Rajanaka News August 28 2023: New Sessions for Fall, New Opportunities for Learning, Including Personal Tutorial

Monday, August 28, 2023

Aho’Rajanaka,

I hope this finds you well. This is the first time in three years I’ve taken more than three weeks away from our Sessions. Truth is, I miss ya’ and I’m eager to get back at it. I confess I don’t “vacation” particularly well (and I have plenty to learn about this) but that might also be a feature of how much I still enjoy the work--- I confess I like hearing much less of my own voice and you know what they say about people who walk around talking to themselves. It’s coming, I know but school is also here as soon as this Thursday. And you’re going to be invited to that too. So much yet to learn.

We live in an age when right now people can know all sorts of things. But it’s never not been true that learning with real value takes time and costs honest effort. I figure I’m never going to have “enough” time, but this is because I want never to be less curious and look to appreciate more the value of time. I can feel the fuse burning. Do you?

Doing right by ourselves includes real time for rest, food, and keeping good company. It’s gonna require making some mess, cleaning up, causing a ruckus, and reclaiming some calm. Repeat. I know that when it feels slower, I can experience more. But I’ve long decided I don’t want to learn less, I want to savor more. Life isn’t going to get easier, and it will go faster, like it or not. The matter before us is yoga, and that means valued engagement. Let’s make plans, but not be too rigid; let’s be clear when we can and cautious when that’s the better choice. But no matter what, there is not a moment to waste. We’re not going to admonish ourselves for the inevitabilities, we’re just going to get better with valued engagement.

Here's what’s up beginning with what’s new.

SUBSTACK

I’ve been looking for a better way to present our work together. I’ve started to work with Substack, a platform that many of you will recognize because true luminaries like Heather Cox Richardson and larger operations like The Bulwark have taken to it as a multi-media outlet. Go here: https://rajanaka.substack.com/ I hope to make available our Dropbox Archive of Courses, Sessions, and Camps on Substack---this will make it all much easier. For now, count on Notes, Podcasts, and Posts, even Chats. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE and you’ll get the right notifications.

RAJANAKA TUTORIAL: PERSONALIZED LEARNING, STUDY, CONTEMPLATION IN EVENING WEEKDAY SESSIONS

Our community has evolved and matured to the point where many of you are eager for more personal and directed work. There’s nothing quite like a personal conversation. Do you want to talk about your life in yoga? Discuss a particular subject, topic, or vocabulary? Read a text together? I’m will make available time on Monday, Wednesday, and some Fridays after 7pm Eastern time. We can schedule one session, weekly, bi-weekly, whatever suits you. The model is the so-called Oxford Tutorial or rather just like what Appa did for me: it was just us having a conversation. You can invite friends, you can organize this for your own yoga students for Q&A or teacher training. You will have your own ZOOM link and all material will be wholly private and confidential. Learning in good company is what we do. Tuition can be paid over time. $165 for Four Sessions, 90 minutes each, or as you please. Write to me and we will schedule: douglas@rajanaka.com

EARLY FALL ZOOM COURSES BEGINNING SEPTEMBER:

THURSDAY POETRY, SATURDAY MYTHOLOGY, SUNDAY MAHABHARATA

THURSDAY EVENINGS, 7PM EASTERN, FIVE SESSIONS

“FOR THE LOVE OF MA: THE POETS AND POETRY OF GODDESS KĀLĪ”

FIVE SESSIONS ON ZOOM BEGINNING SEPTEMBER 7^TH

(September 7/14/21/28 October 5)

Zoom Link: https://rochester.zoom.us/j/98183733328

Tuition is $100, payable by PayPal (svcourses@gmail.com) or Venmo (douglas-brooks-8)

SATURDAYS EVENINGS, 5PM EASTERN, FIVE SESSIONS

“KRSNA TALES: YOGIN, PRINCE, LOVER, GOD, SORCERER”

FIVE SESSIONS ON ZOOM BEGINNING SEPTEMBER 9TH

(September 9/16/23/30 October 7)

Zoom Link: https://rochester.zoom.us/j/95057662268

Tuition is $100, payable by PayPal (svcourses@gmail.com) or Venmo (douglas-brooks-8)

SUNDAY MAHABHARATA, 5PM EASTERN

RESUMES SEPTEMBER 10TH

(and carries on until we’re done in 2065 on my 108^th birthday)

Zoom Link: https://rochester.zoom.us/j/314987250

Tuition is $16 per Session, payable by PayPal (svcourses@gmail.com) or Venmo (douglas-brooks-8)

LIVE COLLEGE ON ZOOM, FALL SEMESTER 2023, ALWAYS FREE!

