A Thelemite's Dhammapada (ch.3-4)

Chapter 3: The Mind

xxxiii) The quivering, wavering mind - hard to guard, hard to restrain - is made straight by the wise one like a fletcher makes an arrow shaft.

xxxiv) Like a fish plucked from the water, thrashing about on the land, the mind flaps and wavers in being straightened by meditation; this wavering of Choronzon (see note to chapter 1) is fit to discard.

xxxv) Commendable is the training and taming of the mind, hard to hold down, doing what it likes, going where it wants. A trained mind brings ease.

xxxvi) The wise one may train the mind, which is hard to see, extremely subtle and elusive, doing what it likes and going where it wants. A trained mind brings ease.

xxxvii) Those who will restrain the mind which wanders aimlessly afar, subtly hiding, they are released from the bonds of Choronzon.

xxxviii) Those who have an unsteady thoughts, their thoughts having no serenity, who do not know a pure will*, are not wise.

xxxix) There is no fear for the wide-awake who has a trained mind and steady thoughts - unaffected by both good and bad.

xl) Knowing this body to be a fragile pot of clay, securing this mind as an unconquerable citadel (see Liber AL III:4-7), one may fight Choronzon with wisdom's weapon, guarding one's conquest while being unattached.

xli) Know that this body will soon lie in the earth, thrown aside, without consciousness or value, useless as a burned log.

xlii) More than what an enemy may do to you, more than one with hatred may do to you, the unsteady and untrained mind will bring far worse fortunes.

xliii) More than your mother or father, more than your entire family, a trained mind will bring far better fortunes.

* Here 'will' is the analogue to 'dharma' (or 'dhamma' in Pali) which refers both to the immutable law of the world as well as an individual aspirant's path; it refers here to the latter meaning.


Chapter 4: Flowers

xliv) Who shall conquer this earth and the realm of death, this human realm as well as that of the gods? Who plucks a well-taught word of law* like an expert garland-maker plucks flowers will go beyond the earth, death, the realm of people, and the realm of the gods.

xlv) An aspirant shall conquer this earth and the realm of death, this human realm together with the realm of gods, expertly plucking a well-taught word of law* as an expert garland-maker plucks a flower.

xlvi) Knowing this body to be like transitory foam, of the nature of a mirage, breaking the flower-tipped arrows of Choronzon, one is never again touched by death having gone beyond it.

xlvii) Death takes away the man with a mind full of attachment like a flood sweeps away a slumbering village or those who go around only gathering flowers.

xlviii) Death takes away the man with a mind full of attachment as he sweeps away those caught in the pursuit of pleasure, still gathering and plucking flowers.

xlix) A wise one goes through life like a bee who drinks nectar and flies away, not harming the flower.

l) Do not be concerned with what others do or what others fail to do; give your attention to what you do or what you fail to do.

li) A well-spoken word which is not put into practice is fruitless like a flower that is brilliantly full of color but scentless.

lii) A well-spoken word which is put into practice is fruitful like a flower that is brilliantly full of color and fragrant.

liii) Just as many garlands can be made from a heap of flowers, many fruitful deeds can be accomplished in this life.

liv) The scent of flowers or sandalwood cannot travel against the wind; but the fragrance of virtue spreads everywhere.

lv) No scent of sandalwood nor lotus nor jasmine can compare to the fragrance of the virtue.

lvi) The scent of sandalwood or flowers is faint, but the fragrance of virtue rises high to reach even the gods.

lvii) Being virtuous, earnest, and enlightened, death can never come near the aspirant.

lviii) Just as a fragrant lotus may bloom in the mud or a heap of rubbish,

lix) So does a true aspirant of awakening shine surpassingly with wisdom among the wretched and blind ordinary folk.

* 'Law' here refers again to the word 'dharma,' meaning both the immutable law of the world and the individual aspirant's path.

A Thelemite's Dhammapada (intro, ch.1-2)

... based off of the 1987 translation by John Ross Carter & Mahinda Palihawadana (Oxford World Classics) as well as the 1985 translation by Eknath Easwaran (Nilgiri Press) ...

Introduction

The Dhammapada is a work of about 423 verses, divided into 26 chapters. The word "Dhammapada" means "Verses of Dhamma" which is the Pali term for the Sanskrit "dharma," referring at once to universal law, an individual's path, and Buddha's teachings. It is a concise and extremely practical work of Theravada Buddhism.


