Finding the Courage We Need
To answer the Call to the Yoke is to attend to the Sacred
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Aho’ Rajanaka,
I hope this finds you well. We resume Sessions this week: Thursday Buddhism, Saturday Lotus Goddesses, Sunday Mahabharata. The links and details are below, you are always welcome, each Session stands on its own.
I apologize for cancelling this past week on such short notice. I went to Boston to be with family. My Charlotte’s husband Jack is among the most courageous souls I have ever been blessed to know and Charlotte just as amazing. Jack is going home now; they have chosen not to resume radiation treatments. But he will not fight this alone. Family and friends have been with him these past 11 years on this journey with brain cancer and I feel privileged to call him son-in-law. Say Jack Casey’s name today and announce to the universe the blessing we all receive from this prince among men. I will keep you further apprised knowing how you sweetly you keep our family in your hearts.
The recording Archives for all of our Sessions are up to date, so you can download and listen anytime. Don’t worry about “keeping up”, it will all be there when you’re ready. Links below the line.
I hope to see you this week, if you can make it. There’s a hurricane landing in Florida today, there’s war it seems everywhere and an election that without exaggeration will determine the fate of the republic and affect the entire world. And then there’s the task of your own today, and I know how daunting that can feel. So much could take us down or make us want to retreat into “safe” spaces that more resemble bunkers. But there’s another way.
We must take care, make time to rest, refresh, and regroup. If you need to back away from the fray, do what your heart tells you is best. But don’t give up or give in. We’ll stand with you. There’s too much at stake.
Here’s a strategy you might find helpful: Remember the call to the yoke.
The call to the yoke makes boundaries to engage the sacred. When you step up to these lines, ask yourself what is at stake, who you want to be, how to offer yourself to the sacred. The sacred is what tells you what is most valuable, who you need and want to be and also what you should not, who you need not be.
The sacred doesn’t repress but instead contains; the sacred isn’t “out there”, there’s nothing spooky or supernatural you need to engage the sacred. The sacred is what you choose, how you choose to be yourself and with others. When the difference before us makes all the difference then we’ll especially need attend, make room and reconcile with discomfort to make meaning.
Meaning happens when we create, participate, engage---let that define the best of our yoga. Bring as much of your self as you need and all of the selves you need when you have to. Hold fast, not too tight: we’ll be there for each other ‘cause no one has to do any of this living alone.
Know that courage manifests when we answer the call to the yoke. Don’t worry about virtue, the right thing reveals itself when we are true to the courageous heart that does not abandon the mind, the body, the whole being—staying in the heart is the literal meaning of courage. Courage is what we need to be good, to invoke the sacred as the boundary that leads to meaning. As the Sanskrit poet Kalidasa reminds us: Listen for that inner voice, turn there, bring it with you into the world and decide for the sacred.
Take care, stay close, write anytime, we’ll be here for you. douglas@rajanaka.com
Saprema, Douglas
&&&
PS
HERE’S ALL THE LINKS
Rajanaka Fall Sessions: Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays on Zoom
Our aim is, as it has always been, to develop an appreciation of the sources in their original contexts and to ask how these teachings can inform and address our own lives.
· Thursday at 7pm Eastern: Buddhism in the Mahayana and Vajrayana Tantra
https://rochester.zoom.us/j/98183733328
· Saturday at 5pm Eastern: Fulfilling the Lotus of the Heart, The 16 Laksmis of the Shakta Tantra
https://rochester.zoom.us/j/95057662268
· Sunday at 5pm Eastern: The Mahabharata Finale in the Forest
Thursday Buddhism, 7pm
Oh Buddhism, how we love thee. You welcome our better angels, poke our inner bear, and nurture heart and mind with desireless passion and selfless self.
Our studies of Buddhism will focus on the philosophies and practices of the Greater Vehicle traditions in India and the way these visionary teachings evolve, expand, and mature into the Lightning Bolt Vehicle, the Vajrayana that is Tantra. We’ll be able to develop our understandings by examining how early Indian Buddhists adapt and elaborate, cultivate and ripen the teachings in the centuries following the historical Śakyamuni Buddha. How did Mahayana develop and why? How did they create consonance and divergence with the early practices and philosophies? This study will invariably lead to Tantra and in its incipient Buddhist forms, Tantric theories and practices become foundational to the expansions we will eventually see in Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan. Our focus this Fall Session will be on the original sources in India. These teachings create an incredible depth of perspective both for understanding the histories of yoga and for our own personal spirit. No previous familiarity is required.
Registration: You register for the Sessions merely by attending live or accessing the archive. Tuition is on the honor system. Each Session runs about 90 minutes.
