James LeFevour – USA
The author
We cannot all be chelas. What we can do is learn from those who are, in order to live a more rewarding and virtuous life. Damodar was an early Theosophist, and he worked for Blavatsky and Olcott in the early days of the Theosophical Society. In 1879 he read Isis Unveiled and he rushed to Olcott and Blavatsky in Bombay. He found the Theosophical Society on his path, and he became a member before the age of 18.
Damodar is considered a success story for those who would wish to become chelas of the Master. He became a chela of the Master Koot Hoomi as he worked for the Theosophical Society. He met Koot Hoomi and other Masters in the astral and even in person.
Eventually he became sickly and it was decided that he should travel to Tibet and live with the Masters as he pursued his path. When he left the Theosophical headquarters to be with them he was never seen again. Though Blavatsky and Olcott claimed to be in touch with him and that he was doing well with his responsibilities.
In this article, we learn that we could be like Damodar. There are key moments in his life we can learn from, and we can apply them to our own spiritual path and our lives as good lessons to live by.
Follow Your Passion
Damodar had been seeing his guru, the Mahatma Koot Hoomi, his entire life. In his childhood he had a severe illness and became close to death. The doctors felt they could do nothing for him. He lay in bed sick and dying. In that state he had a vision in which a type of God person gave him a peculiar medicine. After having this experience he and the doctors realized he began to recover.
He continued living his life, and it was several years later that he began meditating and there before him he saw the person again. After that, on another occasion Damodar was close to death and according to him, the man found him and saved him from death once again. This led to Damodar's lifelong search for this being. He felt he was his guru and he longed to be with him.
When entering the headquarters for the first time he saw a portrait of Koot Hoomi and immediately recognized him as the divine being who had healed him as a child. Convinced he had found the path to his guru he signed up to the membership of the Theosophical Society.
What we can learn from this is to follow our passions. It is our great joys and certain purpose that leads us in this life. If we are true to what drives us forward we will ultimately be true to our own selves.
Make Mistakes
In letter number 2 of the Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, Second Series, it is written to Olcott:
The poor boy has had his fall. Before he could stand in the presence of the ‘Masters’ he had to undergo the severest trials that a neophyte ever passed through, to atone for the many questionable doings in which he had over-zealously taken part, bringing disgrace upon the sacred science and its adepts. The mental and physical suffering was too much for his weak frame, which has been quite prostrated, but he will recover in course of time. This ought to be a warning to you all. You have believed ‘not wisely but too well’. To unlock the gates of the mystery you must not only lead a life of the strictest probity, but learn to discriminate truth from falsehood. You have talked a great deal about karma but have hardly realized the true significance of that doctrine. The time is come when you must lay the foundation of that strict conduct — in the individual as well as in the collective body — which, ever wakeful, guards against conscious as well as unconscious deception.
K.H.
While Damodar is considered the prime example of what a chela should be, it is apparent that he has made his share of mistakes, at least karmically. He was especially intolerant of people insulting or disrespecting the Masters.
All of us make mistakes, it is a part of everyone’s path. What we can better do is allow ourselves to make those mistakes and move on from them. It is our karma, the same as it was for Damodar, to stumble and fall from time to time. We should see it all as part of the process, and delight in the opportunities it leads for us to learn new lessons.
Be Enamored
When Damodar finally met his Gurudeva, Koot Hoomi, in person he was overwhelmed with his appearance. As it says in a letter:
...I saw Him in my own sthula sarira and found my Master identical with the form I had seen in the earlier days of my Chelaship. Thus, I saw my beloved Guru not only as a living man, but actually as a young one in comparison with some other Sadhus of the blessed company, only far kinder, and not above a merry remark and conversation at times.
We should delight in life. We should delight in the experiences we are offered. Whether that comes in the form of a teacher, a flower, a sunset, or even a good book, we should find the joy in the lives that we lead.
Often we will find that the best sort of joy comes to us in the company of others. The people in our lives give us the lessons we are meant to learn in our lives, even if that lesson is to be more patient with others. Damodar found joy in his guru, we can find joy in the next person we interact with. This leads us to the next lesson.
Make Good Friends
In a letter to W.Q.Judge, dated January 24, 1880, Damodar wrote:
I know that Madam Blavatsky whom I revere as my Guru, esteem as my benefactor, and love more than a Mother, and others whose mere recollection gives my heart a thrill that makes me quiver with veneration, have done me favours I am not the least deserving of. . . . About a month after I joined the Society I felt as it were a voice within myself whispering to me that Madam Blavatsky is not what she represents herself to be. . . . I thought it must be some great Indian Adept that had assumed that illusionary form.
When Damodar first joined the Society, Olcott wrote of him:
Frail as a girl though he was, he would sit at his table writing, sometimes all night, unless I caught him at it and drove him to bed. No child was ever more obedient to a parent, no foster-son more utterly selfless in his love to a foster-mother, than he to H.P.B.
Damodar had good friends in HS Olcott and HP Blavatsky. He felt a kindness from them and he, in turn, was loyal to them. We should all be so lucky as to have people in our lives which we can say we truly feel as if they are our chosen family.
Fellowship is no foreign concept in the Theosophical Society. We have conventions just to meet our kindred students from all over the world. What we do for each other is reflective of the people we are, and we gain back exponentially what we give. Let us be happy that we have each other, our fellow Theosophists, in each other’s lives.
In Conclusion
Learn from Damodar! He was a wise soul, and he lived a genuinely wholesome and rewarding life. He is not just a spiritual success story, but also an example to all those who simply want to live fully and happily.
Will we be chelas like him if we follow his example? That path is for the few. What we can do is embrace our path, embrace the joy in life, and be good to each other. What we will find at the end of such a road is abounding in rewards that are available to all of us. We will find that it also leads to good company in the Theosophical Society.
Works Cited:
This article references heavily the book Damodar and the Pioneers of the Theosophical Movement by Sven Eek