Chapter 1: Verse-pairs

i) Our life, our perception, is shaped by our mind; we become what is thought. Suffering follows speech or acts coming from a polluted thought as a cart's wheels follow the ox's foot.

ii) Our life, our perception, is shaped by our mind; we become what is thought. Tranquil joy follows speech or acts coming from a pure thought as a shadow never departs.

iii) "He hated me! He attacked me! He defeated me! He robbed me!" They who fill themselves up with these type of thoughts will never be free from hatred.

iv) "He hated me! He attacked me! He defeated me! He robbed me!" They who do not fill themselves up with these type of thoughts will surely become free from hatred.

v) Hate cannot be stopped by hatred, whatever the occasion; only love can conquer hate. This is an ancient and unalterable law (compare Liber AL I:41 & I:57).

vi) People do not remember 'Every man and every woman is a star' and 'Existence is pure joy.' For those who realize this, all quarrels come to an end. (see Liber AL I:3 & II:9)

vii) Like a wind blowing down a weak tree, Choronzon* prevails over those who remain in a frantic pursuit of the pleasurable, with senses uncontrolled, without faith in themselves, eating too much, and working too little.

viii) Like a wind passing over an unshakeable rocky mountain, Choronzon* cannot prevail over those who are not running frantically in pursuit of the pleasurable, self-disciplined in mind and sense, full of faith in themselves, eating moderately, and working resolutely.

ix) One who calls herself a Thelemite and wears the crown of spiritual royalty, being not free of defilements (see note below) having not purified the mind, devoid of self-control and truth, does not deserve to call herself a Thelemite nor wear the crown of spiritual royalty.

x) But she who is free of defilement, having purified her mind, endowed with self-control and truth, is truly worthy of calling herself a Thelemite and of wearing the crown of spiritual royalty.

xi) Those with improper intentions, considering the trivial and superficial to be essential, are lost in the pastures of their vain fancies, never attaining the essential, highest knowledge.

xii) But the wise, knowing what is trivial and superficial and what is vital and essential, abide in the pastures of proper intention, attaining the supreme, essential goal.

xiii) As rain leaks through the roof of a poorly thatched house, so do impurities (see note below) seep into the untrained mind.

xiv) As rain does not leak through the roof of a well-thatched house, so can impurities not seep into the well-trained mind.

xv) Here she grieves and suffers, being afflicted, having seen the stain of her own impure Will.

xvi) Here she laughs and rejoices, being delighted, having seen the beauty of her own pure Will (compare Liber AL I:44 & II:20).

xvii) Here she grieves and suffers, having gone to a state of woe in seeing the results of her own defiled Will.

xviii) Here she rejoices and is happy, having gone to a state of joy in seeing the results of her own undefiled Will.

xix) Those who recite many spiritual texts but fail to practice the teachings is like a cowherd counting another's cows. They do not partake in the joys of this spiritual quest.

xx) Those who know only few spiritual texts but practice the teachings, having overcome all desire, aversion, delusion, attachment, and fear, living with a mind freed from grasping anything here or any "here-after;" they are partakers of the joy of this spiritual quest.

* Choronzon, the essence of dispersion and failure, here replaces the Buddhist notion of Mara, the tempter whom is equivalent to Satan tempting Jesus with pleasures and attachments. Choronzon/Mara represents all that which can wreck the work of the Thelemite including the impurities or defilements of:

• ignorance,
  
• attachment/craving,
  
• aversion/enmity,
  
• and fear.

The Thelemite works with a pure will, not phased by the pleasurable and un-pleasurable, with tireless energy, and non-attachment to result or purpose (in the sense of mental "oughts" for doing something rather than the natural and holistic Going).


Chapter 2: Vigilant Awareness

xxi) The path to the Deathless State, the City of the Pyramids*, is mindfulness: constant, vigilant awareness. Those lacking vigilance do not escape the path of death. Those who maintain vigilant awareness do not die; they who are dull and unaware are as dead, they can never come to Life.

xxii) Those who are vigilant and wise in meditation and awareness, knowing the death of the unaware, rejoice in awareness, and delight in the City of the Pyramids* with the noble ones.

xxiii) Those who persevere in meditation, forever firm in vigilance, those steadfast ones attain Nothingness*, the incomparable release from all bonds and defilement, the highest joy and freedom.

xxiv) Glory increases for those who stand vigilant and mindful, those of pure action, who with equilibrated deeds and self-discipline in mind, live in harmony with Will being vigilantly aware.

xxv) By standing alert, persistent in meditation, by self-discipline of word, speech, and thought, one makes an island for oneself that no flood can overwhelm (compare Liber AL III:4-7).

xxvi) Those immature people without wisdom, remain in unawareness. But the wise one guards her awareness vigilantly like the greatest treasure.

