Theos-Talk Archives (November 2005 Message tt00043)

Dear Dallas,
your mail on chela and chela ship is very enlightening indeed. It
partially echoes C.W.Leadbeaters Masters & the Path.

I am baffled over a question. My senior, who introduced me to the
world of Theosophy and is quite advanced herself bars me to talk about
my theosophical pursuit to any of my frends or acquaitances . She
says, that one comes to know about occultism only when the time is
ripe. And when I asked her how do I know that time is ripe, she smiled
and said , when you will know about Theosophy, you will know your time
is ready.

Since my friend is quite busy in a whoile lot of esoteric projects, I
am not able to communicate to her in physical level always. Although I
meet her astrally sometimes.
I look forward to this platform where I can quench my thirst on
theosophy and try for its deeper understanding.

Why is thesophy so occult? With my very limited knowledge of the
subject I find taht the principles stated in theosophy forms the
essence of all true religions. So why can't it be propagated in a
simpler way even more?
I look forward to the expert opinions from you.

Let the Inner Light shine Brighter

Piali



On 11/5/05, W.Dallas TenBroeck <dalval14@earthlink.net> wrote:
> November 5, 2005
>
>
> Dear Mark and friends:
>
>
> Off hand I would say and I quote : "when the disciple is ready, the Master
> will be found."
>
> So in such matters it is a question of: 'How and why do I wish to become
> "ready?"
>
> Here is something to read and consider.
>
> An elder student was found to have written to some inquirers like you and
> me
> on this subject :
>
>
> TO ASPIRANTS FOR CHELASHIP
>
>
> 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 application 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, [ LUCIFER, PATH ] ... 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 [Magazine] of December, 1886.
>
> [An extract from this reads:
>
> "Once that a theosophist would become a candidate for either chelaship or
> favors, he must be aware of the mutual pledge, tacitly, if not formally
> offered and accepted between the two parties, and, that such a pledge is
> sacred. It is a bond of seven years of probation.
>
> If during that time, notwithstanding the many human shortcomings and
> mistakes of the candidate (save two which it is needless to specify in
> print) he remains throughout every temptation true to the chosen Master, or
> Masters (in the case of lay candidates), and as faithful to the Society
> founded at their wish and under their orders, then the theosophist will be
> initiated into ______ thence-forward allowed to communicate with his guru
> unreservedly, all his failings, save this one, as specified, may be
> overlooked: they belong to his future Karma, but are left for the present,
> to the discretion and judgment of the Master.
>
> He alone has the power of judging whether even during those long seven
> years
> the chela will be favoured regardless of his mistakes and sins, with
> occasional communications with, and from, the guru.
>
> The latter thoroughly posted as to the causes and motives that led the
> candidate into sins of omission and commission is the only one to judge of
> the advisability or inadvisability of bestowing encouragement; as he alone
> is entitled to it, seeing that he is himself under the inexorable law of
> Karma, which no one from the Zulu savage up to the highest archangel can
> avoid--and that he has to assume the great responsibility of the causes
> created by himself.
>
> Thus, the chief and the only indispensable condition required in the
> candidate or chela on probation, is simply unswerving fidelity to the
> chosen
> Master and his purposes.
>
> This is a condition sine qua non; not as I have said, on account of any
> jealous feeling, but simply because the magnetic rapport between the two
> once broken, it becomes at each time doubly difficult to re-establish it
> again; and that it is neither just nor fair, that the Masters should strain
> their powers for those whose future course and final desertion they very
> often can plainly foresee.
>
> Yet, how many of those who, expecting as I would call it "favours by
> anticipation," and being disappointed, instead of humbly repeating mea
> culpa, tax the Masters with selfishness and injustice? They will
> deliberately break the thread of connection ten times in one year, and yet
> expect each time to be taken back on the old lines! "
>
>
> 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 witha
> 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 the Theosophical Society.
>
> None the less is this a mistake. For the 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
> clue 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
> fulfillment 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
> fulfillment 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 allI
> 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 [Magazine] 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; the powers and forces of spirit lend
> themselves only to the perfectly pure in heart. ...
>
> "To lose all sense of self, then, implies the loss of all that ordinary men
> most 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."	-- J. N.
>
>
> Let me suggest you look at some articles that HPB wrote.
>
> RAJA-YOGA articles by H.P.B.
>
>
> CHELAS AND LAY-CHELAS	.	.	HPB Articles I 308
> Theosophist, July 1882
>
> THE THEOSOPHICAL MAHATMAS	.	HPB Articles I 301
> Path, December 1886
>
> PRACTICAL OCCULTISM	.	.	HPB Articles	II 91	
> Lucifer, April 188
>
> OCCULTISM vs. THE OCCULT ARTS	HPB Articles	II 100
> Lucifer, May 1888
>
> LODGES OF MAGIC	.	.	.	HPB Articles	I 287
> Lucifer, Oct. 1888
>
> WHAT OF PHENOMENA?	.	.	HPB Articles	I	79
> Lucifer, Feb. 1888
>
> PSYCHIC AND NOETIC ACTION	.	HPB Articles	II	7
> Lucifer, Oct & Nov. 1890
>
> THOUGHTS on the ELEMENTALS	.	HPB Articles	II	164
> Lucifer, May 1890
>
> ELEMENTALS	.	.	.	.	HPB Articles	II	127
> Lucifer, Aug. 1893
>
> CHINESE SPIRITS	.	.	.	HPB Articles	II	348
> Lucifer, Nov. 1891
>
> ANCIENT MAGIC IN MODERN SCIENCE	HPB Articles	II	431
> Theosophist, Oct. 1886
>
> ANIMATED STATUES	.	.	HPB Articles	II	337
> Theosophist, Nov. 1886
>
> THE SCIENCE OF MAGIC	.	.	Modern Panarion	54
>
> THE SEARCH AFTER OCCULTISM	.	Modern Panarion	159
>
> DIALOGS BETWEEN 2 EDITORS Astral Bodies
> Lucifer, Dec. 1888	HPB Articles	II 38
>
> - do -	Inner Man	HPB Articles	II
> 194
> Lucifer, Jan 1889
>
> HYPNOTISM AND FASCINATION	.	HPB Articles	II	477
> Lucifer, Dec. 1890
>
> MAHATMAS AND CHELAS	.	.	HPB Articles	I	293
> Theosophist, July 1884
>
>
> Reprinted in a book titled RAJA-YOGA or OCCULTISM
>
> Theosophy Co.,
> 40 New Marine Lines,
> Bombay, 400 020, India,
>
>
> If you want I can send you copies of these.
>
> Needless to say, a great deal of serious study is involved.
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
> Dallas
>
>
> =========================================
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> From: Mark H
> Sent: Friday, November 04, 2005 4:48 PM
> To:
> Subject: Re: C H E L A S and C H E L A S H I P
>
> Is there any kind of official message that is sent to the chela in the
> next/final incarnation on his way to become an adept?
>
> From what I gather there would be no way to truly distinguish between
> the fevered delusions of an occult practitioner and an actual
> "official acceptance letter" into the white brotherhood, so to speak.
>
> Even a true chela would find it hard to understand who he was, and
> what needed to be done. However, after continuing training the lower
> effects would be easily detatched, making it easier for the chela to
> accept and understand what was happening.
>
> -Mark H.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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