Rajanaka Newsletter, Labor Day 2023: New Sessions, Substack & More

Sunday, September 3, 202366

Aho’ Rajanaka,

I hope this finds you well. It’s Labor Day Weekend (<- warrants caps, doncha’ think? It’s an Unofficial Ending and Beginning) but I for one don’t really know what happened to summer. Do you remember Endless Summer, that 1966 surf movie? It was about, umm, surfers looking for the perfect wave following summer around the world—sort of a Magical Mystery Tour but without The Beatles talent.

I’m sure I saw Endless Summer in 1966 in a movie theatre, tagging along with the big kids. It kindled in me the wanderlust (try to wander without getting too lost), see the world (but don’t join the Navy), go where no one has gone before (warp speed across the galaxy or maybe India) but Endless Summer’s perfect wave taught me the power of metaphor, what words could mean if you dosed them with imagination and metaphor. Summer doesn’t end when its Endless but careful what you ask for, because Endless?

I’m still trying to catch that wave, but it has little to do with the ocean, at least the big wet salty kind. Of course, there’s not only light burning here, nowadays Endless Summer may be too real in not such a good way. We will make our way through life’s seasons together. That’s what I’d like for all of us, together.

We’re almost 25 years into this “Rajanaka” thing and I want to make our learning, conversation, and friendship more accessible, easier to enter so that you can come and go as it suits you. Appa always said that yoga is an invitation, never an obligation. But you’ll notice too that I usually don’t use “Yoga” or “Tantra” to describe Rajanaka any longer. I love those terms and I’ll happily wax on (wax off) about how they might apply and what I think they mean to us. But I’m trepidatious about using them because “Yoga” has mainstreamed (ask someone in the grocery line you don’t know wearing LuLu what it means, that is what it means…) and “Tantra”, well, that meaning is a lost cause and it’s best to keep it historical than to make it relevant or personal, too much baggage.

Rajanaka is a conversation among friends and the curious who are curious, contemplative, looking for a good conversation that can be shared, that you can have with your heart and soul, that loves life for all it is bound to deliver. The teachings, the perspectives, insights, the conversation that started for me when Appa asked me, “What would you like from me?”---that is what I hope is of value. We can know almost anything these days but learning, especially the kind that’s soulful and serious, that’s “going to take some time,” as he put it.

SUBSTACK
To make things more accessible PLEASE, please, please subscribe to the NEW SUBSTACK platform. I’m going to keep everything “free” AND offer subscription. This means that you can have it for any price, including free---that will be up to you. I’m hoping to move most everything to this platform because we can send Newsletters, create Notes, Chats (and Threads like FB), and offer Podcasts. It looks like Substack gives us all we need without much in the way of cost or unwanted nonsense (like having to see all the stuff we don't care to see). There are successful luminaries using this platform, people I admire. I’m still clumsy, watching tutorials, figuring it out. If any of you are experts, write to me, I could use your input. For now, there is content. You subscribe to the person, that’d be me, and from there you will find access to the Rajanaka materials, including the Notes, Podcasts, and the rest:https://substack.com/@professordouglasbrooks?utm_source=profile-page

WE BEGIN ZOOM SESSIONS THIS WEEK, STARTING THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7^TH AND NEXT WEEKEND. Let’s learn together. Zoom isn’t perfect, I know some are even Zoomedout, but this is surely the best access we have to learning together in community and extending the conversation. Come to Zoom. If tuition is an issue, just write to me. There’s nuthin’ we can’t work out just fine.

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”

(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 10^th 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)

If you want something personal, just for you or for you and a handful of friends, then I’ve got this for you:

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 more like what Appa did for me: it was just us. 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

ALSO,

LIVE COLLEGE ON ZOOM, FALL SEMESTER 2023

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/98183733328

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
I’m hoping to put all future Newsletters also on Substack. Our mailing list server is fine but it’d be better to have things all in one place.

I hope you read this far. I hope to see you soon. And there is more below the line.

Saprema, affectionately,

Douglas

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