xxvii) Fall not into slothful unawareness, nor chase mindlessly after pleasures. Those who meditate with vigilance, being aware, attain the highest joyful ease.

xxviii) Overcoming their slothful unawareness through vigilant persistence, they ascend beyond suffering to the peaks of wisdom. They look upon the suffering and immature multitude as one standing upon a mountain looks on the ground below.

xxix) Among the slothfully unaware, she is vigilantly aware; among those who are asleep, she is wide-awake; The one with great wisdom moves like a racehorse, leaving others behind.

xxx) The earnest and vigilance are always respected, the slothful and unaware are never respected.

xxxi) The aspirant who delights in awareness, seeing fearfulness and ignorance in the unaware, Goes, burning away both the subtle and gross fetters*** like a fire.

xxxii) The aspirant who delights in awareness - seeing fearfulness and ignorance in the unaware - will never fall back; she is in the presence of the City of the Pyramids, being Nemo****.

* The City of the Pyramids, or No-thing, is the Thelemic analogue to Nirvana/Nibbana, being the final goal of Buddhist practice; it is the destruction of ignorance. That is, it is the destruction of duality in morality (good & evil), duality in psychology (craving & aversion), and duality in thought (self & not-self); they abide in the unconditioned, unchangeable, un-decaying and impersonal.

** Horus here is used as an analogue to Buddhist Maghavan, the Buddhist form of the Vedic Indra, the latter of which is the leader of gods, also known as the god of lavishness and war, bringer of storms.

*** The "subtle and gross fetters" refer partly to the impurities already mentioned but Buddhists go into more detail, delineating ten major fetters which bind one to a suffering state: belief in a permanent personality, excessive doubt, attachment to rules and rituals, craving for sensual pleasures, malice/ill-will, craving for material existence, craving for supra-material heavens, conceitedness/vanity/arrogance, restlessness/distraction, and ignorance/delustion. It is up to the individual Thelemite to see how these can all be fetters to attainment of one's Will.

**** Nemo, Latin for "no man," is the title of one who attains to the City of the Pyramids, having annihilated all her impurities/defilements and "fetters," especially her personal self or ego in the Impersonal.

Thelemic Mystic Manual - Thelema & Mysticism

I've just released the "Thelemic Mystic Manual" available both as a free PDF download & in paperback print at: http://www.lulu.com/content/2682470

The contents include essays like "Thelema is Zen," "What is 'Do what thou wilt?,'" "Thelemic Upanishads," and "The Beginnings of a Mystic Interpretation of Liber AL."

If you are interested in Thelema, mysticism, yoga, magick, or occultism - this book is a great download/buy!

Thelema: Knowing & Doing one's Will

TO KNOW ONE'S WILL IS TO DO ONE'S WILL

There is always much talk about the Will in Thelemic circles and consequently about how to know what one's Will is and further how to perform that Will.

I submit that, like Plato proclaimed "To know the Good is to do the Good" for his ancient ethical system, Thelema asserts an identity between the knowledge of and the doing of one's Will.

This knowledge is not the knowledge of ideas and facts, where one knows an object to be large or small, a color bright or dark, etc. But this is the Knowledge of Gnosis, the experiential understanding and identification with one's True Motion.

To Mega Therion wrote, "Thou must (1) Find out what is thy Will. (2) Do that Will with a) one-pointedness, (b) detachment, (c) peace." Once we know our Will, our true Self behind the phantom-self of ego, this knowledge expresses itself in action, in Doing & Going.

This Will is naturally one-pointed by virtue of both its supreme Force and that one has destroyed all Duality in the Great Work. Further, it is worked with detachment because all moments are a joyous end in themselves, worked without "lust of result." Finally, the Will is worked in peace for this Movement is One, having united one's conscious will with the inertia of the Universe, wherein even the greatest Conflict is a harmonious facet of the All.

What is "Do what thou wilt"?

Thelema is not about labeling oneself.

The term "Thelemite" is only used once in the Thelemic Holy Books when it is said, "Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong, if he look but close into the word." (Liber AL I:40) It refers only to others labeling those who follow the Way of the Crowned & Conquering Child...

This same line ends with the eleven words, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law"

"Do what thou wilt" is negative & destroying in the sense that it cuts through all

• Morality (as an a priori truth) [AL I:40; III:60]  
• Dogma (metaphysical sophistry as binding to our Going). [AL II:27-34]
  

But it is also positive & creating in the sense that

• it inherently leads us to the ancient injunction, "Know Thyself"
• This is the Great Work wherein we come to know ourselves as Ourselves, without limit and infinite.

