Rajanaka Newsletter November 18th 2023

A Tender Heart & A Stalwart Spine

Nov 18, 2023

Saturday, November 18, 2023

Aho’ Rajanaka,

I hope this finds you well. It’s one of the strange ironies of our Information Age that we have more access and more potential contact with the world, with friends, in all the possibilities of conversation while, at the same time, we are witness to greatest onslaught of disinformation, propaganda, conspiracy, and competing claims since, well, eva’.

It can be hard to stay in the mix for the sake of mental health. Just how much we can take, how to sort it all out, and so contend with our the futilities, frustrations, and heartaches? My own strategy involves shards of defiance, self-dissension, and no small amount of promise-keeping for the sake of, dare I say, the future? One thing is for sure, we must now more than ever be capable of holding together more than one idea and be prepared for misunderstanding.

We can be for this-and-that, opposed to this-and-that even as we attempt to keep our moral compass aimed true. What I tell my undergraduate students they may not do because they are citizens of a republic is bury their heads, get their “news” from Tik-Tok, pretend nothing is happening, and then claim their weekly mental health break runs to 168 hours. It’s okay to turn away when it’s just too much while at the same time tell yerself too much is the very reason we must attend.

Paradox is not a miscalculation, it is how we care for both tender heartedness and sustain our backbone. As I’ve said before, it’s more important to stay engaged and learn more about learning than to opinionate when there’s still so much sorting to do.

TODAY, NOVEMBER 18^TH, SATRUDAY PHILOSOPHERS @5PM EASTERN, our topic could not be more trenchant or timely. You may not be familiar with Willard Van Orman Quine but he is a giant of post-WWII western philosophy. Quine asks us what kinds of experiences shall we call “knowledge” and what’s the better purpose of reflection and consideration in a world in which science has changed everything. How do we get from our impressions---and the impact the world has on us---and what we say is true? As abstract as this may seem, it’s about making sense of the world we think is out there, real and the virtual world that impacts us with its realities. Whoa. Good stuff, and we will make goodness from this and draw some practical lessons and insight. Join us.

ALL Saturday Sessions, 5pm Eastern on Zoom. Sessions are $16 each or $75 for all in advance, use PayPal or Venmo (svcourses@gmail.com). The Saturday link works:

https://rochester.zoom.us/j/95057662268

The Archive for our previous Philosopher Sessions on DROPBOX HERE:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/1nhcs4nji7yxfae35eyis/h?rlkey=7jiuzn3ec1ydhw5alajxi7m1s&dl=0

SUNDAY MAHABHARATA 5PM TOMORROW. This only gets better, as I see it. Join in anytime, anytime, anytime. Zoom here:

https://rochester.zoom.us/j/314987250

Dropbox Archive here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bfqt15y3n0uglir/AAAB_89LiCOob0hJI1w8BK7_a?dl=0

There’s a ton more to discover under the line if you want to listen and listen and learn together. The Rajanaka website has some material but the Rajanaka Archive keeps it all. If there is something from our past you are interested in and can’t find, write to me.

Please subscribe to our Rajanaka Substack. As a multimedia platform Substack lets us do all sorts of good things. Renew and warm yourself in good company.

NEW PODCAST COMING THIS WEEK.

I’ll stop shouting now, thanks for that. There are new courses coming in January and so much more ahead.

Poetry Thursday will resume after Thanksgiving off but we’ll likely have a Special Session for the Thanksgiving Weekend, if you’re game. Write to me. Write about anything. Just tell me how you are. Thanks for your patience, it sometimes takes me a few days to reply. douglas@rajanaka.com, that’ll work. I mean to be here ‘cause we need good community more than ever, just to hold the light. Take care, ya’ hear?

Saprema, Douglas

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THURSDAY POETS RESUMES NEXT WEEK. REVISED SCHEDULE:

ALL Poetry Thursdays, 7pm Eastern on Zoom. Sessions are $16 each or $75 for all in advance, use PayPal or Venmo (svcourses@gmail.com). The usual Thursday link works:

https://rochester.zoom.us/j/98183733328

October 26 Czeslaw Milosz
November 2 Wislawa Szymborska

November 16 Samuel Coleridge

November 30 Louise Glück

December 7 Tu Fu & Li Po

DROPBOX HERE:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/he1kuvs22ior4n2k8ly5f/h?rlkey=r32skq8duqhe9auej0gwjdf4o&dl=0

KRSNA TALES, you can listen to all Sessions on Dropbox Archive:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yns6f7e5ftv0oftngesb1/h?rlkey=v2445440ppmm7llgfj3jn9rm0&dl=0

Tuition for all is $108.

Ma Kālī’s Poetry is available on our Dropbox Archive: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/4iugvd3a6s6x1kkqr7nyn/h?rlkey=yqalpm73mvxpk5c66636bmw7l&dl=0

Tuition for all is $108.

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