Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Aho’ Rajanaka,
I hope this finds you well. Didja’ have a nice Thanksgiving? No matter what the world is doing or what life’s doing to us, there’s room for gratitude. Keep being that auspicious voice in the room. Lordknows, we need you because you.
There’s real news after this week’s Sessions invitation so please keep reading. Plans ahead.
This week we resume Thursday Poets.
7pm Eastern, that’d be Thursday, November 30th, and this week’s poet is Nobel Laureate Louise Gluck. These have been wonderful Sessions, and there’s an Archive if you’ve missed some. Louise is our penultimate poet for now, so join us if you can. Sessions are $16 each or $75 for all in advance, use PayPal or Venmo (svcourses@gmail.com), and if you can’t afford it, just come because everyone is always welcome.
Here are the links:
Zoom Live:
https://rochester.zoom.us/j/98183733328
Dropbox Archive for previous Sessions:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/he1kuvs22ior4n2k8ly5f/h?rlkey=r32skq8duqhe9auej0gwjdf4o&dl=0
Saturday we resume Philosophers.
5pm Eastern, that’d be Saturday, December 2nd. This will be our final Philosopher Saturday Session for this term and we’ll take on Ludwig Wittgenstein. Few philosophers are so revolutionary and important as to change the way we think but Wittgenstein did just that. He’s not easy to read but that’s a good reason to come and check it out. We got this and it’s worth it. Sessions are $16 each or $75 for all in advance, use PayPal or Venmo (svcourses@gmail.com) but if you can’t afford it come because you are always welcome.
The usual Saturday Zoom:
https://rochester.zoom.us/j/95057662268
Dropbox Recordings:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/1nhcs4nji7yxfae35eyis/h?rlkey=7jiuzn3ec1ydhw5alajxi7m1s&dl=0
Sunday we resume Mahabharata at 5pm Eastern. Always a good story, always welcome.
Zoom link: https://rochester.zoom.us/j/314987250
Dropbox Archive here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bfqt15y3n0uglir/AAAB_89LiCOob0hJI1w8BK7_a?dl=0
We will have THREE SPECIAL DECEMBER SATURDAY SESSIONS:
December 9, 16, & 23. Our topics will come in the next Newsletter. Stay tuned.
Also, Sunday Mahabharata on December 10, 17, & 24, before we leave for India and resume our work in January.
So, some news.
The Rajanaka Substack has a new(ish) podcast. Check it out. Content is always free but a paid subscription supports our good causes. PLEASE subscribe. Our intention is to make the most of this multimedia platform. All the Blogspots and the rajanaka.com website will continue.
Come December 27th. The India Diaries: Pilgrimage Podcasts from Tamil Nadu.
I’m going to try to produce a daily podcast from India chronicling our pilgrimage from about December 27th through January 18th. While some of this will depend on wi-fi access, I will at least produce them and release the pods as soon as possible. If you can’t come to India with us, you can come along on the bus, I’ll talk about the temples, the darshan, what happened. These will of course be free, so this should be interesting.
Come Saturday, January 27th we will begin our 2024 Sessions.
For 10 weeks of Saturdays, we’ll treat ourselves to a thorough study of the history of Buddhism.
This course will begin at the beginning, take us through the development of Buddhist traditions in India and take us on the journey into southeast Asian Theravada, then East Asia (China and Japan) and make some good reference to Tibet. (We will take up Tibetan Buddhism as a separate course later in the winter/spring 2024 but this introduction will be really really helpful.) I think many folks have not had a serious, worthwhile study of Buddhism and we should do this. Rajanaka has deep interests in Buddhist thought, swe’ll talk about similarities and differences too. This is going to be a good time.
We’ll have a Thursday Session and Mahabharata Sundays too. So more to come. I plan on doing this until death do us part dammit. I won’t quit until you do. Honestly, not about the money ‘cause we give that away. It’s about the conversation and our community. We’re really really really going to need each other to get through 2024 and come November next year…well, we’ll deal with that when it happens too. The world is not getting safer, you’ve undoubtedly noticed. So stay close, come see us when you can. Zoom isn’t as good as a hug but we’re working on that too. Be well, talk soon, more below the line. Grab some Archive, there’s sooooo much good stuff there.
Saprema, Douglas
&&&
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