All Sessions are at 5pm Eastern and will use the same Zoom link (the same as all past Saturdays past). A downloadable Archive of recordings is available for all completed work. If you can’t make the Sessions live on Zoom, this is a good option, you can listen anytime.
Tuition for all Fall Sessions (from September through December) is in advance is $150. This includes access to the Archive and all study materials. Otherwise, tuition for individual Sessions will be $15. 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.
Zoom: Our Zoom Link requires no special codes, just come! https://rochester.zoom.us/j/98183733328
The Dropbox Archive will include all previous and current Session recordings and handouts here in reduced form: https://bit.ly/3xJs6cz
(To listen to any Dropbox you must download the file to get the entire recording. No risk, no cost.)
Dates: There are 12 Sessions beginning September 5, 12, 19, 26, October 3, [10 is fall break, no class], 17, 24, 31, November 7, 14, 21, December 5 is the final Fall Session
**
Saturday Session, 5pm: The Lotus Goddess, the 16 Laksmis of the Shakta Tantra
Here is a rare and exceptionally beautiful teaching of the Goddess from the south Indian Tantric tradition and the practices of Rajanaka.
The Sodasi Laksmi or Sixteen Laksmis form are a kula or group of goddesses that form a fulfilling lotus (purna-kamala). Laksmi appears in nearly all particular Hindu deity traditions---Saivas, Vaishnavas, and Shaktas---but here She is indeed very rare and distinctive. This grouping is not to be confused with the well-known Asta or Eight Laksmis. The teaching here comes straight from the Shakta traditions of embodying identity: we are invited to see the goddess as ourselves, the world, culture and nature. She is more than you, something like you, also just you. Taught within the tradition as meditation and puja, this is what Appa called “thinking ritually” meaning that this rich philosophical spirituality was offered in symbols, forms and images, objects and practices. This is performance philosophy, contemplative reflection, rich suggestive examination that you can take to heart. We will begin with the essentials and work our way carefully through this process. These Fall Sesssions will undoubtedly continue into the Spring to create a year-long course but each and every Session will stand on its own. There will be, of course, recordings and a complete archive, you can drop in, catch up, have it all on your own terms. I will provide all the materials you need for this work since the original material is likely not available elsewhere. This is a treasure trove. We have the map, we know where to dig, and the results will speak for themselves.
Tuition for all Fall Sessions (from September through December) is in advance is $150. This includes access to the Archive and all study materials. Otherwise, tuition for individual Sessions will be $16. 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.
Zoom: Our Zoom Link requires no special codes, just come! https://rochester.zoom.us/j/95057662268
The Dropbox Archive will include all previous and current Session recordings and handouts here:
(To listen to any Dropbox you must download the file to get the entire recording. No risk, no cost.)
Dates: There are 11 Sessions beginning Saturday September 7, 14, 21, 28, October 5, [12 is fall break, no class], 19, 26, November 9, 16, 24, November 30 is the final Fall Session. We will resume in January!
**
Sunday Mahabharata, 5pm
This will be our concluding semester for the epic Mahabharata, Book of the Forest. Every week there has been a different story, another page turned, every Session stands on its own. This has been quite a journey over two years and there’s still nothing better than Mahabharata. I rarely speak in absolutes, it’s unseemly but the Epic warrants distinction and exception at every turn. We will finish the Book of the Forest and then we will have a tour, a review, an encore of sorts that will give us another look and even some more.
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.
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. HERE is the entire Archive:
If you access the Archive honor the tuition if you have not already.
Zoom Link requires no special codes, just come!
https://rochester.zoom.us/j/314987250
The entire Mahabharata Archive is here anytime: https://bit.ly/3vYADrv
Dates: There are 11 Sessions beginning September 8, 15, 22, 29, October 6, 20, 27, November 10, 17, 24, concluding on December 1st.
**
Rajanaka Live in Philadelphia at MahaYoga on November 2nd and 3rd. Come and join us! Here’s the registration link:
https://share.fitdegree.com/?share=65fccb4d2df6d
There are still a few spots open for India in December. All the information in on Rajanaka Substack. Write to me! Come! It’s the trip of a lifetime. Pilgrimage with fellow pilgrims.
There’s always more and more to say. Let’s call it here. Join us. I really miss you all. See you next week.
Saprema, with affection, Douglas
Join the Rajanaka Substack! Please! So much more to come. Here’s the link.
https://rajanaka.substack.com/
Thank you .. and the stunning photograph . Is that Scott’s? ❤️
crying tears of joy and grief simultaneously: CHUCK... "Say Jack Casey’s name today and announce to the universe the blessing we all receive from this prince among men."