Guru-chela relationship/ru

El Morya speaks about the guru-chela relationship in his book The Chela and the Path:

Чела - это термин, обозначающий учащегося или ученика религиозного учителя. Слово заимствовано из языка хинди, в который вошло как производное от санскритского ceta - "раб". В восточной традиции ученичества, в которой на протяжении тысячелетий видели путь самоовладения и просветления, человек, стремящийся получить знание таинств вселенского закона, обращается к учителю, называемому гуру и считающемуся Владыкой (на протяжении веков среди истинных гуру были как Вознесенные, так и невознесенные владыки), с просьбой позволить служить этому учителю до тех пор, пока он (чела) не будет сочтен достойным получить ключи к своей собственной внутренней реальности.

В соответствии с восточной традицией, чела является рабом своего Владыки-учителя с благой целью - не для утраты своей истинной идентичности, но для замещения псевдообраза Истинным Образом самобытия. Своим подчинением чела день за днем вплетает в сознание нити одеяния своего Владыки. Одеяние Владыки (как и столь желанное облачение Христа) - это синоним его сознания.

В ответ на просветленное послушание и самозабвенную любовь чела получает прирост [своего достижения] за счет достижения Владыки - от его реализации собственного Истинного Я. Принимая к неукоснительному исполнению слова Владыки, чела наделяется его Христосознанием, которое, в свою очередь, является средством для расплавления грубых и низменных элементов подсознания ученика и моментумов его нетрансмутированной кармы пылающим жаром священного огня, составляющего сознание Владыки-учителя. Таким образом, свободно и добровольно отстраняя моментумы своего человеческого сознания, чела обнаруживает, что те вскоре замещаются мастерством учителя, когда же это мастерство становится присущим чела, оно, подобно магниту, притягивает его собственное высшее сознание и достижения.

The true Teacher teaches the chela how to come to grips with his karma—past, present, and future. He shows him how to study the law of causation in his own life and to trace undesirable conditions of the present to the core of past actions and interactions with individuals, family members, and the world at large. Thus the reactions of the past produce the ramifications of the present; and step by step the chela is taught to withdraw from the fabric of consciousness the blackened threads of unwise sowings of the past, that he might reap a more abundant harvest in the karma of the future.

To do this the chela must transcend the former state of consciousness; else he will repeat the same mistakes. To transcend that state, he must break through the paper bag of his own finite awareness—the cul-de-sac of mortal reason in which he has been floundering for centuries of incarnations. Thus when the pupil is ready for the breakthrough, the Teacher appears.

The Master Kuthumi once wrote to a would-be chela about “forcing” the Master to receive him. For, you see, by cosmic law the Ascended Masters must take on as their chelas those who move and act in conformity with the will of God on the path of self-discipline and self-immolation. When the chela, by unflinching service, shows himself to be indeed a “slave” of the diamond-shining mind of God, refusing to bow down to other idols of lesser selfhood, he finds himself standing face to face with either an ascended or unascended Master of the Great White Brotherhood or one of our embodied representatives who will provide him with certain teachings and practical steps to attain the goal of reunion whereby the outer consciousness meshes with the inner consciousness and the soul expresses the full potential of its innate Godhood.

As is often the case, the Ascended Masters remain behind the veil, which means simply that because of a lack of surrender or a lack of development in the chela, they retain a certain anonymity and prefer to remain elusive to the outer consciousness, almost playing hide-and-seek with the chela. And this is a means of keeping the chela in hot pursuit of the Guru; for it is the striving—the intense striving—for oneness that is the mark of the overcomer.

As you meditate upon your place upon the path, upon the circumstances of your life—what you are, what you desire to be, where you are and where you desire to be—consider that love is the fulfilling of the law of the path of chelaship. And if you would enter that path as the shortcut to self-awareness, you must be fearless in your acceptance of his word “He who seeks to save his life shall lose it; but he who loses his life for my sake shall find it.” Morya summons chelas of the sacred fire who would become adepts, followers who would become friends of Christ, exponents of the word of living truth, imitators of the Master, and finally the heart, head, and hand of our cosmic retinue.

We seek planetary alignment. We seek to overshadow, to become one with, to work through—yea, to pour the essence of our selfhood into hearts uplifted, the chalice of consciousness raised on high. We demand the all of those to whom we would give our all. The question is, Are you ready to exchange your lesser self for our Greater Self? The path that offers much requires much. As you say in the world, you get what you pay for. The price is high, but then you are purchasing the ultimate reality.

See also

Guru

For more information

El Morya, The Chela and the Path: Keys to Soul Mastery in the Aquarian Age.