Rajanaka News: The Receptive Great Goddess
The Forest Awakens & Ferocity Adjures
Saturday, May 4, 2024
Aho’Rajanaka,
May the fourth be with you. My professorial status is now, as you would expect old eccentric guy who tells stories---and Dad Jokes. No one need be spared: we gotta go with what we gots.
This week I sat dutifully in my University office wondering if any students stop by to discuss their papers and final exams. Open door policy, Zoom anytime, email review---I’m here for you. And radio silence. They’re likely just trying to pass Chemistry or something. Sciences at STEM schools like Rochester are utterly, shamelessly, relentlessly “rigorous,” which means you’re likely to get a B- if you’re lucky. I’m sure that none of my students think my classes pose any such risk to the Almighty GPA. It’s a hard world out there, I can’t blame them for choosing their priorities.
In a certain way, I’m glad the sciences are still so rigorous. Don’t we need folks who know what they are doing? I do wish that one or two would do the work for my classes, including (the gods forbid) reading the book(s). But hope is what you have when there’s no other plausible case to be made. I’m in the usual holding pattern now for a few days---their papers are due at the very last minute. And for the record, no extensions unless they have a note from a physician or God---and God does not have tenure, much less wield interventionary authority. As far as I can tell, I’m also much more merciful than God by any reasonable assessment of what life brings even when we know what’s coming. Free Summer Camp to anyone who wants to grade my papers.
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Spring is ferocious at last. The birds are on it. The forest is in blossom, and armed with thorns, nettles, acid, and a resilience to destruction that advises caution and admiration. I think we can all take a lesson from the north country woods: life doesn’t give much room to slow down or acquiesce, we’re going to have to try to stay with what’s really on offer.
In the yoga traditions of the Shaktas, the goddess-centered traditions, first principle is receptivity. Receptive does not mean passive, it is most assuredly neither acquiescence nor submission. Rather, receptivity is ready and responsive but unhurried, never heedless, or unthinking. The goddess is not subitaneous or improvident; this explains her elegant, magnific demeanor even when she’s decapitating a demon (yet another of her own). She is acceptive because the facts, truth, reality herself demands we must be sensile and formable: we can’t merely bend reality to suit us, we’re going to need a more subtle, composed antiphon. (We might also need a dictionary just to describe how finespun and ratiocinative She means to be.)
Before we respond, we acknowledge; before we retort, we reciprocate. The Shakta worlds of yoga do not stickle over how close life is to its edges, which is why we must try to deescalate without invalidating. Say yes first, Appa said, not to offer agreement or capitulation but to give receptivity its place. It’s up to us to turn our rejoinder into sympathy and compassion, or to decide what warrants more in the way of resistance. There are always consequences, no matter what we choose (and if we have a choice). Much will remain unforeseeable, not all will be salubrious. The goddess deals, makes deals, and tries to know how much is just enough. Perfection is not required. In fact, it’s roundly discouraged since absolutes get in the way of how life really goes about making its way forward. Imperfection isn’t mere permission, it’s another acknowledgment of the priority of receptivity. Shakta on, Rajanaka, and if no one shows up to office hours just continue to do the next right thing as far as you can figure.
TODAY, Saturday May 4th we resume Buddhism at 5pm. The rise of the Bodhisattvayana is our subject. How do we become compassionate, alert and attuned, at once both receptive and engaged with a world that prefers not to. We’ll do some real history and talk about the sources, the practices, and the ways in which Buddhist tradition brought their case forward. As usual, we’ll be both warmly appreciative of the argument and just as willing to take it to task. This is what makes a Rajanaka course worth your time. Zoom at 5pm here:
SUNDAY Mahabharata this week, 5pm, May 5th. Great stories, perfect to just drop in. Every Session has its own boundaries, each a limitless conversation. Next week is Mother’s Day and we’ll be taking the day off. But we’re on for tomorrow.
We have compiled the Archive for our recently concluded Tantric Ganapati Practicum. If you choose to access, please offer the tuition via PayPal or Venmo. Details are below the line. It’s a good listen, much to learn.
We’re going to have a few special Sessions as May and June unfold. I will write to you with those offerings and timings. I need to get through this week of professoring. Pray for me. Pray? Okay, just wish me luck.
Let’s talk soon. See you today for Buddhism? Bodhisattva, come take me by the hand. Epic on Sunday? I’d love to see ya’s.
Come to SUMMER CAMP!
Saprema, Douglas
Buddhism This is an introduction and we’re going to make early Buddhist traditions come to life. Here is the correct links for the Zoom and the Archive. (There was some trouble with Dropbox, it’s fixed.) Join us. The weather is great in here---
ZOOM: https://rochester.zoom.us/j/95057662268
ARCHIVE: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yted2ht281tfrn74ig0c2/h?rlkey=d9ut9dmpqvrha6d3aevq32r6j&dl=0
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.
Tantric Ganapati Practicum is now in Archive. this coming Thursday, March 28th at 7pm Eastern
ARCHIVE: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/aj2q0pqv6k62vaxy2h810/h?rlkey=ag6ijieez888x4yi9kjggthq2&dl=0
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.
Mahabharata Sunday at 5pm, Eastern, tomorrow March 24th until Ever.
ZOOM: https://rochester.zoom.us/j/314987250
ARCHIVE: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/wn3icbb418qcsrjqhk6ke/h?rlkey=nzdh43ld5xitb96duffoflhlg&dl=0
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