With all the talk of vnn.org, the new website and Krishangi’s international breakthrough, I thought about the need for a broader forum to share all this. I’ve been testdriving a site called http://www.welikeyoga.com for over a year and feel that we could use this site as our platform.
The purpose of the site will be to write accessible (short) columns/articles/entries/reports on (bhakti) yoga with a general yoga-interested audience in mind in a weblog form. For example, Guru Maharaj and Citta Hari wrote articles for the Finnish Ananda magazine that would be great to republish in English and then there are probably more articles out there by Guru Maharaj that can be used. Moreover, we could do a report on Krishangi etc…
I don’t like the design of the current site (and most of the content for that matter) but that can of course be change. The site already has some links from other yoga sites and traffic had been increasing steadily until I stopped posting in January. If we restart by half April, we still have the momentum going and hopefully enough time to prepare. Also the site has ads currently, we could keep these or not. When kept, we of course donate the income to Audarya.
To turn this into a successful attempt, we not only need Sri Guru’s grace but also a staff of writers. It would be best if a few people sign up to write weekly and to have others who would like to contribute occasionally.
Lastly, the website should not take any resources from Guru Maharaj, Audarya etc. In that sense, this is an “independent” venture.
Please let me know if you have any further suggestions, would like to help out etc. The maintenance of the site will be fairly easy. Weekly contributors will get their own login and password and can easily update the site. So they only need to think of smth to write every week. Suggestions for design are also welcome.
It seems like either no one is interested or that I did not convey my ideas clearly. Since the We Like Yoga site is in no way representative of what I have in mind, I will give you a few examples of weblogs:
"Welcome to BuddhistGeeks.com, an exploration of contemporary, Western Buddhist theory and practice."
Some general weblogs (to get an idea what a blog is)
I think weblogs are very infuentials nowadays, because they are not just reading material, but they are interactive. Moreover, blog entries are usually quite short and people like compressed thought provoking entries with a personal touch. So yes I believe in the potential of starting up such a blog and no we don't have to start mid April. Maybe some people would like to be in a pilot group and set this up? Let me know. All by myself it will be hard to make this look progressive, to update it often and keep it interesting.
Running this with a few people won't take that much time a week. Just a short entry every week or two weeks or whatever you prefer.
I would happily be involved. I didn't reply cause I figured that evryone here is probably more qualified for this service, but maybe I can help. I could write, maybe even once a week but I don't know yet. I'm really attracted to preaching in written form because you can really articulate and solidify concepts for the best effect. Let me know what I can do.
I think this is an idea worth discussion, but I guess I've been trying to see just what the concept is. Is this something that might be connected with the new, redesigned swami.org we've seen mentioned? Or something that might be loosely parallel? A few years ago there was a blog run by one of our godbrothers who worked with Swami. The idea was to use something from the news to spark discussion based on quotations from Srila Prabhupada or Srila Sridhar Maharaja. After a while he was no longer able to keep it up, and it just posted quotations from letters written by Srila Prabhupada on the same month and day. I'm not sure whether it's still running.
It might be well to see what the new swami.org site will have, and see how this would work with it. I also wonder whether it may be feasible some day to get the Harmonist going.
Babhru, apologies for the late response. I talked to Guru Maharaj about we like yoga and showed him the buddhistgeeks.com website. You'll get a good idea of what I have in mind when you visit their website. The difficulty with starting a site like this is that we need knowledgeable people like you on board. A blog like this needs people who have a good command of written English and have knowledge of siddhanta at the same time. Or it at least needs editors who can function as a safety net. To take the buddhist geek website as an example, they are young people (between 23 and 28) but are able to write in an appealing, intelligent and journalistic way (for their background, see their about page).
I see the site as an entrance hall for the greater body of knowledge that Guru Maharaj makes accessible through the new site, books, audarya etc.
Another challenge is of course finding readers, but with quality content and some internet 'marketing' readers will follow.
Nitai Joseph, at this point there is not much that can be done. But I'll keep you updated.
I like the idea, especially if we're not going to get the Harmonist site going soon. I'd like to help with this. I do wonder, though, what its relationship might be with the revised swami.org, not that it has any bearing on my participation--I'm just curious, and find myself thinking about its approach (my academic training was largely in rhetoric, which may explain why I sometimes see things through such a filter).