 

We must perform the operation of Solve, dissolving into the formless Unity which is Naught, so that we may consolidate our Will in our Way, Coagula. In this, each moment is a new Sacrament, and a new branch of Joy. [AL II:9, 42-44, 66]

Then - being "chief of all" [AL I:23] - the Child of Thelema works her Will, guarding against the phantoms of Morality and Dogmatism with the merciless red flame which is as a sword of Ra-Hoor-Khuit [AL III:38].

Thelemic Upanishads - pt.3: The Book of Six Questions

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.
* * *

The Prashna Upanishad
The Book of Six Questioins

"There is great danger in me; for who doth not understand these runes shall make a great miss. He shall fall down into the pit called Because, and there he shall perish with the dogs of Reason. Now a curse upon Because and his kin! May Because be accursed for ever! ...Also reason is a lie; for there is a factor infinite & unknown; & all their words are skew-wise. Enough of Because! Be he damned for a dog! But ye, o my people, rise up & awake!" - Liber AL II:27-29, 32-34



Six children of earth sought endlessly for Self-realization. Eventually they approached with love a sage - the prince-priest the Beast - for his guidance on the spiritual path. The Beast-sage told them: "Live with me for one year, practicing control of the senses and mind. Ask me questions at the end of the year, and I will answer them."

Question I

After a year, the first child asked the sage: "Master, who created the universe?"

The Beast replied, "The Boundless Lord, the giver of name and form, meditated on Himself and brought forth Energy (prana) with Matter (arayi), Male and Female, so that they would bring forth innumerable creatures for Him.

Energy is the sun; Matter is the moon. Matter is solid, Energy is subtle; the Supreme Self therefore is present everywhere.

The Sun gives Light and Life to all who live. East and west, north and south, above and below: It is the Energy of the universe. The wise see the Hawk-headed Lord of Love in the Sun, rising in all Its golden radiance to give Its warmth and Light and Life to all.

The wise see the Supreme Master in the year, which has two paths, the northern and the southern. Those who seek the Self through meditation, self-discipline, wisdom, and persistence travel after death by the Unitive Path. The path of Energy, to the solar world, supreme refuge, beyond the reach of fear and free from the multiplicity of birth and death.

"...This Lion came forth to proclaim the Aeon of Horus, the crowned and conquering child, who dieth not, nor is reborn, but goeth radiant ever upon His Way. Even so goeth the Sun: for as it is now known that night is but the shadow of the Earth, so Death is but the shadow of the Body, that veileth his Light from its bearer."
- The Heart of the Master, part III

Some look upon the Sun as our Father who makes life possible with heat and rain and divides time into months and seasons. Others have seen him riding in Wisdom on his Chariot, with seven colors as horses and six wheels to represent the whirling spokes of time.

The wise see the Supreme Magus of Love in the month: Matter corresponds to the dark half, and Energy to the bright half. The wise rejoice in the Light of Wisdom, while others suffer in the darkness of ignorance (avidya).

The wise see this Lord of Love in the span of a day: Matter corresponds to the dark night, and Energy the daylight. Those who use their days solely for sexual pleasure consume Energy needlessly, the very stuff of life. But mastered, sex becomes a spiritual force as a weapon of the True Will. They who live solely for sensual pleasures like sex take the lunar path, but those who are self-controlled and truthful to themselves will go to the Bright Regions of the Sun. The Bright World of Ra-Hoor-Khuit can be attained only by those whose will is pure and true, only by those whose will is pure and true."


Question II

Then another child approached the Beast and asked: "Master, what powers support this body? Which of the powers are manifested in it? And among them all, which is the greatest power?"

The sage replied: "The powers are space, fire, water, air, earth, speech, mind, vision, and hearing. All these powers boasted, 'We support this body,' but Will, vital energy, supreme over them all, said, 'Don't deceive yourselves. It is I, dividing myself fourfold, who hold this body together.'

"Hoor hath a secret fourfold name: it is Do What Thou Wilt. / Four Words: Naught-One-Many-All. / Thou-Child! / Thy Name is holy. / Thy Kingdom is come. / Thy Will is done. / Here is the Bread. / Here is the Blood. / Bring us through Temptation! / Deliver us from Good and Evil! / That Mine as Thine be the Crown of the Kingdom, even now. / ABRAHADABRA. / These ten words are four, the Name of the One."
- Book of Lies, ch.2

All the powers including speech, mind, vision, and hearing then sang this song: "The Supreme Will burns as fire; It shines as the sun; It rains as the clouds; It blows as the wind; It crashes as the thunder in the sky. It is the earth, It has form and no form; the Crowned & Conquering Will is immortality.

