Vishnrishna. Krishna, Hrishna, Hrishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hor. Thank you everyone.
This will be our final session of digital dharma. After going through some of the theory and some of the practical elements, this final session now looks at the ethical elements of engagement in the digital world. As you know, anything that is very very powerful can also be very very dangerous.
And therefore, we've seen that the digital world has also been a place which in many ways harms our endeavors to share the Krishna consciousness movement. And when we don't conduct ourselves appropriately in the digital world, it can actually disinspire and cause people to disconnect from the Krishna consciousness movement. And therefore this final session we'll be looking at some good ethics which will help to first and foremost inform our own activity in the digital sphere.
It can also help us to think about how we function in our communities online. It can also help us to think about when we're projecting and presenting ourselves to the world, what we should be uh careful of. So this final session will be on digital ethics.
Spiritual awareness and wise action are incredibly important in functioning in the digital world. We want to be aware of the ethical, the cultural uh the spiritual responsibility that each one of us carry. When our voice goes out there into the world, then the whole world is potentially watching.
And therefore, we want to have wise action. action which is careful, action which is wise and also restrained because the digital sphere can be a very intense and provocative place. The first thing we'd like to share is that online there is no private preaching in one sense because online on social media everyone is watching what we do.
We may have a lens by which we feel that what we're presenting is only being seen by our direct followers. But they are just a small percentage. There are also many individuals who are silent observers seeing what kind of content we put into the world.
Then there are those who are outsiders, completely unfamiliar, unidentified with the Krishna consciousness movement. And also there are people who are actively critical and who are looking for certain things when we post online. Uh perhaps things to take exception to, things to criticize.
And therefore one should be aware that whenever we are posting something there are many many individuals who are looking and therefore some sensitivity must be paid to each one of them. The other thing that we want to stress in this session is that it's not just the people that we are presenting to that we need to be aware of but it's we also need to be aware of who we are representing when we post something online. Even as an individual when we post something online we are representing our temple people will make a judgment on a temple based on an individual who goes to that temple and what they post and therefore there's a grave responsibility there but we are also believe it or not representing is someone based on digital content that one member of Iscon puts online may form an entire opinion of the movement based on that one individual.
So it's another grave responsibility and people also make a picture of what we are as a sacred tradition based on what you post. If you post something on karma then people may well take it that you are sp speaking for the whole tradition when you offer your views. And therefore this slide is here to make us realize that whenever we post something online we are representing more than ourself even if we don't think or are not planning to represent anyone else by default in many cases in people's eyes we are.
[snorts] Therefore, whenever we post something online in the digital world, uh does this represent chilapraad? Does this represent my spiritual teachers? Does this represent the movement in a positive light?
Is always a good reflection to have. I mentioned that there are different audiences and one of the biggest audiences online is the silent audience. They are the ones that are not commenting but watching everything that we do.
They're looking at reading um and they're they're looking I'm just reading here. Comment sections are read far more than they are written in. Yeah.
So they are looking at the comments of the video, the comments of what other people are saying. They may not necessarily post a comment, but they're looking at all the comments, including the comments that the devotees make. Tone over arguments.
People are really forming an opinion on the tone. Is it aggressive? Is it judgmental?
Is it very defensive? All of these kind of tones people pick up on and then form an opinion of who we are. And people want to see are we teaching by example.
If our philosophy is that we should be tolerant, we should speak with kindness, we should be respectful, we should be truthful, are we showing those qualities in the way in which we set an example online? These are very very introspective questions and these questions are meant to be there so that we can ethically conduct ourselves online even when we're not posting anything even if we make a comment online to someone else's post that is in itself a form of teaching. So sometimes social media, the online world, the digital space, as wonderful and powerful as it is, can go wrong.
And some of the ways in which it goes wrong, sometimes we do emotional posting. Something has affected us deeply. And social media, the digital world is used as a arena in which we can vent our hearts.
But perhaps that's not the place because remember the whole world is watching. [snorts] Defensive responses. Sometimes we can aggravate a situation by our response.
By posting another video in response or by posting another comment in response in which the ethics and the culture of the exchange becomes very very uh contrary to Vishnava principles. And so we should also be careful of being triggered and provoked and therefore generating defensive responses which leave a very bad impression in silent observers and other people. public debates.
We are a culture in which we discuss, we go back and forth, we ask questions, we sometimes do debate, but it must be done with great sensitivity because if the world sees that even within our movement there is argument, there is disagreement, there is dissatisfaction with this person or that person, then immediately the whole movement is perceived in a certain way. And so we have to be careful and there are problems, there are difficulties, there are issues which need to be addressed within Iskcon. But sometimes we have to ask ourselves is online the digital sphere where the whole world is watching is that the best place to resolve internal matters?
Again there's no uh every situation is very unique but we should ask ourselves these questions and create more sensitivity amongst all the devotees because on social media and the digital world there is a huge opportunity and also a huge danger. So here are some questions we can ask and we can also ask the question or use the measure that Krishna uses in the Gita when Krishna says is my online activity truthful? Is my online activity beneficial?
And is my online activity pleasing? Krishna says those are the qualities which perfect speech should adhere to. And so this is something that we can also consider when we are online because sensationalism and controversy spreads faster.
We might find that all the beautiful philosophy and all the beautiful content which we put out there to energize, educate and inspire people in Krishna consciousness gets drowned out by all the controversy. All the debate and all the negativity that sometimes seems to spread much faster than positive content. And so let's think deeply first about our own activity and then try to encourage these ethics these uh aspects of digital vishnav culture so that we can avail ourselves of the beautiful benefits of this platform and at the same time protect against any of the potential pitfalls.
It's been wonderful to be able to share some thoughts. These five sessions were a very quick introduction to digital dharma and these platforms which pervade our lives and which can be used in beautiful ways. We hope that you will establish a digital team in your projects and that you will empower them and support them to try to put positive powerful Krishna content into the world so that we can meet and contact many many more people.
people who perhaps otherwise would never get in contact with Krishna consciousness. Thank you so much E J.