REL 252 HEROINES AND HERO’S IN INDIA’S MYTHOLOGIES

This is entirely free and you are welcome as my auditing guests to attend the classes and lectures held during this fall semester at the University of Rochester. You will have your own chat box. The condition is that you must put up with the conditions of a college classroom and the Zoom is not as personal as our sessions. Class meets every Tuesday and Thursday. I will provide you the syllabi on request so you can read along. Come whenever you like, take the whole course or drop in whenever you can. Here is the ZOOM link. (I will open it sometime after 11:05, not usually right on time.) https://rochester.zoom.us/j/98121476139

THE DROPBOX ARCHIVE

This is truly a vast repository of recorded Sessions, Seminars, Camps. If you want any past course or session (and find Dropbox less than optimal), just write to me, I will hook you up.
You can access this anytime by downloading from provided links. And a very select bit is still on the Rajanaka website. You’ll find the hundreds free Saturday Storytellings, Sunday Mahabharata, our Gita Sessions, and so much more. I’m trying to figure out how to make this more organized and accessible (currently with Substack, ‘cause it’s got tools). Look below the line for some selections. I hope to move most of this to Substack where you can more easy subscribe and purchase. Proceeds to our good causes.

ALL PAST NEWSLETTERS on the Kalliyam Blogspot here:

https://kalliyam.blogspot.com/2023/01/rajanaka-newsletter-january-10-2023.html

All FREE Special Saturdays for 2022 and 2023 are in these Archives for download. For 2022 go here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/a34ja95pg4t8bamatfq3q/h?rlkey=0dcorxwfqhocsiime5rhcju1t&dl=0

For 2023 Specials go here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/rm505c2fcy04y3upn5abv/h?rlkey=6gk1d5rzyypn0r37100wzv5hk&dl=0

Rajanaka Summer Camp 2023, “The Sorcery of Śiva: Teachings on Abhicara and the Luminous Shadow”.
Dropbox Archive link is here:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/836d746qa8917cdcgnjll/h?rlkey=bqb06vxanp69s4o17gar035nx&dl=0

Tuition for the Archive is $200, please use the usual PayPal (svcourses@gmail.com) or Venmo (same email or douglas-brooks-8).

THE HEART OF RECOGNITION SESSIONS

Please use the usual PayPal (svcourses@gmail.com) or Venmo (douglas-brooks-8).

*Dropbox Recordings Available IN FULL, NOW, Anytime!: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/3lvz5j1ajcidwjasy7fsl/h?dl=0&rlkey=qibpejcv3blkq0ngmjx6atsc8

*All Courses are recorded and available on our Archive for download.

*Tuition for the Archive is $150, please use the usual PayPal (svcourses@gmail.com) or Venmo (same email or douglas-brooks-8).

INDIA is a go. If you are interested in joining us on the India Pilgrimage that can still happen for you. There’s room. There are more details below the line but you can write to me directly with any questions or interests, douglas@rajanaka.com. Join the Facebook Group Rajanaka 2023 India Pilgrimage even if you don’t think you can come this time. You’ll meet lovely people and you won’t be able to resist. This is the real deal.

NEW ARCHIVE COURSES ARE NOW AVAILABLE FROM THIS PAST SPRING 2023.

