Rajanaka Newsletter September 9, 2023

Saturday, September 9, 2023

Aho’Rajanaka,

I hope this finds you well. How ya’ feeling?

For all my love of logic this will not be another of my Spock-inspired screed-y panegyrics to the Logos ‘cause we all know that false god isn’t gonna save us. Logic is never our adversary even when we wish he’d just sit quietly in the corner while Other Imptorant Stuff gets done, like feeling and intuitiveness and even luck. If people really were reasonable, I’d be a lot happier, we’d all be a lot better off, but that still wouldn’t make us less feeling. Best never to exile feeling from the room and make sure we give ourselves plenty of permission for expression, even eloquence. Fluency in feeling isn’t unlike lucidity in thought: no small task in every case. But it’s not like we can’t learn even when it’s hard ‘cause we don’t want to make things harder.

I am a sentimental sod. I just presided at a very beautiful wedding. What a joy. I almost didn’t but then it just happened. Only a little, not so much that I had to recover or make apology. But my heart insists that I cry at weddings, another reason (among others) I won’t watch romantic comedies, and as much as I try not do it when I’m presiding, knowing instead I should be at my best NoDramaObama, I’m going to break that fourth wall. I embrace the problem at this point: trying to keep it together and at once confident the room will give me a pass.

Even though “sentiment” only really means feeling (the Latin verb is sentire), a sentiment has some elevation, it’s not just any feeling but one worth having. My sentiments exactly. See how we use the word? So, feel on, I say, weepily if that’s what suits you. I remind myself we humans cry for every reason and for any feeling, for better and worse. Mets fans know this as well as every Buddhist for whom the Third Noble Truth (nirvana) somehow claims to alchemize the First (suffering, duhkha). Personally, I’m all for a good cry---the alternative is never better.

But something about nostalgia has been just rubbing me the wrong way. The word “nostalgia” was apparently coined by a Swiss doctor, Johannes Hofer who in 1688 wrote a medical dissertation in which he argued that people compelled to be far from home, particularly soldiers, sometimes suffered such heartache that they become ill and died. Thus, the origin of nostalgia from the Greek is virtually literal (Can something be virtually literal? Oxymorons are us…): nostos means home and algos means pain, so an -algia is a painful condition. Pained for home. Hmmm. Shall we keep going with this?

WE will but let’s get to the invitation for our conversation. You can skip past this but let me welcome you again: Sessions have begun, today is our first Krsna Tales. These are going to rock. And tomorrow the Mahabharata brings its wonders. Here’s the 411:

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)

ALL THE REST, INCLUDING LOTS OF INVITATION, IS BELOW THE LINE.

By the 19th century, “nostalgia” is closer in meaning to how we use it today: still feelings of loss and longing, with the shade of homesick, but also with a trace of warm and fuzzy, you know, the good old times, how it was back then when it (whatever it was) was better. I’m of at least two minds about this modern sensibility because when I look to how things were “back then” I’d say we’re in for some very mixed reviews. I’m not all that thrilled by the present or where we seem to be going but going back isn’t just impossible, it’s the wrong direction.

Progress can’t be going that way even if I like stuff aplenty that was then and is far less now. Every week we seem to lose another rock n’ roller of my childhood, which means they made it a pretty good run given that I was a kid and they seemed old to me then. Yet where things are going in this world seems hard to love---climate catastrophe, revanchist politics, ChatGPT, I will spare you more of this list. There’s no going home to the past; that may very well be the algos part, whether it hurts ‘cause we want to or that it’s very much for the best when we can’t.

I’m not going to solve the nostalgia dilemma here. More to the point, I want to make sure it stays a dilemma. Even if it seems trite to point out, sometimes we encode nostalgia positively even when the past experience was sad or painful and sometimes nostalgia just rebuffs the present, insulates and denies truth we rather not consider (“I prefer not to,” said Bartleby the Scribner), or languishes when we need to get going ‘cause sitting still is never still, it’s just pausing. Nothing wrong with a pause unless you just shouldn’t. So I may have come to bury this nostalgia Caesar, not to praise him, but we might yet try to disinter the good of these bones and not allow, as far as we can, to let its evil out live the good.

The Bard will help us, because Shakespeare more than not can reach into the soul where dilemmas like nostalgia aren’t solved but made into poetry so that we can live with ourselves.

Sonnett 30, addressed to the Fair Youth who brings our Bard to tears and is his great consolation, may have been the object of his current affections, it may be a memory of his own past, it may be every memory of love and grief since the one is never not the other. He writes,

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

I summon up remembrance of things past,

I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,

And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:

Alas we learn that mourning our losses may compound them, adding new to old but then we learn not how to remedy these feelings but to give them currency. He goes on,

Then can I drown an eye, unus'd to flow,

For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,

And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe,

And moan th' expense of many a vanish'd sight;

Now the Bard tells us that his tears are not a usual affair, they are uncommon to his experience, but I don’t believe him. We’ve all spent some nights weeping afresh a vanished sight never to be seen again.

Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,

And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er

The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,

Which I new pay as if not paid before.

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,

All losses are restor'd, and sorrows end.

Ah, here the grace flows for what we learn is that we can move from grief to grieving but no longer host grievance. Love is new because grief is not old much less forgotten, the language of accounts and accountability invites us not to bitterness or what cannot be again or any longer. Instead, we make the turn and address directly our dilemma as opportunity, to say “dear friend”, to speak to the one we cherish who will share and remember and if that dear friend does not feel that past, what makes him or her so dear is the embrace of friendship---for there “All losses are restor’d and sorrows end.”

What we cannot retrieve and cannot forget is looking into the present and so to the love that we can address before us, in our dear friend. We can feel our pain because we have found home, not in the past or in a place but entwined in the grace of intimacy, in the shared affinity that being human is not being all alone, that we can make a pact with feeling, and elevate our sentiment even when it aches.

Well the danger on the rocks is surely pastStill I remain tied to the mastCould it be that I have found my home at lastHome at last?

Where’s that home? It is in the company of a dear friend. We can’t run from nostalgia, it’s built into a heart that aches for a safe harbor, a home. Tied to the mast may not seem like a way to get home but as Odysseus understands it, you are going to hear the Sirens and you’ll need a to hold fast when the world isn’t safe and far too warm. For that we have each other, dear friend. Friendship is no mere nostalgia, it is the grace to which we return when we address the present and reach for reasons to share a future.

This one has been a bit canting, maybe too much homiletic but we started Fall Sessions this week again, we have before the invitation to connection, so if I’ve been a bit, dare I say, sententious, I hope you take to heart the sentiment. We’re going to need each other more than ever in these times, in what’s coming sooner than later. And I’m heartened to say, we have each other. See you soon, dear friend. I hope you can make it to a Zoom this weekend or when you can, we’ll be here.

For now, fare well, stay captivated by your dreams, enchanted by all that is charming, and with enough peace in your heart to invite a future that aches not for the past but instead makes us think and feel, and try my luck again. Talk soon.

Saprema, with affection,

Douglas

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

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

&&this is the below the line part…

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