I like the buddhistgeeks site, and found something interesting as I read through it. My sister, who died a couple of weeks ago from ALS, was an intensely involved member of the Insight Meditiation Center (not Society) in Redwood City, which is associated loosely with a Spirit Rock Meditation Center. So that one discussion ("Glass Ceiling") caught my eye.
I had a look at the new swami site. One way to see how both sites could complement each other is as follows: The swami site deals mostly with Audarya and my Guru Maharaj (his books, articles, biography, audio etc) and so its perspective is from the monastic community (even though it is focused on the lay community).
The we like yoga site is more a platform for the lay sadhaka's point of view. It could describe how the western world interacts with our daily sadhana as lay sadhakas and gaudiya vaisnavism in general. The site could pull from arts and personal living, to culture and the news to describe this influence. The barrier to enter into readership and discussion will be lower for Welikeyoga than for swami.org as its articles will be shorter and more accessible. Also the site will be more interactive than the new swami site. As I said I see we like yoga as an introduction to what gaudiya vaisnavism has to offer for the Western world. Once interested, the swami.org site will take the reader towards the next steps on the path.
Of course, we like yoga site will be affiliated with Sri Caitanya Sanga.
I personally think a voice like this is clearly lacking in the online Gaudiya world. Where online can intelligent, artsy, hip people identify with gaudiya vaisnavism? Of course at the swami.org site, but having a site like welikeyoga can online strengthen this point of view in my opinion.
Please let me know if you have more to add or whether my thoughts are unclear.
Complementary--sounds just right to me. I think this is a good idea, and I think many Gaudiyas would appreciate it (and some, as we know, would revile it). I used to visit Sitapati's Urban Missionary site, and there was a lot of this kind of presentation there. (I think he has a new site, but I don't know the URL.) I like the approach; much of my teaching over the years focused on semiotic reading of many aspects of popular culture (American popular culture especially, but since I had international students, popular culture from other nations also found its way into our projects and discussions). Part of my purpose in doing so was to keep the work interesting to me by looking for ways to move my students to question the assumptions they took for granted.
I started a blog recently because a couple of friends suggested that I do so. But haven't quite figured out what to do with it, so I don't have many entries.
Anyway, what's next? Anyone else want to play?
As far as the ads go, I don't see any objectionable products. I don't know how much money they generate, but it's probably at least enough to cover the cost of the hosting.
Interestingly, I was educated in American Studies, which is basically a study of semiotics in American literature/texts/ideology/popular culture/language etc. I studied mostly what was left out of the texts and so questioned the assumptions it made. (mostly Marxist cultural theory, eg Raymond Williams) but that for background info.
I looked up your blog and like the entries a lot! I will link to it from my site.
There are different ads out there. Once that pay per month or pay per view or per click. The ones featured on the site right now are Google ads, they usually pay out 5 to 25 cents per click depending on the advertising. They adapt to the contents of a webpage though, so I don't have ultimate control of who is advertising on the site. But this could be looked at later on.
A few people have send me emails offering help. I'm not sure how much they would like to help in the beginning phase. I'm also not sure how much time Guru Maharaj will allow me to work on the site when I'm at Audarya.
I think we should look at the project with a somewhat professional eye. Give everybody a role as editor, blogger, administrator, community developer. I'd suggest looking at a few multi-person blogs to analyze how they have organized their blog.
I can take care of the design, hosting and administrator roles for sure, I'd like to take part in the internet marketing as well.
Also, we could write articles in advance.
Let's brainstorm a bit and see if more people want to join.
So far I've used my blog for personal reflections, which is probably fairly common. I've also added a link to your blog. (Not that anyone knows my blog is there.)
I'll be happy to help by writing and editing. I'm not sure what you mean by community developer, but I'll probably figure that out. My intention is to channel more time and energy to service, confident that the other stuff that's making my life a little screwy right now will be sorted out by my commitment.
Yes, let's brainstorm and start coming up with ideas for articles. Let me know what I can do.
The community developer was more of a joke. Many blogs have a person with such a title. It basically means replying to comments of visitors. But I'm sure that will happen without such a person.
I think it will take a while before the welikeyoga site launches. Realistically I would say after the summer, september or october. But it would be good thing to generate content right now, write articles, have the people who wrote to me write a few things. As it is better to start with a filled blog than an empty one. Currently I'm pretty engaged at Audarya. I'll be here until July after that I will have more time to write.