Sunday, May 4, 2008

Thelemic Upanishads - pt.1: The Book of the Great Forest

The Hindu Upanishads represent the true esoteric knowledge of the Self being one with Brahman, the un-differentiated boundless substance of Being, Consciousness, and Bliss (sat-chit-ananda). Their wisdom is timeless although the names and forms which they refer to are continually uprooted, interchanged, and transformed. They have been re-translated (based on Easwaran) to be pertinent to the New Aeon of the Crowned & Conquering Child, Horus.

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The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
The Book of the Great Forest


"Gnarled Oak of God! In thy branches is the lightning nested! Above thee hangs the Eyeless Hawk."
- Liber A'ash, line 1


A wife loves her husband not for his own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays (lila) through him.

A husband loves his wife not for her own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through her.

Children are loved not for their own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through them.

Wealth is loved not for its own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through it.

Philosophers, priests, & theologians are loved not for their own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through them.

Warriors are loved not for their own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through them.

The universe is loved not for its own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through it.

The heavenly beings are loved not for their own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through them.

The earthly creatures are loved not for their own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through them.

Everything is loved not for its own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through it.

This Self, One with the Crowned & Conquering Child, has to be realized. Hear about this Self and meditate upon It, child. When you hear about the Self, meditate upon the Self, and finally realize the Self, you come to understand everything in life as boundless Light & Bliss.

"To Me do ye reverence! to me come ye through tribulation of ordeal, which is bliss."
- Liber AL III:62


For priests' words confuse, making one regard them as separate from this Self. Warriors' actions confuse, making one regard them as separate from this Self. Heavenly beings' and earthly creatures' appearances confuse, making one regard them as separate from this Self. The universe' appearance confuses, making one regard it as separate from this Self. Everything confuses those who regard things as separate from this Self.

Priests, warriors, heavenly beings, earthly creatures, the universe, everything: these are the Self.

As a lump of salt thrown in water dissolves and cannot be taken out again, even so the separate self or 'ego' dissolves in the identity with Horus: a sea of pure consciousness, infinite and immortal.

The notion of separateness -as one's self being separate from the True Self of Horus - arises from identifying oneself with the body, which is made up of the temporary physical elements; when this physical identification dissolves, there can be no more separate self.

Are you bewildered when I say there is no separate self? As long as there is separateness, one sees, hears, smells, feels, speaks to, thinks of, and knows another as separate from oneself. But when the Self is realized as the indivisible Unity of Life, who can be seen by whom? Who can be heard by whom? Who can be smelled by, felt by, spoken to, thought of, or known by whom? In this state, how can the knower ever be known?

"It is not known if it be known."
- Liber Cheth, line 21


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Two questions were once put forward to a sagely woman who dared claim the prize for being the most knowledgeable star in the kingdom. The first question was 'What are all things in the world - past, present, and future - woven in?' The answer came as 'Space' which satisfied the questioner. Then the second question came, 'In what is Space woven?' The answer came:

Those who are Knowing call it the Crowned & Conquering Child, the Imperishable.

It is neither big nor small, long nor short, hot nor cold, bright nor dark, neither air nor space. It is without attachment, taste, smell, touch, eyes, ears, tongue, mouth, breath, or mind. It is without movement, limitation, inside, or outside. It consumes nothing, and nothing consumes It.

In perfect accord with the Will of Horus the Imperishable, sun and moon make their orbits; heaven and earth remain in place; moments, hours, days, nights, weeks, months, and seasons become years...

This Imperishable Hawk of Light is the seer, though It is unseen; the hearer, though unseen, the thinker, though unthought, the knower, though unknown. Nothing other than the Imperishable can see, hear think, or know. It is in Heru-Ra-Ha, the Imperishable Substance, wherein space is woven.

"I am light, and I am night, and I am that which is beyond them.
I am speech, and I am silence, and I am that which is beyond them.
I am life, and I am death, and I am that which is beyond them.
I am war, and I am peace, and I am that which is beyond them.
I am weakness, and I am strength, and I am that which is beyond them.
Yet by none of these can man reach up to me. Yet by each of them must man reach up to me."
- The Vision & the Voice, 1st Aethyr


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This same Scarlet Woman, earthly emissary of the Crowned & Conquering King-Child, was questioned again by another authority. He spoke:

The sun is the light of mankind by which we sit, work, go out, and come back. But when the sun sets, the moon is the light of mankind. When the moon sets, fire is the light of mankind. When fire goes out, speech is the light of mankind. When the sun & moon set, the fire goes out and no one speaks, what is the light of mankind?

The woman-sage replied:

The Self, the Hawk-Headed Lord of Silence & Strength, is the light of mankind, by which we sit, work, go out, and eventually come back.

Horus is pure awareness, and He shines as the light within the heart, surrounded by the senses. Only seeming to think, seeming to move, the Supreme Self neither sleeps nor wakes nor dreams.

Abiding in this Self, one is free from desire, free from good & evil, free from fear.

As a man in the arms of his beloved is not aware of what is without and what is within, so a person in union with his own True Self is not aware of what is without and what is within, for in that unitive state all desires find their perfect fulfillment. There is no other desire that needs to be fulfilled, and one goes beyond sorrow.

"Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains."
- Liber AL II:9


In that unitive state there is neither father nor mother, neither worlds nor people nor even the ancient scriptures. In that state there is neither killer nor killed, neither low nor high, neither sacred nor profane. This Self is beyond good and evil, beyond all the suffering of the human condition.

In that unitive state, one sees without seeing & knows without knowing, for there is nothing separate from Oneself.

Where there is separateness, one sees, smells, tastes, speaks to, hears, touches, thinks of, and knows another. But where there is Unity, One without a Two, that is the world of Horus, Lord of Limitless Light! This is the supreme goal of life, the supreme treasure, the supreme joy. Those who do not seek this supreme goal live on but a fraction of this joy.

"For these fools of men and their woes care not thou at all! They feel little; what is, is balanced by weak joys; but ye are my chosen ones."
- Liber AL I:31


The Self is indeed Horus, but through ignorance people identify it with intellect, mind, senses, passions, and the physical elements. This is why Horus, the True Self, is said to consist of this and that, and appears to be everything.

When all the knots that strangle the heart are loosened, the mortal becomes immortal - here in this very life. As the skin of a snake is discarded, so does the normal self die; but the True Self, freed from identification with the body, merges in Heru-Ra-Ha: infinite life, eternal light.

Those who realize this Self enter into the peace that brings complete self-control and perfect patience. They see themselves in everyone and everyone in themselves. Evil cannot overcome the because They overcome all evil. Sin cannot consume them because They consume all sin. Free from "evil," free from "sin" and doubt, they live in the Kingdom of the Crowned & Conquering Child. Children of earth, this Kingdom is Yours!

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