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.)

“Krishna, the Supreme Person” was the topic for yesterday’s Skypecast, which we started at 6:45 PM IST. At one point 45 people were listening to our conversations. Radha-Syamasundara Prabhu kindly joined in time to save us by helping answer certain odd questions. Rahul and I were overwhelmed with people’s questions such as “How can you call Krishna the Supreme?” or  “Allah is my God. None can be God other than Allah.” Only later did I wonder why I didn’t say that Krishna is Allah!

We were very much inspired to answer questions like “How is God in reality?” and “How can we know who is God?” Another person even brought up an interesting and stimulating topic on pseudo guru’s and false “Gods.” We discussed how guru means one who comes in disciplic succession; not that any Tom, Dick, and Harry becomes guru without proper qualification and acceptance via the parampara.

At times I was afraid to take comments from people who were fanatic about being Muslims or Christians, but I appreciated Rahul’s tolerance, his facilitation skills even during awkward circumstances, and also Radha-Syamasundar Prabhu’s expertise in quoting sastra and providing very appropriate analogies. When a discussion arose as to whether it’s necessary to connect with God and serve Him, Radha-Syamasundar Prabhu handled it expertly. He gave the famous analogy of “the fish out of water,” and convinced the questioner by telling how his life is incomplete without connection and service to God (Krishna). One Thierry Nath was impressed by Radha-Syamasundar Prabhu’s answers and not only thanked us for hosting a Skypecast like this, but also requested Rahul to inform him when any similar kind occurs in the future. That was very encouraging for us.

Finally, Radha-Syamasundara Prabhu led us in an online harinama-sankritana. Without having to move from our chairs, we joined the kirtana, in which his daughter Meera played drums. We were in ecstasy! Our sincere gratitude to Radha-Syamasundara Prabhu.