dear jasper:

we now have passed from the mere usual and worldly relations of teacher and pupil to that which we will call the lodge for the nonce.

this lodge is not to be taken up in the pincers of criticism and analyzed or fixed. it is at once everywhere and nowhere. it contains within its boundaries all real masters, students, guides, and gurus, of whatever race or creed or no creed. of it has been said:

"beyond the hall of learning is the lodge. it is the whole body of sages in all the world. it cannot be described even by those who are in it, but the student is not prohibited from imagining what it is like."

so therefore at any time any one of its real teachers or disciples will gladly help any other teacher or disciple. but we are not to conclude that, because all are trying to spread truth and to teach the world, we, who call ourselves chela-aspirants or known chelas of any certain person whom we call guru, can place ourselves at the same moment under the direct tutelage of more than one guru.

each man who determines in himself that he will enter the path, has a guru. but the time between that determination and the hour when he will really know the master may be long indeed; in some cases it is very short.

we must now occupy a moment in some consideration of divisions.

just as the merest private in the army has a general who guides the whole but whom he cannot reach except through the others who are officers, so in this order we find divisions of gurus as well as divisions of disciples.

there is the great guru, who is such to many who never know him or see him. then there are others who know him, and who are gurus to a number of chelas, and so on until we may imagine a chela who may be a known guru to another chela below him.

then, again, there may be chelas who are acting as guru—unacknowledged, because pro tempore in function—to one or more other chelas.

now he who makes the resolution above-mentioned, does thereby make a bond that rests in the highest law. it is not a thing to be lightly done, because its consequences are of a serious nature. not serious in the way of disasters or awful torments or such, but serious in respect to the clearness and brilliancy of those rays of truth which we wish to reach us.

we have thereby in a sense—its degree determined by the sincerity and power of our motive—taken ourselves out of the common, vast, moving herd of men who are living—as to this—like dumb animals, and have knocked at a door. if we have reverenced our teacher we will now revere our unknown guru. we must stand interiorly in a faithful attitude. we must have an abiding, settled faith that nothing may shake. for it is to mighty karma we have appealed, and as the guru is karma in the sense that he never acts against karma, we must not lose faith for an instant. for it is this faith that clears up the air there, and that enables us to get help from all quarters.

then perhaps this determinant or postulant or neophyte decides for himself that he will for the time take as teacher or guide some other chela whose teachings commend themselves. it is not necessary that any out-spoken words should pass between these two.

but having done this, even in thought, he should then apply himself diligently to the doctrine of that teacher, not changing until he really finds he has another teacher or has gone to another class. for if he takes up one merely to dispute and disagree—whether outwardly or mentally, he is thereby in danger of totally obscuring his own mind.

if he finds himself not clearly understanding, then he should with faith try to understand, for if he by love and faith vibrates into the higher meaning of his teacher, his mind is thereby raised, and thus greater progress is gained.

we now come to the possible case of an aspirant of that royal and kingly faith who in some way has really found a person who has advanced far upon the path. to this person he has applied and said: "may i be accepted, and may i be a chela of either thee or some other?"

that person applied to then perhaps says: "not to me; but i refer you to some other of the same class as yourself, and give you to him to be his chela: serve him." with this the aspirant goes, say to the one designated, and deliberately both agree to it.

here is a case where the real master has recommended the aspirant to a co-worker who perchance is some grade higher than our neophyte, and the latter is now in a different position from the many others who are silently striving and working, and learning from any and all teachers, but having no specialized guru for themselves. this neophyte and his "little guru" are connected by a clear and sacred bond, or else both are mere lying children, playing and unworthy of attention. if the "little guru" is true to his trust, he occupies his mind and heart with it, and is to consider that the chela represents humanity to him for the time.

we postulated that this "little guru" was in advance of the chela. it must then happen that he says that which is sometimes not clear to his chela. this will all the more be so if his chela is new to the matter. but the chela has deliberately taken that guru, and must try to understand the doctrine of that teacher.

the proper function of the guru is to readjust, and not to pour in vast masses of knowledge expressed in clear and easily comprehended terms. the latter would be a piece of nonsense, however agreeable, and not any whit above what any well-written book would do for its reader.

the faith and love which exist between them act69 as a stimulus to both, and as a purifier to the mind of the chela.

but if the chela, after a while, meets another person who seems to know as much as his "little guru," and to express it in very easy terms, and the chela determines to take him as a teacher, he commits an error. he may listen to his teaching and admire and profit by it, but the moment he mentally determines and then in words asks the other to be his teacher, he begins to rupture the bond that was just established, and possibly may lose altogether the benefit of both. not necessarily, however; but certainly, if he acquaints not his "little guru" with the fact of the new adoption of teacher, there will be much confusion in that realm of being wherein both do their real "work"; and when he does acquaint his "little guru" with the fact of the newly-acquired teacher, that older guru will retire.

none of this is meant for those minds which do not regard these matters as sacred. a guru is a sacred being in that sense. not, of course, in a general sense—yet even if so regarded when worthy it is better for the chela,—but in all that pertains to the spiritual and real life. to the high-strung soul this is a matter of adoption; a most sacred and valuable thing, not lightly taken up or lightly dropped. for the guru becomes for the time the spiritual father of the chela; that one who is destined to bring him into life or to pass him on to him who will do so.

so as the guru is the adjuster in reality, the chela does not—except where the guru is known to be a great sage or where the chela does it by nature—give slavish attention to every word. he hears the word and endeavors to assimilate the meaning underneath; and if he cannot understand he lays it aside for a better time, while he presently endeavors to understand what he can. and if even—as is often so in india—he cannot understand at all, he is satisfied to be near the70 guru and do what may properly be done for him; for even then his abiding faith will eventually clear his mind, of which there are many examples, and regarding which how appropriate is the line:

"they also serve who only stand and wait."

z.