num_pages: 512
description: Follow Aleister Crowley through his mystical travels in India which profoundly influenced his magical system as well as the larger occult world Shares excerpts from Crowleys unpublished diaries and details his travels in India Burma and Sri Lanka from 1901 to 1906 Reveals how Crowley incorporated what he learned in India--jnana yoga Vedantist Tantric and Buddhist philosophy--into his own school of Magick Explores the world of Theosophy yogis Hindu traditions and the first Buddhist sangha to the West as well as the first pioneering expeditions to K2 and Kangchenjunga in 1901 and 1905Early in life Aleister Crowleys dissociation from fundamentalist Christianity led him toward esoteric and magical spirituality. In 1901 he made the first of three voyages to the Indian subcontinent searching for deeper knowledge and experience. His religious and magical system Thelema shows clear influence of his thorough experimental absorption in Indian mystical practices.Sharing excerpts from Crowleys unpublished diaries Tobias Churton tells the true story of Crowleys adventures in India from 1901 to 1906 culminating in his first experience of the supreme trance of jnana (gnostic) yoga divine union. Churton shows how Vedantist and Advaitist philosophies Hindu religious practices yoga and Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism informed Crowleys spiritual system and reveals how he built on Madame Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcotts prior work in India. Churton illuminates links between these beliefs and ancient Gnostic systems and shows how they informed the O.T.O. system through Franz Hartmann and Theodor Reuss.Churton explores Crowleys early breakthrough in consciousness research with a Dhyana trance in Sri Lanka becoming a devotee of Shiva and Bhavani fierce avatar of the goddess Parvati. Recounting Crowleys travels to the temples of Madurai Anuradhapura and Benares Churton looks at the gurus of yoga and astrology Crowley met while revealing his adventures with British architect Edward Thornton. Churton also details Crowleys mountaineering feats in India including the record-breaking attempt on Chogo Ri (K2) in 1902 and the Kangchenjunga disaster of 1905.Revealing how Crowley incorporated what he learned in India into his own school of Magick including an extensive look at his theory of correspondences the symbology of 777 and the Thelemic synthesis Churton sheds light on one of the most profoundly mystical periods in Crowleys life as well as how it influenced the larger occult world.
language: English
title: Aleister Crowley in India: The Secret Influence of Eastern Mysticism on Magic and the Occult
publisher: Inner Traditions