chela

noun

1. A pincer-like claw of a crustacean or arachnid.

   “It happeneth often, I confess, that a lobster hath the chely or great claw of one side longer than the other […]”

   “The tail is curved up over the body and the pedipalps held forwards with the tip of the movable finger of the chela in contact with the sand.”

   “The two brushes on each chela snap open into semicircular fans, forming fine-mesh baskets that passively filter water.”

2. A pupil or disciple, especially in Hinduism.

   “Nay, I had a disciple with me. He that was my friend at the Temple of the Tirthankers gave me a chela for this journey.”

   “In fact, Gilgamesh's instructions are still-valid directions from the guru to the chela.”

   “The guru had insight. He understood his chela. The relationship between a guru and his chela was as a father to a son, as a whole person to a whole person, individual and unique.”

   “The guru-chela relationship was a theme in many of Nicholas's paintings. In Pearl of Searching, the guru is looking thoughtfully at a pearl necklace with his chela. This symbolizes the "pearl of great price" that gives purpose to life.”

   “This, of course, is done by the guru as the result of a long process in which his consciousness must merge with that of the chela and wherein the chela is absorbed essentially into the guru.”