters
fabricated by her own imagination, including the “Manu” and a “King of the World”.
[4] 1 Corinthians, 10:12.
[5] See the example of Mrs. Annie Besant in note [3] above.
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The above article was published on the websites of the Independent Lodge of Theosophists in January 2014.
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Read more:
* How to Build a Theosophical Lodge (by a Master of the Wisdom).
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Helena Blavatsky (photo) wrote these revealing words: “Deserve, then desire”.
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