Everything rests in the Will, as spokes rest in the hub of the wheel: all the holy texts, all our rituals & daily movements, all the merchants and warriors and kings.

O Supreme Will, you move in the mother's womb as life to be manifested again. All creatures pay their homage to you: you carry offerings, bring war, and allow sages to master their senses. All depends upon you for their function.

"Come forth and dwell in me; so that every my Spirit, whether of the Firmament, or of the Ether, or of the Earth or under the Earth; on dry land or in the Water, or Whirling Air or of Rushing Fire; and every spell and scourge of God the Vast One may be THOU. Abrahadabra!"
- Invocation of Horus, used in 1904

You are the creator and destroyer, and our protector. You shine as the sun in the sky; you are the source of all light. When you pour yourself down as rain on earth, every living creature is filled with joy and knows food will be abundant for all.

You are pure and master of everything, O Supreme Will. As fire you receive our acts of love under will: it is You who gives us the breath of life.

O Divine Will, which invisibly pervades the voice, the eye, the ear, and the mind: let our motion be One. O Supreme Will, all the world depends on you. As a mother looks after her children, give us health and strength. Grant us wealth and wisdom: the accomplishment of our True Motion."


Question III

Then a third child approached the sage and asked: "Master, from what source does the Will come? How does It enter the body, how does It support all that is without and all that is within?"

The Beast replied: "You ask searching questions. Since you are a devoted aspirant seeking the Boundless Godhead, I shall answer them.

The Will is born of the Supreme Self. As a man casts a shadow, the Self casts its Will into the body at the time of birth so that the mind's desires may be fulfilled.

"I am Omniciscient, for naught exists for me unless I know it. I am Omnipotent, for naught occurs save by Necessity, my soul's expression through my Will to be, to do, to suffer the symbols of itself. I am Omnipresent, for naught exists where I am not, who fashioned Space as a condition of my consciousness of myself, who am the centre of all, and my circumference the frame of mine own fancy. I am the All, for all that exists for me is a necessary expression in thought of some tendency of my nature, and all my thoughts are only the letters of my Name."
-Liber V vel Reguli

As a king appoints officers to do his work in all the villages, so the Will employs the various energies, each a part of himself, to carry out different functions in the body. As the distributor of energy, it moves through the myriad vital currents radiating from the heart, where lives this Self.

The Sun is the outward form of Energy in the universe, and it rises to bring light to our eyes. The Supreme Self is the source of inner and outer Energy that pervades all things. Those who realize this go beyond death. Those who perceive how the Will rises, enters the body, and serves the Self... they die not; they die not.


Question IV

Then the fourth children approached the prince-priest the Beast and asked him: "O Sage, when a man is sleeping, who is it that sleeps in him? Who sees the dreams he sees? When he wakes up, who in him is awake? When he enjoys, who is enjoying? In whom do all these faculties rest?"

The sage replied: "The dreaming mind recalls past impressions. It sees again what has been seen, it hears again what has been heard, and it enjoys again what has been enjoyed in many places. Seen and unseen, heard and unheard, enjoyed and unenjoyed, the real and the unreal: the mind experiences all these things in a dream-filled sleep.

When the mind is stilled in dreamless sleep, it brings rest and repose to the body. Just as birds fly to the tree for rest, all things in life find their rest in the Supreme Boundless Self. All the gross and subtle elements, what can be sensed, the mind and what it thinks, the intellect and what it knows, the ego and what it grasps, the heart and what it loves, the light and what it reveals: all things in life find their rest in the Supreme Self in dreamless sleep.

"Say thou that He God is one; God is the Everlasting One; nor hath He any Equal, or any Son, or any Companion. Nothing shall stand before His face."
- Liber Ararita, III:0

It is the Lord of Silence & Strength, the Supreme Self, who sees, hears, smells, touches, tastes, thinks, acts, and is pure consciousness. The Self is the Crowned & Conquering Child: changeless and supreme.

Those who know the Supreme Self as formless, without shadow, without impurity, know all and live in all. Those who know this Self, the seat of consciousness, in whom the breath and all the senses live, know all and live in all."


Question V

A fifth approached the sage and asked: "Those who have become established in the Double Word of Power ABRAHADABRA, what happens to them after death?"

The Beast replied: "ABRAHADABRA is both immanent and transcendent. Through it one can attain the personal and the impersonal.

These five syllables when they are separated cannot lead one beyond mortality; but when the whole mantra - indivsible, interdependent - goes on reverberating in the mind, one is freed from fear, awake or asleep.

