Making Equations of Meaning

Rajanaka News, June 29th 2024

Saturday, June 29, 2024

Aho’Rajanaka,

I hope this finds you well.  It was a rough week not only for the future of democracy but also for its present state, matters that will affect people’s real lives.  We’re going to have to hold fast and be extensible, downright ductile, even lithe.  Got yoga?

Personally, I’ve always tried to compensate for what I’ve lacked in talent with shear persistence, fortitude, the dogged obstinacy that can’t be equated with virtue.  There’s nothing so admirable as sustaining principle and character unless those advantages become our disadvantage, where our vulnerability is no longer our asset.

There’s much to be said for not being a quitter when the going gets rough.  But that’s where yoga enters the equation. It’s important to know how equations provide truths and work within their rules---implied, tacit, unspoken, wherever those truths and rules reside.

First truth is that we cannot live without some agreement about the facts, however provisional, unfinished, or incomplete.  Facts are human and need to be made pesky ‘cause we need reliable and don’t need more delusive fancies.  This is a matter for further consideration but another time. 

Let’s get to the first rule of equations.  Equations function like equal signs: they don’t declare sameness or fairness, much less balance.  Equations are attempts to convey truths and manage to do so only when we respect the facts.  None of this is easy but that’s also why it’s yoga.

An equals sign declares the most proximate identity a difference can make.  A=A tells you nothing.  In mere tautology we learn nothing, another reason “perfect” identity can’t be yoga. Perfection is the nemesis of any honest learning.  So take that, witless-nondualists.  Ha! Learning is going to task us with being human, not being perfect.

Rather, A=B means there’s a difference that matters so much that ideas like identity, integrity, coherence, and unanimity are all at stake.  What we mean is: A is not B (otherwise it’d be A) but it is “equal.”  No time to do some pinhead-asana.  We gotta’ figure stuff out.  Equations matter.  Stay in this game, your life may depend on it.

When is persistence not perseverance but obduracy?  When is dogged and committed more like inflexible, intransigent, or mulish?  All these words tell us something about the meaning of human stick-to-itiveness but none of these words mean the same thing. Sameness isn’t ever the point if there’s a point worth making.

A yoga without nuance is brittle, hyaloid, and given to dogmatism.  Too much nuance and we’re waffling, indiscriminate, and, dare I say, pointless.  There’s no middle ground, much less “balance” here: there’s the equation with which we must contend.  When the equation presents what seems to be mere paradox, demand more and better than frustration or prevarication.  The midline here doesn’t solve problems, it goes inside them and finds ways to forge forward.  Looking back may be necessary to go forward but going back is rarely our option.

Yoga works equations, it refuses to forsake nuance but knows we can’t dither when we must decide.  Krsna’s opening to the Gita provides a fine example here.  He does not mince words with Arjuna.  Perhaps Krsna knows in some archetypal sense that Achilles just waited too long.  Maybe Joe has too.  When that happens, we’re going to have make heroic choices.  Each of us.  And so is Joe.  And we’re all going to have to show up, which of course is about 98% of what yoga means.  (Beware of anyone who says they know the other 2%.)

Yoga doesn’t provide answers, it’s purpose to engage the equations that matter and to make them matter more.  We can’t know what to do unless we know what is at stake.

We are less than two weeks from Rajanaka Summer Camp.  I don’t usually announce topics, much less titles but this one has one: The Ayyappa Equation.  Ayyappa is a hero, a non-binary, a god (or goddess), an archetype, an example but above all he is an equation.  Equations juxtapose inexorable truths.  Thus, to invite love will be to invite grief.  What do we make of our attachments and invariable losses?  In Ayyappa’s myths and character because they teach yoga we find no simple answers or finalities.  We find out how to plunge and play, accept the challenges and risks, parlay, risk, and understand the stakes.  In these stories we gamble not with the truth but with learning truth requires both trust and a real dose of disquieting apprehension.  Mistrust must give way to confidence, which means we’re going to have to put our hearts and minds together, create an alliance with the equations to make the difference that gives us another chance, another way forward. 

Rajanaka Camp begins at 2pm-ish on Thursday, July 11^th.  Then on Friday and Saturday we will have morning and afternoon Sessions beginning at 9:30am till lunch and resuming at 1:30pm till about 4:30pm.  Saturday night is Curry Night at our home.  Sunday morning we will do puja, ‘cause everyone likes a puja party.

All of this (except for Curry Night) will be available on Zoom.  And HERE is the Camp Zoom link:

https://rochester.zoom.us/j/99917459515

There are no passcodes, no restrictions.  If you decide to come then please pay tuition.  (This is always our Zoom policy: the door is always open and our honour system is so honourable it reverts to civilized Commonwealth spelling.  Ha!)

You can participate entirely, partially, however you see fit.  If you need financial help to meet tuition, then write to me: douglas@rajanaka.com  Everyone gets a chance.  That’s how we roll.

For more details about coming to Camp, see this link on the Rajanaka Substack: https://rajanaka.substack.com/p/rajanaka-summer-camp-2024-details

Yes, there’s still room and you would be most welcome.  It’s not like nothing else ‘cause then it wouldn’t be anything at all, but it really is somethin’ worth your effort…please come!

After Camp I’ll have a schedule for some Summer Sessions and the full schedule for Fall Sessions.  There will be Saturdays and Sundays and maybe more.  I can’t quit you.

Also, India in December/January.  Details soon too.  We go for about two weeks, leave for India after Christmas and return Mid-January.  Flights and visas are going to be your responsibilities.  We will gauge interest once I have costs.  Our itinerary is temple pilgrimage, no tourism, no spas, and so much fun your bare feet will just love it.  More soon.  Babu is feeling better.

Enjoy some summer, take some time to breathe, have a bit of mindcation and a Rajanaka Camp smoothie come July 11^th.  Talk soon.  Take care, please?  I’m here for you anytime, write to me.

As ever,

Douglas