Using the Internet to Preach

by Pancaratna das

Every day new people come into contact with Krishna consciousness. They are meeting devotees face-to-face through book distribution, speaking programs, cultural events, and casual meetings. And they are connecting through social networks and websites, especially Krishna.com which attracts over 2,000 new visitors every day.

In most cases, there is no systematic follow-up with these contacts. The internet can help meet this need with the tools, resources, and support to effectively cultivate contacts both online and face-to-face.

This includes fresh online content and courseware that can also be used to create physical products like handouts, brochures, DVDs, newsletters, etc. to meet cultivation needs.

There has been a question regarding iPhone versions of Srila Prabhupada's books, in a comment to our article Cell Phones and Bhagavad-Gita. When the question was posted I was travelling without regular internet access and couldn't find the answer, which has been posted on the Google group World Sankirtan some time ago: KC books on iPhone 3G (version 2) by Candidasa Prabhu (personal blog). Here is the forum post with download links:

This request for IM (internet messenger) association appeared on chakra recently:

At namahatta.org we have a content channel named Internet Preaching, which I created for devotees to share their contact details, ideas, and experiences using the internet in general, and IM services in particular.

At this address you can see a list of devotees and their internet messenger-IDs (as of now, there's only Gita Govinda Mataji's. Please add yours). And here you can submit your own contact details and explain what type of preaching or association you are interested in. You don't even have to create a user account for this. (However, if later you want to edit the info about yourself, you'll need an account with our website.)

your servant,

phani
[Article ends here]

During Janmastami time, Krishna.com received more than 10,000 unique visitors per day… Live chat was so busy we couldn’t keep up. I had five chat windows open at the same time and more people coming. It has slowed down a little since then, we’re back to a normal 4000 - 5000 unique visitors per day… and the live help requests are still pouring in.

So rather than hog all the mercy for myself, I am writing this short piece to encourage you to get involved. Plant and water the seeds of Krishna Bhakti in the hearts of eager Live Help seekers on Krishna.com.

Govinda Prabhu, one of our live help volunteers from India, shares the following:

“When I read the various questions we get on live help I can get a better understanding of how large the preaching field is, and how much more we could do if we had the resources.

“So often aspiring devotees write to us, needing help with devotional service. They don’t live near a temple and they have very little understanding about how to perform devotional service. It is so hard for people like this to make spiritual advancement. They don’t have devotee association, they can’t take part in kirtana, and there is no prasadam for them to consume. The only guidance they have is Prabhupada’s books. But what if they have questions? What if they need encouragment? That’s where we, the live helpers, are so important. We can give those devotees the guidance they need.

Bhakta Jan (VEDA - Vedic Knowledge Online) published these articles about his preaching experience on different internet-forums on our late ~/groups web site. This is meant as a starting point for others to add their own experience and comments.

Everybody can post comments to Jan's articles and, if you've registered an account and joined the Internet Preaching content-channel (subscribe), you can add your own articles to this 'online-book,' or post separate articles in this channel.

(Sorry, because of obnoxious spam-bots I'll have to personally approve your user-account; normally that doesn't take more than a couple of hours, though. Subscribing to one of our content-channels as reg. user happens instantly.)

This book is an introduction to different internet-forums and chat-services, and if you have experience preaching in one of these, you should add them as comments or new pages to this book. For other subjects concerning internet-preaching you should probably post a new article ('page') here.

At Pariprashnena.com, an un-censored discussion forum for devotees, you'll find devotees interested in and practicing internet preaching, and if you're looking for the latest internet technologies, there's Worldsankirtan, a Google-group of devotees with experience and different areas of expertise in internet related subjects.

Chanting on sacred beads: our link with Krishna and the Vaishnavas

I’ve been having fun with our new online ‘virtual temple’ for members of the congregation here in Britain. Of course, being online anyone in the world can take advantage of it, but so far we’ve had our little virtual temple filled with devotees from various parts of the UK. For me it’s an exciting new forum, although I’m aware that technologically speaking, linking up various members of a forum online with voice and visuals has been available for some years.

By Sri Radha Govinda dasi

“It’s been a very illuminating, enlightening, and adventurous preaching on Skype,” says Rahul, an intelligent devotee residing in Mumbai who holds an M.Phil. in Labor Studies. Rahul has been working on organizing these Skype programs with me, which he enjoys, and also feels that it’s his duty to spread awareness of Krishna consciousness. He has been a backbone in organizing regular Skypecasts. He is a very organized person who is also experienced and expert in dealing with people.

In one of our previous Skypecasts our topic was “Mantra Meditation,” and fortune brought us to meet H.G. Radha-Syamasundar Prabhu from Cebu, Philippines.

On the 15th I suggested that we feature the topic “Krishna, the Supreme God,” which brought in 45 seeking souls to participate. We had Lehel share his maha-mantra tune for us, and I was surprised to learn that he came up with it in just a few hours. (A few weeks ago I met Lehel on Skype. He’s a computer-game animator who also plays music. We had several discussions, and he then decided to try chanting the maha-mantra.)

By Kaunteya Das

Yes, I was chatting with a Dr. Mohammed, apparently a devout Muslim but also an intellectually inquisitive individual. At the beginning he had trouble accepting the idea of God having a form and being a person (and I understand him: in my dictionary the main definitions of “person” are: 1) a human being; 2) a human body).

What happened is that my wife, Sri Radha Govinda Dasi, was doing her skype preaching as usual, in the “skype me” mode, open for anyone who wanted to contact her and chat. She had already introduced Dr. Mohammed to different Vaisnava sites. On mayapur.com he saw the photos of Sri Sri Radha-Madhava and went into a mild crisis. He wasn’t able to adjust his conception of God with … well, God Himself. So an educated argument ensued. Prompted by my wife I also jumped into the dialogue.