Established in this cosmic vibration, the awakened child-sage goes beyond fear, decay, and death to enter into infinite peace."

"I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice. My incense is of resinous woods & gums; and there is no blood therein: because of my hair the trees of Eternity."
- Liber AL I:58-59


Question VI

Then the final child-student approached the Beast and said: "Master, the prince of a great kingdom once asked me, 'Do you know the Self with its multifaceted forms?' 'I don't,' I replied. 'If I did, I would certainly tell you.' That prince mounted his chariot and went away silent. Now may I ask you, where is that Self?"

The Beast-sage replied: "Within this body dwells the Self with his multifaceted forms, gentle child. The Self asked himself, 'What is it that makes Me go if I cannot go from myself?' So he created Will, and from it the various urges of Energy; and from this Energy he made space, air, fire, water, the earth, the senses, the mind, and food; from food came strength, austerity, innumerable books, rituals, and all the worlds. Everything was given name and form.

"None, breathed the light, faint & faery, of the stars, and two. For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union. This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all."
- Liber AL I:28-30

As rivers lose their private name and form when they reach the sea, so that people speak of the sea alone, so all these multifaceted forms disappear when the Supreme Self is realized. Then there is no more name and form for us, and we attain immortality.

This True Self is the hub of the wheel of life, and the multifaceted forms are only the spokes. This Self is the paramount goal of life: attain this goal and go beyond death into Eternity!"

"I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star. I am Life, and the giver of Life, yet therefore is theknowledge of me the knowledge of death. I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. "Come unto me" is a foolish word: for it is I that go."
- Liber AL II:7-8

The Beast concluded: "There is nothing more to be said of the true Self, nothing more."

The students adored their teacher and said: "You are our father; you have taken us across the sea to the other shore." Let us adore the illumined sages! Let us adore ourselves and all things as our Supreme Self!

"The end of the hiding of Hadit; and blessing & worship to the prophet of the lovely Star!"
- Liber AL II:79

Thelemic Upanishads - pt.2: Various books

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.
* * *

The Tejobindu Upanishad
The Book of the Drop of Divine Splendour

"How the dew of the Universe whitens the lips!" - Liber VII I:47


Let us meditate on the shining True Self: changeless, underlying the world of change, and realized in the heart in Knowledge & Conversation.

This supreme goal is hard to reach, hard to describe, and hard to abide in. They alone attain Knowledge & Conversation who have mastered their senses, and are free from emotional fluctuations, free from likes and dislikes, without selfish bonds to people, things, and ego.

"Since I am Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof, do ye also thus. Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt. But whoso availeth in this, let him be the chief of all!"
- Liber AL I:22-23

They alone attain Knowledge & Conversation who are prepared to face challenge after challenge in the three stages of meditation*. With persistence & concentration they become united with Heru, the Lord of Love. Called Ra-Hoor-Khuit, who is present everywhere, the three dimensions of space emanate from Him, although He is infinite and invisible. Though all the galaxies emerge from Him, He is without form and unconditioned.

To be united with Horus, the Lord of Love, is to be freed from all conditioning. This is the state of Self-realization, far beyond the reach of words and thoughts. To be united with Horus, one's Angel and Inmost Self - imperishable, changeless, beyond cause and effect - is to find infinite joy. Ra-Hoor-Khuit is beyond all duality, beyond the reach of 'thinker' and of 'thought.'

"The word of Sin is Restriction."
- Liber AL I:41

Let us meditate on our True Shining Self, the ultimate reality, who is realized by the Hermits of Hadit in Knowledge & Conversation.

One's True Self cannot be realized by those who are subject to greed, fear, regret, pity and anger. The Lord of Silence cannot be realized by those who are subject to pride of name and fame or to the vanity of scholarship. It cannot be realized by those who are enmeshed in life's duality.

But to all those who pierce this duality, whose hearts are given to the Lord of Force & Fire, He gives Himself through His infinite wrath; He gives Himself through His infinite grace.

ABRAHADABRA


* The three stages of meditation are the three degrees of concentration that one maintains on the object of concentration. In the first stage one loses identification with the body, in the second stage one loses identification with the mind, and the third stage is Knowledge & Conversation/samadhi. "...the sign shall be my ecstasy, the consciousness of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body." - Liber AL I:26


* * *

The Atma Upanishad
The Book of the Supreme Self

"In the name of the Lord of Initiation, Amen." - Liber Tzaddi, line 0


Ra-Hoor-Khuit manifests in three ways: the outer [body], the inner [mind], and the Supreme Self.