· The Tamil Goddess in Six Sessions, tuition for all Sessions is $95. You can download from here directly. Tuition is on the honor system, use Paypal or Venmo (svcourses@gmail.com)
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/owz6urldp6rnl4nv6bpdh/h?dl=0&rlkey=7rty7mxnjwk301bjk6vt7qtpi

· Muruga of the Six Temples, tuition for all Sessions is $95 payable as PayPal or Venmo (svcourses@gmail.com), here is the Dropbox link for downloading directly: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/1fwu9qhlghlmz9t1a1sd2/h?dl=0&rlkey=2lz0ox3znbhl0iqc48qu59gpx

And so much to read on the Rajanaka Sammelana, Rajanaka Adesa, and the Contraiety [SIC] Blogspots, links here:

https://rajanaka.blogspot.com/2023/01/a-story-in-news-rajanaka-past-and.html

https://rajanakadesa.blogspot.com/2023/01/vrata-resolutions-and-new-year.html

https://contraiety.blogspot.com/2022/08/what-you-havent-earned-is-more-important.html

Pancamukha Anjaneya, The Five-Face Hanuman of the Tantra.

Here is the link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/d62llefrjvyidefn3uequ/h?dl=0&rlkey=p774e7zbme37d8cc49ocysog2

What will you find?

Six Sessions and PDF to aid in study. Write to me if you need helpDescription: No form of Hanuman is more important or less understood and studied than the great Pancamukha. Here Hanuman bears the visage of Varaha the Boar, Garuda the Raptor, Hanuman the Monkey, Narasimha the Lion Man, and Hayagriva the Horse. We will bring this character to life in mythos, mantra, and mudra, in theory and practice, and there will be new stories and work that extends far beyond what we have done before with the Tantric Hanuman. Everyone is welcome. We start at the beginning and we go deep.

Tuition for Six Sessions is $150, payable over time if you need, use PayPal (svcourses@gmail.com or nallapaampu@gmail.com) or Venmo (douglas-brooks-8 or svcourses@gmail.com) If you can’t afford full tuition, talk to me. Your access is guaranteed. Tuition further promises unlimited access to the Recorded Dropbox Archive that will allow you to listen whenever.

Rasa in Theory and Practice.

Six Sessions on Saturday Evenings

ARCHIVE is HERE: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/d4uwwjw17seca2livd6r2/h?dl=0&rlkey=nh4g7xj6x7skeghw4x6tcsk2c

Description: Rasa means essence, taste, liquidity, flavor, sentiment, elemental feeling and emotion. At the heart of the study of poetry, Rasa Theory is a remarkable, rich, and complex method of analysis and appreciation of artistry and aesthetics. But rasa is also a roadmap, a process and practice, a method for understanding and exploring our most elemental feelings. Rajanaka has among the most developed and useful rasa traditions of yoga. At the center of every yoga is engagement with feeling and the development of “taste”: rasa is the core of our being and here we learn the way through that labyrinth of essence.

TUITION FOR ANY OF THESE ARCHIVES IS $150 FOR COMPLETE ACCESS. YOU ARE ON YOUR HONOR TO ACCESS THEM AS YOU PLEASE AND OFFER TUITION VIA PAYPAL (SVCOURSES@GMAIL.COM OR NALLAPAAMPU@GMAIL.COM) OR BY VENMO (SVCOURSES@GMAIL.COM OR DOUGLAS-BROOKS-8).

Gayatri Mantra

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/r58rwnp3ryxgi6a6y8yme/h?dl=0&rlkey=59kbd7hjdrl8n809zv8becmdi

Lalita 1000 Names

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/18o5rtle7p91hz2/AADQnph8ofpPAX5mtW7mX-L4a?dl=0

OM Autobiography

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/11jd30d14ibjjtv3wauaj/h?dl=0&rlkey=1wugbag9m7myo1c50gt6qoa6d

Shakuntala for India

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/osx5n6i9vrz5vi5ek9vch/h?dl=0&rlkey=pa7akqysgrauu07mw9te61yb1

Pancamukha Hanuman

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/d62llefrjvyidefn3uequ/h?dl=0&rlkey=p774e7zbme37d8cc49ocysog2

Rasa Theory

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/d4uwwjw17seca2livd6r2/h?dl=0&rlkey=nh4g7xj6x7skeghw4x6tcsk2c