Rajanaka Jāratā

In Sanskrit the word "kavi," the “poet,” is derived from the verbal root /ku, “to speak." Abhinavagupta in Dhvanyaloka 1.1L, tells us that “poetry must be spoken” (cf., Ingalls Translation, p. 59). Elsewhere Ksiravamin (cf., AK 2.7.5) derives the word precisely as Abhinava does here: … “One is called a poet because he speaks, he describes” (3.43bL, footnote 10, p. 657). To be a poet is to be heard. Speak up, Poets. All of you. #rajanakajarata Though the sky is filled with drunken clouds and the woods with arjunas thrashing in the downpour, these black nights too when the moon has lost its pride carry off my heart (Ingalls, 2.1dL, p 211).

WE all remember how Gollum talked to himself, don't we?  We do. My "spiritual" self sits within and beside my worldly, political self. It's a volatile serenity that I seek. So which ever one is currently making life unbearable, the other might console and heal. I live for that strife, the kind that comes from the unfinished business of truth, turned inside and out. Occasionally peace is a fine thing too , albeit rarer and so found less in my own voice than in the conversation of friends. @rajanaka "The fever never breaks, it holds the key to the portal wherein the fire kindles and waits." When Kali and Shiva meet demons they are dispatched in short order. When they contend with themselves and with each other in love, the fever reaches its pitch and their fires blaze anew. @profdbrk We live in times reminiscent of the loathsome Richard, determined as he is to bring the rest of us to his level of discontent. "Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,

Today I discovered the novelist Peter Orner. Orner captures the very heart of the matter here. He writes, "I'm always interested in the way people edit the details of their lives, the way they compress all the years into sentences."

On the Kavi's birthday. The Poet is the most revered character of Sanskrit lore. This is because the Poet knows what we love, what we fear, what we want, and all of the things we will do to do those things. Poet, may the gods bless your task, may life prove itself kind with all its capricious indifference to hope, and may the voice inside you listen for all of the voices who muse within. Keep reminding us all who we have been and be that power of the Poet inside us. I think of you particularly this day with Sarpedon's warm admonitions to his friend Glaucus and their promise as friends to keep each other's good company, for good company is worth any price. Thanks for the company. "Glaucus, why do they hold us both in honor, first by far with pride of place, choice meats and brimming cups, in Lycia where all our people look on us like gods?... So that now the duty's ours--- we are the ones to ... brace and fling ourselves in the blaze of war, so a comrade strappe

I spent the day with the Poets. I was heading into a second twist and turn over the Gita's enigmatic Chapter Eight. I do a first pass, then a deep second. Sanskrit never fails you. There is always more even when it is _this_ familiar. To make the familiar unfamiliar is the first step in seeing what we do not remember. So before that deep second pass I was just sitting here, by the fire, thinking again about the Poet. The Poet is the soul of Chapter Eight, the breath of the argument, the very center of yoga. Then I thought of an old book and spent the early morning reading Milosz' The Land of Ulro. Ulro is a reference he makes to Blake. Blake once wrote, "They rage like wild beasts in the forest of affliction In the dreams of Ulro they repent of their human kindness." Milosz warns us that this book of his was not meant for the reader but as a personal whim, "to give free rein to my meditations and not try to reach anyone in particular." That sounds like ju

Ayyappa is the shadow child of Shiva and Visnu, consummated in their tryst of betrayal at the edge of the Tillai Forest when Bhikshatana and Mohini restored the darkness by sending the sages back to the world. Ayyappa entered the care of Vyagrahapada, became the best of friends with the other castaways and learned all śāstra, all Tantra, the hidden work of the heart. His band of brothers and sisters are at the core of Rajanaka lore, his everyone, creatures of every sort, villains and heroes, ghosts, demons, all are his treasures and teachers too. In Ayyappa we find our way into the forest of shadows to break ourselves, to put our hearts at risk, to ask each other the difficult questions, and call each others' names when the light turns to darkness. We keep Ayyappa's company because in this Lord of Ghosts we become the commingled soul and revel in his warm care of his brothers Ganapati and Murugan. We become every character in the story, again. Write what you want here. Never s

In Sanskrit the word "jāratā" is used primarily at the end of a compound--- I have never seen it used otherwise, though anyone familiar with the language knows that we only know what we have seen and there is always more to meet the eye.  "Jāratā" means something like "to be in love with," "having an affair with," and I mean to use the compound rājānaka-jāratā as a place to put notes, references, poetry, lyrics, anything that Rajanaka is in love with , reaching beyond Indian traditions and towards everything that inspires the mind but moreso fevers the heart. So I will start here: A Note on the Storm that Does Not Abate: Agni, Menos, and the Inner Incandescence When we experience hardship and that turns to desperation, and we watch the world pass us by, we turn in all sorts of directions looking for meaning. We likely gather up failure, shame, and resentment and inflict more upon ourselves _and_ also understand that we've been had, that th