IF YOU GET ONLINE and you're interested in Krsna or anything that has to do with Krsna well … read on.
In April of 2002, we're launching a major new site www.krishna.com. That's the same web address that BTG has had for years now, but the site, top to bottom, is a whole new story: new people, new resources, new purposes, new ideas.
The new site will be the combined home for the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, the Bhaktivedanta Archives, and BTG. All three are putting their energy into it everything in one place.
We're not just "putting up a site." It will be kinetic, dynamic, growing. What you'll see in April should be good but it will just be what we're starting out with. After that, you'll see a lot happening in the next few months. And continuously after that.
The site will be multi-lingual. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust publishes in about seventy languages, and the site will be available in many of them. After English, early on the list of new languages will be Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese. And more will come. (Like to help with one? Let us know.)
This will not be a site just for Hare Krsna devotees. It's meant to serve the diverse needs and interests of students, teachers, scholars, spiritual seekers, the Hindu community, and anyone who's devoted or attracted to Krsna, or just wants to know more.
Resources
Among the resources you'll find:
• Short introductory articles about Krsna's philosophy and teachings. Send them to your friends, or your friends to them.
• Longer articles also, for going deeper.
• Magazine articles past and present, from BTG.
• "BTG Extra." Photos, info, letters, links, beyond what you ?nd in the magazine itself.
• Entire books online. Read as much as you like. (Most of us would rather read printed books. But if you live in, say, China or Saudi Arabia or anywhere else where getting the books may be tough, help yourself to the books online.)
• A gallery of original artwork. From the Bhaktivedanta Archives, home of the world's greatest collection of Krsna imagery.
• E-cards. That same artwork, in the form of electronic greeting cards.
• MP3s. The sounds of Srila Prabhupada and his followers.
• Krsna conscious computer programs, wallpaper, screen savers, sound files. Take them, post them, share them.
• Info on BBT books. Suggested readings. Study guides. Courses. What books you can get in what languages, and where to get them.
• ISKCON Addresses. The most up-to-date list of ISKCON centers and home gatherings. And here you can fill us in on changes and new listings.
• Links, links, and more links to ISKCON and non-ISKCON sites and resources. Selected so the ones you get will be useful.
• Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acarya of the BBT. Information about him. Scholarly appreciations. Photos. His Vyasa-puja books. And more.
• A big Krsna Store. BBT books. Books from other publishers. BTGs. Audio CDs and cassettes. Videos. Photos. Posters. Multimedia. The VedaBase. Beads. Meditation kits. Incense. All sorts of Krsna conscious stuff!
• Free e-mail: you@krishna.com. Your own POP3 account on the Krsna domain.
• MyKrsna your fully customizable home page. Include your favorite search engines, your favorite links-whatever you'd like, from within the site or beyond. When you get on the web, you can start with MyKrsna.
Behind the Scenes
• Manu Dasa, a "second-generation" ISKCON devotee, heads up the production and tech side. Balarama, one of his second-gen colleagues, helped with programming. Govinda (second gen, North European BBT) tweaked the design on the navigation bar.
• Radha second gen again is taking charge of getting the word out about the site, prepping and designing web pages, and serving you with the Krishna Store.
• Krsna Kirtana Dasa generation two is providing our site hosting.
• Dave, who lives in China, responded to our call for help at our VirtualSeva site (www.backto godhead.com). He and Aitendra Mahajana are working on the MyKrishna part of the site.
• Damodar Mahajan is working on bringing you eCards, MP3s, and a virtual gallery exhibition.
• Meera Khurana, a computer professional in the UK again that second generation is guiding us with our database architecture.
• And for the next phase of the site, a team of programmers are working for us in Chennai all pro bono, courtesy of Ashok Dudakia (Adya Dasa Adhikari) of Omnitek Info Systems, USA, and Ganapathy Subramaniam of Swatee Systems, Chennai.
• Pranada Dasi is helping the team pull all the pieces together as one of the project managers.
Get Involved
Log on. Take advantage of the goodies. Upload your own goodies to share with others. Tell your friends about us. If you've got a site of your own, put up a link to us. Offer your comments and suggestions.
And if you've got web skills, editorial skills, artistic skills, or anything else you'd like to contribute-by all means let us know! Hare Krsna.