Rajanaka Newsletter October 20th

Thursday, October 19, 2023

Aho’ Rajanaka,

I hope this finds you well.

You know, every time I type that sentence, I feel like I have just received yet another bit of news---global, local, personal---that gives me pause, more than concern, a whole lot to feel and heed and think about, and that often causes more just plain worry. I suspect you’re in the same sweep and looking, as I am, for moments of reprieve and alleviation.

It is wise to take a mental health break or even just a nap when that helps.  But do we have a choice but to stay in the fray?  I hope we both have that choice and make it together.  Don’t give up, try not to say “I don’t care what anyone else thinks,” ‘cause it’s important that we care about each other.  Take it in as you can.

The news from abroad is even more horrifying than in the American homeland where dysfunction, conspiracy, and nihilism is political coin of the realm.  Thank goodness there are a few adults trying to bring seriousness to very, very troublesome matters shaping our world.  Thank you for all of you here who have given me confidence enough to carry on learning together.

It's also axiomatic to the betterment of any good conversation to understand how learning really works.  As much as we crave, even need contentment, complaisance, and comfort in our lives, none of those things help advance our human learning unless we are (at the very least) equal parts questioning, doubting, subverting, and welcoming a decided discomfort into the mix.

“No effort is lost nor reversal will happen, even just a little bit of this truth protects from extended exposure.”

Krsna makes this Gita point urging calm in a storm we know never gets less stormy. There’s a stormy calmness (or is that calm storminess?) to dealing with a world that doesn’t stop when we need a break. Should we think we understand completely, well, that may be far more dangerous than the anxiety we experience because know we do not know ---so long as we stay in our shared humanity we can hold together in the tumult. That’s why “even a little bit of this truth protects.” This week we learned that telling the truth is only the beginning for any possible goodness but a necessary elemental.

We just compelted Ma Kālī Poetry and Krsna Tales Sessions, and the complete recordings are available on our Dropbox Archive. The link is below.

Next week we begin Five Poets Thursdays and Five Philosopher Saturdays. The idea is to introduce and examine together the works of writers that either you haven’t read since ever or maybe even never. All of them are significant figures and all have much to say about our lives. This is a pretty wonderful opportunity to study comparatively and to ask ourselves how these poets and philosophers inform our lives. Here’s the schedule:

ALL Poetry Thursdays, 7pm Eastern on Zoom. Sessions are $16 each or $75 for all in advance, use PayPal or Venmo (svcourses@gmail.com). The usual Thursday link works:

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

October 26 Czeslaw Milosz
November 2 Wislawa Szymborska

November 9 Samuel Coleridge

November 16 Louise Glück

November 30 Tu Fu & Li Po

ALL Philosopher Saturdays, 5pm Eastern on Zoom. Sessions are $16 each or $75 for all in advance, use PayPal or Venmo (svcourses@gmail.com). The usual Saturday link works:

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

October 28 Heraclitus, Greek

November 4 Kenko Chomei, Japanese

November 11 Meister Eckart, Christian

November 18 W.V.O. Quine, American

December 2 Ludwig Wittgenstein, somewhere at his desk

MAHABHARATA Sundays are 5pm Eastern, pretty much every Sunday, ‘cause it’s that good.

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

PLEASE subscribe to Substack. Please. All content is free and a subscription is nice option. Either way, it’s cool.

So much below the line, let’s get this out.

Saprema,

Douglas

&&&

KRSNA TALES, you can listen to all Sessions on Dropbox Archive:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yns6f7e5ftv0oftngesb1/h?rlkey=v2445440ppmm7llgfj3jn9rm0&dl=0

Tuition for all is $108.

Ma Kālī’s Poetry is available on our Dropbox Archive: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/4iugvd3a6s6x1kkqr7nyn/h?rlkey=yqalpm73mvxpk5c66636bmw7l&dl=0

Tuition for all is $108.

I hope you will subscribe to Substack. It is free to subscribe and all content will be offered free. (I will never put up a pay wall, which is a common practice.) If you would like to subscribe and offer a tuition subscription that will be available on the page and much appreciated for the causes we support. If you’re not familiar, Substack is a multimedia site that will allow us to put podcasts, blogspots, chats, and newsletters all in one place. It’s super easy for users, it’s free, and some really good folks make their home, like the wonderful Professor Heather Cox Richardson whose daily Letter from an American is must reaind. Go here to find the Rajanaka Substack; https://rajanaka.substack.com/
Please?

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

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.

ALL PAST NEWSLETTERS on the Kalliyam Blogspot here:

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