Rajanaka Winter Sessions 2024
Saturday, December 16, 2023
Aho’ Rajanaka,
I hope this finds you well. I spent this past week at the office with students talking about their final papers, due at the end of next week. I will give them to the very last minute. Get on with it, I tell them. They would have to petition the Almighty Itself to get an extension and that dude does not have tenure, at least not in this department. Let’s wish them well, ‘cause like the rest of us, they’re going to need all the help they can get so long as it’s not from AI or ChatGPT.
We’re leaving for India on December 27th. It’s been a few years, what with pandemic and the world ablaze. I’ll offer a Daily Pilgrimage Diary, and with any luck publish this as a podcast each day of the yatra. Come along. I tell you about the gods and the folks we meet and our fellow pilgrims. Word has it we’ll be having baby Krishnika on the bus---Babu and Bharathi’s new baby girl. It’s a family affair. Please subscribe to the Rajanaka Substack and you’ll receive a notice for every podcast and newsletter. (https://rajanaka.substack.com/)
There’s much to say about the news, the year now behind us, and what lies ahead. Perhaps a few summary observations?
In 2023 as we continued to evolve our post-pandemic lives, we also found ourselves in a world in which the assault on decency, on truth, on nature and on civilization itself became even more dangerous and forboding. There have been increments of accountability---the wheels of justice turn slowly, frustratingly so, but that is a signal that we’ve not yet lost our way. There are good and serious people working hard to see justice served. The steely-eyed, calm and measured, utterly determined Jack Smith provides a fine example---and there is the equally brilliant Fani Willis and truly heroic Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. America seems to be living in at least two different political realities: those embracing authoritarianism, religious fanaticism, and the Big Lie have never been more determined to advance their madness.
We would be negligent if we did not take seriously the vitriol and the very real threats of violence. And of course, we’re exhausted by all this toxicity because that’s what happens when we have honest feelings of outrage and well-founded fears. We are numbed by the absurdity and the daily onslaught from too familiar sources, bewildered by sheer insanity of all. But we will not surrender, abdicate, appease, or relent.
Now, we’re in for far more as 2024 unfolds. Imagine: where will we be a year from right now. This is a gathering storm. Let us not ignore it, deny or pretend it’s all going to be okay. We’ll need to remain vigilant, calm, and determined to rally the forces of sanity and decency together. Do what you can, do what serves us all. “Better one’s own Dharma ill-performed than another’s well-done,” Krsna tells us.
Try as you can to stay in the conversation with the important matters of the world, commit to the ideals of the democratic experiment that give us the freedom to pursue our lives and liberties. Continue to open your heart, full of compassion and justice, for that’s where our strength begins.
We are vulnerable. We are tender. But we are not fragile or brittle or weak. We are not indolent nor will we succumb to listlessness. We’re going to“stand in yoga”, yogasthah, not in isolation or aloof but in support of each other and with kindness leading the way.
So, do remember, please please take care of yourself and when you need a dose of sanity, friendship and warmth, even dollop of mirth, stop in to a Rajanaka Session. We’re a community of more than 20 years of learning together, caring for one another, and you are welcome any time. Feel free to write to me, anytime (douglas@rajanaka.com works like the others you have.)
Here’s what’s in store:
Come January we’re going to begin a new year of work, a Sessions for the Winter Semester. We’ll be having Thursday Evenings, Saturday Conversation, and Sunday Mahabharata.
1. The Saturday Conversation for Winter Semester: January-April 2024.
Buddhism: Origins & Evolution, Philosophies and Practices
For 12 Weeks we will study the origins and development of Buddhism in south Asia. This course will give you a solid foundation in how the Buddhist tradition began its journey into a world religion. We’ll focus on Indian Buddhism and cover the development of early traditions, the sources of the Pali Canon that form the core of “early” mythology, theory, and practice, and the evolution that brought about the Mahayana or Greater Vehicle, and at last Tantric Buddhism. (After this course, we’ll look further into Buddhism’s development in southeast Asia, Tibet, China, and Japan. But first we need a solid groundwork.) If you took a class like this in college, then it’s probably been a long time since. If you never had that opportunity, I think you’ll find this kind of study deeply satisfying both intellectually and personally. We’ll do the facts, naturally, we’ll take history and the resources of learning seriously---what is the deep background, how do the stories and texts, the earliest artifacts, and the philosophies of practice evolve? And we’ll take to heart what Buddhism in its core traditions have to say to us. There will be a syllabus and readings, or you can just listen along and take it in as you please.