Skin, flesh, vertebral column, hair, fingers, toes, nails, ankles, stomach, navel, hips, thighs, cheeks, eyebrows, forehead, head, eyes, ears, arms, sides, blood vessels, nerves: these make up the outer self, the body, subject to birth and death.

The inner self perceives the outside world, made up of the various elements. The inner self is the victim of likes and dislikes, pleasure and pain, delusion, sorrow, regret and doubt. It knows all the subtleties of language, enjoys dance, music, and al the fine arts; delights in the senses, recalls the past, reads the scriptures, and is able to act. This is the mind, the inner person.

"Hear me, ye people of sighing! / The sorrows of pain and regret / Are left to the dead and the dying, / The folk that not know me as yet... These are dead, these fellows; they feel not. We are not for the poor and sad: the lords of the earth are our kinsfolk."
- Liber AL II:17-18

The Supreme Self, adored in various Holy Texts, can be realized through the path of Union in Magick and Yoga. Subtler than the smallest seed, subtler than the smallest grain, even subtler than the hundred-thousandth part of a hair, this Supreme Self cannot be mentally grasped, cannot be physically seen.

The Supreme Self is neither born nor dies. He cannot be burned, moved, pierced, cut nor dried. Beyond all attributes, the supreme Self is the eternal witness, ever pure, indivisible, and uncompounded, far beyond the senses and the ego. In him conflicts and expectations cease. he is omnipresnet, beyond all thought, without action in the external world, without action in the internal world. Detached from the outer and the inner, this Supreme Self purifies the impure.

ABRAHADABRA

* * *

The Isha Upanishad
The Book of the Inner Ruler


All this is full. All that is full.
From fullness, fullness comes.
When fullness is taken from fullness,
Fullness still remains.


"The Perfect and the Perfect are one Perfect and not two; nay, are none!"
- Liber AL I:45


The Lord of Silence & Strength is enshrined in the hearts of all and pervades the whole universe. Heru-Ra-Ha is the supreme reality. Rejoice in Him by renouncing separateness. Bind nothing! All belongs to the Lord of Infinite Space. Thus working with a pure will, you will live in an eternity; thus Alone, one with your true Child-Self, you will work in real freedom.

The Supreme Self is one. Ever still, this true Self is swifter than thought, swifter than the senses. Though motionless, He outruns all pursuit. Without this Self, no life could exist. This Crowned & Conquering Self seems to move, but is ever still; It seems far away, but is ever near. He is within all, and He transcends all.

Those who see all creatures in themselves and themselves in all creatures know no fear or pity. Those who see all creatures in themselves and themselves in all creatures know no sorrow or grief. How can the multiplicity of life delude the one who sees its unity?

"Come thou, O beloved One, O Lord God of the Universe, O Vast One, O Minute One! I am Thy beloved. All day I sing of Thy delight; all night I delight in Thy song. There is no other day or night than this. Thou art beyond the day and the night; I am Thyself, O my Maker, my Master, my Mate!"
- Liber LXV III:33-36

Horus, the Supreme Self, is everywhere. Bright is this Self: indivisible, untouched by 'sin,' wise, both immanent and transcendent. It is He who holds the Cosmos together.

The face of truth is hidden by your orb of gold, O Sun! May you remove your orb so that I, who adore the true, may see the glory of truth. O Nourishing Sun - solitary traveler, controller, source of life for all creatures - spread your light and subdue your dazzling splendor so that I may see your blessed Self. Even that very Self am I!

May my life merge in the Immortal when my body is reduced to ashes. O mind, meditate on the eternal Hawk-Headed Lord. O God of Fire & Strife, lead us by the path of our True Wills to eternal joy. Deliver us from good & from evil, we who Bind Nothing and drain our blood into the Cup of Babalon.

"Take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where and with whom ye will! But always unto me. If this be not aright; if ye confound the space-marks, saying: They are one; or saying, They are many; if the ritual be not ever unto me: then expect the direful judgments of Ra Hoor Khuit! ...But ecstasy be thine and joy of earth: ever To me! To me!"
- Liber AL I:51-53


ABRAHADABRA

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.
* * *

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

* * *

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

* * *

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!

The Path of Attainment

"Abrahadabra; the reward of Ra Hoor Khut."

- Liber AL vel Legis III:1

What does Attainment even entail?

Man is typically bludgeoned about by circumstance, unaware of a true locus of action within or without himself, unaware of his true identity.

This isn't inherently 'wrong' and certainly not 'evil:' it is the apparently typical human condition. But certain people are impelled to the Path of Attainment by their seemingly hopeless endeavor to find some lasting solace in the realm of multiplicity, or countless other reasons...

