ISKCON ONLINE, INC.
ALACHUA, FLORIDA

Welcome to the ISKCON Online website ISKCON Online’s primary purpose is to create an association of interested devotees who will improve the quality, relevance and relatability of ISKCON’s presence on the internet. Here you will find informative articles, drawn from the best the web has to offer and selected for relevance to ISKCON’s online mission. New articles will be posted regularly helping you keep informed and up to date. Who we are ISKCON Online has been created to significantly expand and enhance the quality, scope and effectiveness of advancing the Krishna consciousness movement using the internet. Based on a core strategy of combining creativity and technology we aim to transform ISKCON’s presence and utilization of the Internet into a state-of-the-art tool for serving ISKCON’s mission, especially in outreach and systematic spiritual education. ISKCON Online will systematically package Krishna consciousness in all the new media popular today: web sites, apps, online e-learning, social networks and more. It is a logical next step to “systematically propagate spiritual knowledge” as desired by Srila Prabhupada, coming closer to the fulfillment of the mission of Sri Gauranga. ISKCON Online is an initiative of the ISKCON GBC Strategic Planning Network and is led by the GBC Strategic Planning Team with participation from the GBC Outreach Committee. We look forward to your participation. This site serves as a hub for the ISKCON Online network – a new universe of service to ISKCON that will bring together the largest, most talented community of devotees ISKCON has ever seen. With the participation of devotees from all over the world ISKCON Online manifests a “new universe” of service to ISKCON’s mission. Similar to ISKCON’s strategic planning network, this universe functions a bit differently from ISKCON’s “mother” universe. One thing we’ve come to understand in working with the GBC Strategic Planning Network is that relevant, relatable, innovative spiritual change can more easily be created in smaller groups of devotees. Once the changes are created, they are exported to the “mother universe.” Please note that the ISKCON Online universe is a “subordinate universe” – we are not working outside of ISKCON. While it’s true that the ISKCON Online Universe functions differently from the mother universe, the differences are not in the fundamental principles ISKCON is based on. Rather, they relate to those elements of ISKCON Online’s culture that allow for free thinking and creativity in service of the mother universe. For example, our universe will have little fixed hierarchy, but will be flexible enough to come together into teams according to the task at hand. These teams will be fluid and will likely change often. Also, we will be a lot more experimental than might be healthy in other ISKCON efforts. And we may overlook protocol and procedure in order to take advantage of new opportunities as they emerge. We hope this will allow us to become highly productive. Our first task has been to create this document. It will enable us to reach out to the devotional community and invite everyone who would like to participate to connect with us and help us build this new universe. We start by introducing our specific vision and mission statements. This site serves as a hub for the ISKCON Online network – a new universe of service to ISKCON that will bring together the largest, most talented community of devotees ISKCON has ever seen. Mission, Vision and Principles Our Mission Statement We deliver the Hare Krishna Movement through Internet and mobile technologies. We use innovation, creativity, systems and technology to deliver engaging and relevant online content, personal services, quality products and fulfilling experiences. We connect, cultivate, nurture, convert and serve people on their path back to Godhead with love and compassion. We envision a global network of creative, enthusiastic and trained devotees, using creativity and technology to  create and maintain a rich, diverse and attractive online world of websites, communities, courses and products that are serving the spiritual needs of people throughout the world with relevant and relatable content and nurturing their awareness, interest, and engagement in Krishna consciousness. – A wide range of systematic, easy to follow, online educational courseware and other products that serve people interested in learning about Krishna consciousness, bhakti-yoga, Vedic culture and anything else of value we have to teach. Physical products – Complimentary physical products, including books, DVDs, kits, produced and delivered through our own and affiliated organizations –  Making the online streets and markets of the world a prominent venue for ISKCON’s outreach, with devotees heading to their computer screens with the same or better level of tools, products, support and enthusiasm as today’s book distributors. Our network is guided by two core principles that direct our decision-making: Core Operational Principle – Utilize creativity and technology in the service of ISKCON’s mission. – within our network, with ISKCON leaders and preachers, and with ISKCON and the various souls we are connecting to – We are “in the business” of providing ISKCON with “added value” – we want to help, we want to serve. – As members of ISKCON, we are “within” ISKCON”.  Yet when we gather in this universe, we view ISKCON and its activities from arms-length, leaving at the door some of the cultural elements of ISKCON that are not effective in this sphere, while picking up other cultural elements that are required to exist in this universe. This site serves as a hub for the ISKCON Online network – a new universe of service to ISKCON that will bring together the largest, most talented community of devotees ISKCON has ever seen. To succeed in our mission we are bringing together the largest, most talented network of devotees that ISKCON has ever seen. As much as possible and practical we will encourage volunteer efforts, backed up by full-time staff where needed.