Buddhism will begin on Saturday, January 27th. There will be 12 Sessions, each about 90 minutes.
All Sessions are at 5pm Eastern and will use the same Zoom link (the same as all Saturdays past).
A downloadable Archive of recordings will also be available each week. If you can’t make the Sessions live on Zoom, this is a good option, you can listen anytime.7
Tuition for all Sessions in advance is $120. This includes access to the Archive and all study materials. Otherwise, tuition for individual Sessions will be $12. Please use the usual methods: Venmo (douglas-brooks-8 or svcourses@gmail.com) or PayPal (svcourses@gmail.com). If you can’t afford tuition, please let me know because you are always welcome.
Scheduled Dates: January 27, Feb. 3, Feb. 10, Feb. 17, Feb. 24, March 2, March 9, March 23, March 30, April 6, April 13.
Zoom Link requires no special codes, just come! https://rochester.zoom.us/j/95057662268
2. Thursday Evenings at 7pm Eastern for Winter Semester: February-April 2024
Practicum: Ten Tantric Ganeshas with Visualization, Mantra, & Meditation Practice
Each week we will study a particular form of the elephant-headed Ganapati with particular reference to his nuanced expression and spiritual purpose. Who is this Ganesha? How do we visualize him? What is his mantra and what does it mean? What is his purpose within a spiritual practice? In Tantric practice, there are dozens of forms of Ganesha, each associated with different kinds of insight and empowerment. We’ll take up ten and see them as a kula, a collective, such that the practice can focus on any one of these forms or as a group. We have studied Tantric Ganapati before but have not considered the work as a practicum: this means we’ll be looking through the lens of practice in ritual and meditation with a particular focus on the subtle mantra body. No prerequisites, just bring your open heart!
The Practicum will begin on Thursday, February 1st. There will be 10 Sessions, each about 90 minutes.
All Sessions are at 7pm Eastern and will use the same Zoom link (the same as all Thursdays past).
A downloadable Archive of recordings will also be available each week. If you can’t make the Sessions live on Zoom, this is a good option, you can listen anytime.
Tuition for all Sessions in advance is $100. This includes access to the Archive and all study materials. Otherwise, tuition for individual Sessions will be $12. Please use the usual methods: Venmo (douglas-brooks-8 or svcourses@gmail.com) or PayPal (svcourses@gmail.com). If you can’t afford tuition, please let me know because you are always welcome.
Scheduled Dates: Feb. 1, Feb. 8, Feb. 15, Feb. 22, Feb. 29, March 7, March 21, March 28, April 6, April 13.
Zoom Link requires no special codes, just come!
https://rochester.zoom.us/j/98183733328
3. Sunday Mahabharata, 5pm Eastern for Winter Semester: February-May 2024
For those of you who have been with us (or at least some of the time during these last two years), we carry on! Every week there is a complete story, a Session that stands on its own. You’ll have context and a way in each week even if this is your first time or you just like to drop in now and then. There is nothing better than Mahabharata. And I rarely speak in absolutes.
We begin on Sunday, February 4th. For this Semester we’ll have 15 Sessions, each about 90 minutes.
All Sessions are at 5pm Eastern and will use the same Zoom link (the same as all Sundays past).
A downloadable Archive of recordings will also be available each week. If you can’t make the Sessions live on Zoom, this is a good option, you can listen anytime.
Tuition for all 12 Sessions in advance is $120. This includes access to the Archive and all study materials. Otherwise, tuition for individual Sessions will be $12. Please use the usual methods: Venmo (douglas-brooks-8 or svcourses@gmail.com) or PayPal (svcourses@gmail.com). If you can’t afford tuition, please let me know because you are always welcome.
Scheduled Dates: Feb. 4, Feb. 11, Feb. 18, Feb. 25, March 3, March 10, March 24, April 7, April 14, April 21, April 28, May 5.
Zoom Link requires no special codes, just come!
https://rochester.zoom.us/j/314987250
There’s lots of past Archive and I will write again this week with more look backs to 2023. It’s important to look back but not to go back---that’d be the wrong direction. And I think it’s because of you I feel still so determined to move our work forward. Thanks for that. Thanks for everything. Much more soon.
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Saprema, with affection,
Douglas
Comments
Post a Comment