"I am the Hawk-Headed Lord of Silence & of Strength; my nemyss shrouds the night-blue sky."

- Liber AL vel Legis III:70

Attainment is two-fold:

1. Solve: the realizing of one's true Identity, the revealing of one's Self to oneself (Silence)
2. Coagula: the manifestation of that Identity in Motion, the performing of one's Will (Strength)

What man thinks is his 'self' and what he thinks is his 'will' are both ridiculously puny conceptions, based in nonsense. Attainment is therefore the identification of the self with the True Self and the aligning of the will with the True Will.

The mastery of Solve is the mastery of Mysticism, identification of Self with All. This is coterminous with understanding the Universe to be Continuous (0).

"I am the Lord of the Double Wand of Power; the wand of the Force of Coph Nia--but my left hand is empty, for I have crushed an Universe; & nought remains."
- Liber AL vel Legis III:72

The mastery of Coagula is the mastery of Magick, causing Change in conformity with Will. That is, Going one's natural & spontaneous Way. This is best done with a healthy, strong, and well-ordered body & mind.

"The ending of the words is the Word Abrahadabra. "
- Liber AL vel Legis III:75

θέλημά - the Will of God

θέλημά is the word used about 40 times in the Bible to designate most often the will of God.


θέλημα - Will

• Matthew 6:10, "Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth."
• Matthew 26:42, "Again, a second time he went away, and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cup can't pass away from me unless I drink it, your desire be done.""
• Luke 22:42, "saying, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.""
• John 7:17, "If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking from myself."
• John 9:31, "We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God, and does his will, he listens to him."
• Romans 2:18, "and know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,"
• 2 Timothy 2:26, "and they may recover themselves out of the devil's snare, having been taken captive by him to his will."
• Hebrews 10:9, "then he has said, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He takes away the first, that he may establish the second,"
• Hebrews 13:21, "make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen."
• 1 John 5:14, "This is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us"

θέλημα του θεου ("Thelema ton Theon") - the Will of God

• Mark 3:35, "For whoever does the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother." [see Matthew 12:50 below]
• Acts 22:14, "He said, 'The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth."
• Romans 12:2, "Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God."
• Galatians 1:4, "who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father--"
• 1 Thessalonians 4:3, "For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality,"
• 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you."
• Hebrews 10:7, "Then I said, 'Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.'"
• Hebrew 10:36, "For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise."
• 1 Peter 2:15, "For this is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:"
• 1 Peter 3:17, "For it is better, if it is God's will, that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil."
• 1 Peter 4:19, "Therefore let them also who suffer according to the will of God in doing good entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator."
• 1 John 2:17, "The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does God's will remains forever"
• Revelation 4:11, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, the Holy One, to receive the glory, the honor, and the power, for you created all things, and because of your desire they existed, and were created!""

θέλημα του πατρός ("Thelema ton Patros") - the Will of the Father

The Will conceived of as coming from the Father is a distinctly Judeo-Christian tradition. The father implies discipline on His part and obedience on Our part, the children of God. Our normal considerations of 'want,' our self-will, is nothing until merged with the Divine Will of Thelema. "The Perfect and the Perfect are one Perfect and not two; nay, are none!" (Liber AL I:45)

• Matthew 7:21, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
• Matthew 12:50, "For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother."
• Matthew 18:14, "Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish."
• Matthew 21:31, "Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said to him, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Most certainly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into the Kingdom of God before you."
• John 6:40, "This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day."
• Galatians 1:4, "who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father--"

θέλημα του κυρίου ("Thelema ton Kurion") - The Will of the Lord

The Will's source conceived of as being a Lord is common in nearly every single tradition. The Lord is the common title of one who commands and controls, the true Divine Will being the true Lord, the true Charioteer.

• Luke 12:47, "That servant, who knew his lord's will, and didn't prepare, nor do what he wanted, will be beaten with many stripes,"
• Acts 21:14, "When he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, "The Lord's will be done.""
• Ephesians 5:17, "Therefore don't be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."
• Ephesians 6:6, "not in the way of service only when eyes are on you, as men pleasers; but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;"

θέλημα του πέμψαντός ("Thelema ton Pemphantos") - the Will of Him who Sent Me

This is the Will understood as being the power of that which gives rise to all things and to which all return, the Source. The true Divine Will comes from the Source and we act as Divine emissaries, carrying the 'Good News.'

• John 4:34, "Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work."
• John 5:30, "I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous; because I don't seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me."
• John 6:38, "For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me."
• John 6:39, "This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day."