Chela

The word chela comes from the Sanskrit चेल (cela) meaning "servant" or "slave." In Hinduism the term is used to denominate the religious student or disciple of a spiritual master or guru.

In modern Theosophy the term is frequently used to denominate a disciple accepted by one Master as a candidate for initiation into the occult sciences. In her Theosophical Glossary H. P. Blavatsky defines it as follows:

Chelâ (Sk.). A disciple, the pupil of a Guru or Sage, the follower of some adept of a school of philosophy (lit., child).

Some synonyms frequently found in the Theosophical literature are "Disciple" and "Lanoo".

Rules for Chelaship

In 1883 H. P. Blavatsky wrote:

From Book IV of Kiu-ti, chapter on “the Laws of Upasana,” 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 Avalokiteshvara 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 first, 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.

In the Theosophical Journal Lucifer, April, 1888, H. P. Blavatsky writes the article "Practical Occultism" where she gives some very specific "conditions under which alone the study of Divine Wisdom can be pursued with safety." In a later issue published in June, 1889, H. P. Blavatsky answers a question about the "practicality" of some of the requirements for chelaship as given in "Practical Occultism":

Chelaship has nothing whatever to do with means of subsistence or anything of the kind, for a man can isolate his mind entirely from his body and its surroundings. Chelaship is a state of mind, rather than a life according to hard and fast rules on the physical plane. This applies especially to the earlier, probationary period, while the rules given in Lucifer for April last pertain properly to a later stage, that of actual occult training and the development of occult powers and insight. These rules indicate, however, the mode of life which ought to be followed by all aspirants so far as practicable, since it is the most helpful to them in their aspirations. It should never be forgotten that Occultism is concerned with the inner man who must be strengthened and freed from the dominion of the physical body and its surroundings, which must become his servants. Hence the first and chief necessity of Chelaship is a spirit of absolute unselfishness and devotion to Truth; then follow self-knowledge and self-mastery. These are all-important; while outward observance of fixed rules of life is a matter of secondary moment.

Stages of Chelaship

In the writings of Mme. Blavatsky and the Mahatmas we can see that the would-be disciple has first to go through a period of probation (typically, but not always, lasting seven years) "to prove their fitness, and develop the qualities necessary to the security of both Master and pupil." After this period the disciple is accepted, and eventually can be initiated.

Discipleship according to A. Besant and C. W. Leadbeater

Dr. Annie Besant described a disciple in the following way:

A "disciple" is the name given, in the occult schools, to those who, being on the probationary path, are recognized by some Master as attached to Himself. The term asserts a fact, not a particular moral stage, and does not carry with it a necessary implication of the highest moral elevation. . . . Discipleship implies a past tie between Master and disciple, and a Master may recognise that tie, growing out of past relationship, with one who has still much to achieve; the disciple may have many and serious faults of character, may by no means—though his face be turned to the Light—have exhausted all the heavy Karma of the past, may be facing many a difficulty, fighting on many a battlefield with the legions of the past against him. The word "disciple" does not necessarily imply initiation, nor saintship; it only asserts a position and a tie—that the person is on the probationary path, and is recognised by a Master as His.

Both Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater promoted the book At the Feet of the Master as "a statement so concise and yet so complete, so simple and yet so all-inclusive" about the necessary preparation to pass through the portal of Initiation. In this book, the qualifications given by Shankaracharya in his book Vivekacudamani (viveka, vairagya, shatsampatti, and mumukshutva) are translated as Discrimination, Desirelessness, Good Conduct, and Love.

About these qualifications Annie Besant said:

What of the famous qualifications for initiation which he must now seek to make his own? They are not asked for in perfection, but some possession of them there must be ere the portal may swing open to admit him. . . . The completion of the qualities may be left for the other side, if the beginnings are seen; but the initiate must fill up the full tale, and the more there is lacking the more will there be to be done.

Further reading

• Chelas by H. P. Blavatsky

• Chelas and Lay Chelas by H. P. Blavatsky

• Practical Occultism by H. P. Blavatsky

• Gurus and Chelas An Article by E.T. Sturdy and a Reply by Annie Besant

• Discipleship and some Karmic Problems by Annie Besant