Rajanaka Newsletter October 28 2023

Saturday, October 28, 2023

Aho’Rajanaka,

I hope this finds you well. Tonight we begin the first of five Sessions, Saturday Philosophers. Our first consideration is the Greek Heraclitus whose work, while it only survives in visionary fragments, offers us so much that remains trenchant, timeless, meaningful. Join us at 5pm Eastern on Zoom. https://rochester.zoom.us/j/95057662268

We’re in need of imagining a world that is nearly impossible.

The list is longer than I should like to document anywhere but you get the picture: peace in place of war, an earth unexploited so that all may live, a politics of inclusion that fulfils the promise of democracy. All the while we must attend to ourselves, to the everyday. We can be visionary and grounded, idealist and pragamatic: we can imagine what does not happen because we need to make what is possible real and what is imaginary humanizing.

We humans we imagine, we dream and share our dreams. Without those dreams shared we reduce ourselves to the merely profane. The sacred is not other, it need not be anything “divine.” With the sacred we create values, secure dignity, look for better. The sacred asks us what we mean by grace. Grace too is no flight of fancy dispensed from an untraceable source: it is rather a celebration of the wonder that is life and the powers of intelligence to reach for perceptibility.

I was having a conversation last night about the strange implications of mantra in theory and practice. A simple take away is how mantra invites us to consider limitation and possibility. When once I asked Appa why “speech” (vac) is called “seeing” (paśyanti), he said, “Is light silent or is it that we don’t ordinarily hear it?” He wasn’t saying we can hear light, only that we experience limitation without considering further possibilities.” Not fantasy, only the possible, even when that is imaginary. Keep the imagination luminous. We need these human powers more than ever.

Come study when you can, come to Sessions and if you can’t afford it let me know. If you have not the time to be with the live Zoom, the recordings are there for you.

Please subscribe to the Rajanaka Substack. More notes, chats, threads, podcasts are coming. Community is so difficult to sustain in this fragmented and shivering world that burns. Come find the fire within, as Heraclitus teaches. Renew and warm yourself in good company.
https://rajanaka.substack.com/

Sunday Mahabharata tomorrow is always remarkably fun and worth the time. Links and all the rest below the line.

Saprema, Douglas

&&&

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

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.

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