Rajanaka Newsletter November 11 2023
Saturday, November 11, 2023
Aho’Rajanaka,
I hope this finds you well. It’s sometimes hard to know what to say these days and many have good reason to keep their feelings and ideas to themselves. There are the perils from family to the workplace. I work in a place that is purported to be devoted to the American Experiment, and above all to contest of ideas brought into shared conversation without threat of violence. “Free speech” doesn’t ever mean you get to say anything you want just because you want to. In America it’s particularly hard to prove libel in a court of law, though apparently defaming a judge, casting aspersions, and perhaps inciting violence will be tolerated if you have enough power and a mob that will vote for you. Meanwhile at the University this week there were demonstrations and counter-demonstrations, guidelines published by the administration regarding behavior, and palpable agitation, unease, and worry. What to do?
I won’t take this further here in the Newsletter but rather return to them in a podcast to be published this weekend.
I think we need to think aloud even when it’s hard, discomforting, and we’re not at all certain about what we think, how we feel, or what to do. This is risky not only because it’s hard to say what we mean but because it’s human to evolve one’s ideas, to feel conflicted, and to just be confused. But we do better when we at least try to articulate difficult matters. I tell students that they don’t really know what they think or feel until they try to express it. Words matter, as do other so many forms of human expressions. We’ll give it a further go later, together. Look for a notice of the Podcast on our Rajanaka Substack, and subscribe (please), content is always free.
Today is Saturday, November 11th and at 5pm Eastern we have a Philosopher Saturday Session. Our topic today is Meister Eckhart, a Christian mystic of the Dominican Order who flourished in the early 14th century. Those were tumultuous times and unsurprisingly---as we shall see from what Eckert wrote---the good friar was in serious trouble with the Church, charged with heresy by the Inquisition, and to this day has not been relieved of “official” censure. So far, so good, eh? What’s better than a heretic with a reputation for speaking in plain language (literally, Eckert preached in the vernacular apparently) and one whose work has won the attention of so many important and sometimes controversial writers. The German philosopher Schopenhauer whose interest in the Upanisads and other non-Western materials earned him disdain from his peers once said, “Buddha, Eckhart, and I all teach essentially the same.” Really? What does that mean? If you are not familiar with Eckhart, you’re in for a real treat.
Rajanaka is a place where we invest in shared humanist learning because, well, we are human and sharing is indispensable grace. Join us, Zoom in. There will be a recording if you can’t make it.
Details:
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
DROPBOX ARCHIVE RECORDINGS HERE:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/1nhcs4nji7yxfae35eyis/h?rlkey=7jiuzn3ec1ydhw5alajxi7m1s&dl=0
Sunday Mahabharata was last week quite the hoot: flying saucers, doomsday machines, and plenty of prudent warnings about too much moonshine (of all kinds). This week there is more because there’s always more. You can come to Mahabharata anytime, any week because each one is a great story, something like Sunday dinner is supposed to be: shared, sorta’comforting, not obliged but reallyreally nice. I sound like my mother here but in Mahabharata you get to be every character in the story, including ones you wish you were (and those you don’t.) Join us. 5pm Eastern, Zoom here:
MAHABHARATA Sundays are 5pm Eastern, pretty much every Sunday, ‘cause it’s that good.
https://rochester.zoom.us/j/314987250
Dropbox Archive here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bfqt15y3n0uglir/AAAB_89LiCOob0hJI1w8BK7_a?dl=0
There’s a ton more to discover under the line if you want to listen and listen and learn together. The Rajanaka website has some material but the Rajanaka Archive keeps it all. If there is something from our past you are interested in and can’t find, write to me.
Please subscribe to our Rajanaka Substack. As a multimedia platform Substack lets us do all sorts of good things. Renew and warm yourself in good company.
https://rajanaka.substack.com/
I don’t mean to be a nuisance except when it’s like young Nachiketas in Katha Upanisad tugging on his papa’s dhoti asking again for the good stuff and his good company to share it. Talk soon.
saprema, with affection,
Douglas
&&
THURSDAY POETS RESUMES THIS WEEK. REVISED 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 16 Samuel Coleridge
November 30 Louise Glück
December 7 Tu Fu & Li Po
DROPBOX HERE:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/he1kuvs22ior4n2k8ly5f/h?rlkey=r32skq8duqhe9auej0gwjdf4o&dl=0
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 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
Free Saturdays in 2023
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/rm505c2fcy04y3upn5abv/h?dl=0&rlkey=6gk1d5rzyypn0r37100wzv5hk
Sricakra Puja Appa Svadhyaya
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bi7z70589ztuak4/cakra%20puja.wav?dl=0
p.s. The baseball player in the photo above is Yankee Mickey Rivers. Mickey was not only a great player, he had a very distinctive way of speaking his mind. Sort'a direct but sometimes a little hard to follow.
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