Really I've nothing substantial to add having said below and on Tackingintothewind.blogspot what seems to me enough to sustain this deeply personal memoriam for a great benefactor of mankind. I do have some random thoughts, however.
I've mentioned below that Professor Desani had ready for publication a book he titled Rissala and that to my knowledge it was given to the U.N. Children's fund. Desani mentioned many times that he would will his belongings to them and I assume that is what he did. I'd like here to reiterate that Todd Katz and I, both former students of Professor, both dedicated to honoring his memory in any way possible, have made what we thought were appropriate contacts with an individual most likely to have handled the disposition of Desani's bequeath. Neither of us received a reply or even an acknowledgement and at this writing none is expected. Its difficult for me to imagine that Professor wouldn't want Rissala published. He talked about it most of the times I visited with him. My collaborator Mr. Katz likely made the same offer I did. I volunteered to scan the manuscript and make of it an e-book and publish it on the web.
Now, no one reads this blog; well, hardly anyone. There is a widget here showing the total number of hits. 238 since the first post, January, 2011. As far as I know there is Katz's page on Desani and a Wikipedia page the author(s) of which are unknown to me. Since my time with Professor I've not heard from anyone except Katz about Desani. I've searched among the dozen or so student's names who Professor befriended, to no avail. To my knowledge no other friends of the Professor have made any public efforts other than those mentioned here to promote or sustain his beneficence. I would hope that somewhere there is someone that will find this and having the wherewithal to do so will find and publish, at least as an ebook, Professor Desani's Rissala. He considered it his magnum opus and anyone who has taken the time to read his other works, Hali, All About H. Hatterr, and who has further taken the time to look into the profoundly deep subjects broached in my notes below on the Nadi texts and in the essays Yoga and Vipassana Meditation, known as The Rangoon Lecture, and Mostly Concerning Kama and Her Immortal Lord, will take up this task and see it through to completion. Desani's conversations with us indicated that Rissala would include and expand on the material in these three subjects. That is to say, it wasn't a work of fiction but more in the line of an autobiography, I believe.
The world can't help but benefit greatly from further exposure to Professor Desani's life and work. I'm sure he would approve. Any time it came to his attention that someone somewhere in the world had taken a scholarly interest in his work he shared that with his circle of friends taking great interest in the fact that someone had seen and appreciated his life's work. Somewhere, sometime, someone will take this great opportunity to do a great good. I envy that person and thank them on behalf of Professor Desani with all my heart.
I've mentioned below that Professor Desani had ready for publication a book he titled Rissala and that to my knowledge it was given to the U.N. Children's fund. Desani mentioned many times that he would will his belongings to them and I assume that is what he did. I'd like here to reiterate that Todd Katz and I, both former students of Professor, both dedicated to honoring his memory in any way possible, have made what we thought were appropriate contacts with an individual most likely to have handled the disposition of Desani's bequeath. Neither of us received a reply or even an acknowledgement and at this writing none is expected. Its difficult for me to imagine that Professor wouldn't want Rissala published. He talked about it most of the times I visited with him. My collaborator Mr. Katz likely made the same offer I did. I volunteered to scan the manuscript and make of it an e-book and publish it on the web.
Now, no one reads this blog; well, hardly anyone. There is a widget here showing the total number of hits. 238 since the first post, January, 2011. As far as I know there is Katz's page on Desani and a Wikipedia page the author(s) of which are unknown to me. Since my time with Professor I've not heard from anyone except Katz about Desani. I've searched among the dozen or so student's names who Professor befriended, to no avail. To my knowledge no other friends of the Professor have made any public efforts other than those mentioned here to promote or sustain his beneficence. I would hope that somewhere there is someone that will find this and having the wherewithal to do so will find and publish, at least as an ebook, Professor Desani's Rissala. He considered it his magnum opus and anyone who has taken the time to read his other works, Hali, All About H. Hatterr, and who has further taken the time to look into the profoundly deep subjects broached in my notes below on the Nadi texts and in the essays Yoga and Vipassana Meditation, known as The Rangoon Lecture, and Mostly Concerning Kama and Her Immortal Lord, will take up this task and see it through to completion. Desani's conversations with us indicated that Rissala would include and expand on the material in these three subjects. That is to say, it wasn't a work of fiction but more in the line of an autobiography, I believe.
The world can't help but benefit greatly from further exposure to Professor Desani's life and work. I'm sure he would approve. Any time it came to his attention that someone somewhere in the world had taken a scholarly interest in his work he shared that with his circle of friends taking great interest in the fact that someone had seen and appreciated his life's work. Somewhere, sometime, someone will take this great opportunity to do a great good. I envy that person and thank them on behalf of Professor Desani with all my heart.
