But Crowley has some indirect relevance to my Kaula Nath Path, since it was Crowley that adviced the young Lawrence Miles, later to become Shri Gurudev Mahendranath, to pursue occult knowledge in India rather than in Europe.
Another connection is through the founding Guru of The Arcane Magickal Order of the Knights of Shambhala, Shri Lokanath Maharaj, that previous to the forming of AMOOKOS was an initiate of Kenneth Grant's so-called "Typhonian" Ordo Templi Orientis.
For those of you that do not know much about Crowley, the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) became his propagating order for his "Thelemic Religion" after The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn became disfunced (The Golden Dawn was the magical society which gave Crowley his magical training).
So, there is definitely a crossing of paths between AMOOKOS and Crowley, but there is also clear distictions.
If the tree is known by its fruits, the path of Crowleys Western Thelemic Magick and the Kaula Nath Eastern Tantra Magick are two different species. They share some common features, but the fruits they produce are quite different, I think.
In "The Magick of Thelema - A Handbook of the Rituals of Aleister Crowley", Lon Milo Duquette writes in the beginning of the first chapter:
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Chapter one: THE MAGICK OF THE WILL
"Magick is the Science and the Art of causing change to occur in conformety with Will."
- Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice
The above definition of Magick can be as misleading in its simplicity as it is in its complexity. The key word is of course Will, Thelema(1) in Greek, and according to this definition, any willed action is an act of Magick: brushing your teeth, walking the dog, or even paying your taxes.
Conversely any unwilled action is an unmagical act: reaching for a cigarette; ordering that fourth Martini; or any habitual or reactive behaviour that overrides the momentum of one's life focus could fall into the category of unmagical act.
Try as we might there is no escaping this simple fact: We are all Magicians and we are either competent or incompetent practitioners of our craft.
(1) Thelema; by the Greek Qabalah enumerates 93 as does Agape: Love.
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This technical definition of Magick is true for both the eastern and western traditions. In fact, the term Magick, spelled with a "k", IS a technical term to distinguish it from the stage magic of showbiz people like Houdini and the likes.
The Thelemic Magick of Crowley and the Tantra Magick of the Kaula Nathas both work with the power of will and tries to cultivate and enhance it. But the theory, imagery and practice, and the aiming of this power is very different.
When I look at Crowleys life I find little in it that I would want for myself. He was very much a lonely person, a drug addict, and seemingly was not capable to love another human being, male or female. He was married several times and had many lovers, but it seems that he drove most of them crazy. Two of his women ended up in mental asulums, and another ended up as a prostitute. Some of his friends and followers died as a direct result of his magickal adventures or killed themselves after being involved with him.
This attitude towards life that he showed in deed and action seems to me contradictory to the eastern attitude of thelemic Tantra Magick. The most distinguishing feature is the attitude towards women. In eastern magick the women is revered as the embodiment of Ma, or the Great Mother. All women should be respected as ones mother or sister, and if a male tantrika wants to perform a ritual with a women she should be an initiate and treated like an equal. Every male should protect all women as if they were his mother or his sisters.
Not treating women as equal will eventually lead the tantrika to his downfall, which was the case with Baba Muktananda, a tantrika with some magickal skills but who misused young and non-initiate women in his performance of sex magickal rituals.
The ugly treatment that Crowley showed towards women, and the sorry outcome of his life prooves to me that his path was contradictory to the Kaula Nath Path. The aim of the Kaula Nath Path is to realize true peace, true freedom and true happiness in ones own life and being. When I look at Crowley's life I find these qualities hard to find and I do not think that he ever was truly at peace, truly free or truly happy.
There is an expression in sanskrit that I find significant and that is Satyam-Shivam-Sundaram, Truth-Goodness-Beauty. Rudolf Steiner, another western occultist that knew the importance of cultivating Will, says that in order to find truth you should look for these three marks. I think that a statement that shows a truthful insight, have a good or benevolent effect, and an inspiring beauty can be considered a healthy seed that will lead to true peace, true freddom and true happiness.
I think that all people who are thinking about starting a magickal practice should carefully inspect their teachers, acharyas or gurus and see if their lives have the qualities that you want to pursue for yourself. In my case, even though Crowley might be facinating, he does not have anything that I want and I consider his Magickal Path to be a road to unrest and nervous breakdown, restriction by insticts and the grand delusion of ego, and unhappiness and abuse. His written goals and ideals might express otherwise but of what I can see, this was the outcome of his practices.
The beauty of the Tantra Magick of the Kaula Nathas is of such profound character, and even if not all Knights of Shambhala displays these qualities of truthfulness, goodness and beauty in perfection, it is there in seed form, ready to be watered by our attention and devotion. Let us not be lost in Maya and Her Divine Play, but seek that which is Real and True. Magick is not the goal, it is the means towards the realization of the Self. Let us call upon Shakti to lead us to Shiva, and when the two are united: SVECCHACHARA!
As Shri Gurudev Mahendranathputs it: The Will to Love is the Law to Live.
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