How do i get ideas for writing articles and specifically articles for BTG?
From Shivanga
Transcript
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
Question from Shivam, how do I write articles for Back to Godhead? Answer, let's first discuss about how we can write articles in general and then we can discuss the specific requirements of Back to Godhead. Generally, writing can proceed from or commence from three sources. This is my personal analysis based on experience, there may be other ways of analyzing.
Writing can be inspiration based, study based or instruction based. Now when I'm talking about based, that means I'm talking about the stimulation of the origin. Sometimes, let's look at the first one, inspiration based means sometimes I read or hear something or I just experience something, analyze something that is inspiring and then I feel that I want to share that with others and then I write something based on that.
On the other hand, something might be that I take a subject and study it, say for example, my interest might have been in science and spirituality. So then how do the two relate, how do they contradict, can they be brought together? This would be my interest to study and after studying it, I write some things. And third is instruction based.
For example, somebody may tell me to write on a particular subject. So I can give examples of this, say recently the Pune temple was inaugurated. So BDG may tell me that please write an article about the Pune temple inauguration.
So this is a mandate I have been given very clearly. Then I can start with that and then I do research and actually these three are not necessarily watertight compartments. In fact, to do any of these three, we will need the other two also.
Even when I want to take blessings always, whatever I'm writing, so that instruction of blessing is one part always. And even when I'm writing based on inspiration, say if I feel inspired to write about how the Bhagavad Gita is a book that enables us to experience God's love, Krishna's love, then I may have to do some study based on that. So I'm talking about this classification more in terms of the initiating spark, in terms of processing of that writing, all three will come into picture.
Now, for writing articles for BDG, the two most important things are that scriptural basis and reader relevance. So sometimes when we have Bhagavatam classes, we know that the audience is expected to attend every day. So we focus on analyzing the philosophy and presenting it to them in a conventional way.
But when it comes to Back to Godhead, people are in no way obliged to read it. And most of the readers are busy people. So unless they find that the article is relevant to them, they will not read it.
And so that's why the reader relevance is the single most important factor for us when it comes to BDG. So whatever the content, it can be made relevant to the reader. There are different ways to do that.
If I want to talk about right now, I may say I want to write an article on on how Krishna is the supreme personality of God. Now, what is the relevance of that to the reader? So I'll have to find out, maybe connect it with something which they can relate to. Maybe I could put it that, you know, since my childhood, I saw that I was always… I was not the controller.
I wanted to know who was the controller. I went to so many temples and saw so many people. And then I was wondering who is the controller.
So whenever I write something in the form of a quest, readers will bring their own associations to that quest, which will help us connect with them, which will help us become relevant. Or I could write about how ultimately all of us, we want to know the answers to the big questions of life. So that involves knowing who God is.
And that's what the BDG is. So basically, the relevance is one thing. The other thing would be a scriptural basis.
In Back to Godhead, Vishal Prabhupada gave several guidelines. One of the guidelines is Back to Godhead should be like Shastra. That means it should be authoritative and should be based on scripture.
So we need to quote adequately. It's not that every paragraph has to have a quote. But whatever points you're making, we should be able to substantiate this based on Shastra.
At least a few scriptural quotes should be there in every article. And also, the overall message should be in harmony with scripture. So there are some articles in the Back to Godhead called Vedic Observer, which start with something which is very relevant.
So for example, the article that I had written about Shurpanakhan and the Gangrave, that was a typical Vedic Observer type article, wherein I put in, start with the current issue and then move forward towards scripture. But not all articles have to be like that. The reader relevance doesn't have to necessarily be current events.
It could also be, say, I can say that, is there something called destiny? This is not a current event, but it is a relevant event. Not a current topic, but a relevant topic, because everybody has this question. And then I can deal with that and go forward.
So there is a VTG handbook, which is composed by Satsvarupa Maharaj, Jayadrith Maharaj, and other pioneering VTG editors who have brought together Prabhupada's instructions on writing, as well as some tips for writing based on their own experience. Then compile them into a very good book. So I posted that book here with this answer.
And you can have a look at this book also for further guidance. But basically, the most important qualification for a writer is the desire to share something. It's not that one has to be very good in philosophy, one has to be very smart at English, one has to be very logical in one's thought organization.
These are all required for a writer. But the most important thing is that the writer should have the desire to share a message. Because once the desire to share a message is there, then everything else follows.
And other things will be adjusted. So that's why it's good to start with something which we feel strongly about. So one good article that everybody can start with is How I Came to Krishna Consciousness.
And this article can also have a cathartic value in terms of helping us to remember and cherish those events which caused us to change the trajectory of our life from away from Krishna to towards Krishna. And even if all How I Came to Krishna Consciousness articles don't get published, but still writing down that story will become a personal treasury that we can draw back from when we have some times of trial in our Krishna Consciousness. Similarly, all article writing doesn't have to be autobiographical or personal in terms of using the word I or talking about myself.
But it should be about a subject that we can relate to, we feel strongly about. Because ultimately all writing is a human transaction. It is an intimate transaction between two human beings conducted through the written word.
So if I come across through the writing as a human being who cares about something, then the readers will also care because at a human level I'm connecting with them. And that's why it's important that even when we present the philosophy, we present it as a human being, not just as a rote repeater of the philosophy. Definitely we should be faithful to the scripture when we are speaking what we are, when we are writing.
But at the same time, when we come across as a human being, that means we bring in our convictions and put it in our words. The message is eternal, but the dressing for the message, the dressing means the language that we use, the sentences that we construct, the word that we choose, the logic that we follow, the idiom that we adopt, all this is the dressing. And this dressing is something which will be the way we are expressing our Krishna consciousness for others.
And that is what attracts us to writing. That is what the innermost attraction of the written word about Krishna is. That it is not just Krishna, but it is Krishna as understood by a person's head and heart reflecting through that person.
And if nothing else, writing will help us to become more Krishna conscious because writing will force us to think seriously about the philosophy. It will enable us to organize our thoughts more clearly and will enable us to go deeper into our Krishna consciousness. So in general, it's best to keep in mind these inner purposes of writing and start off with whichever way it works out, inspiration, instruction or study.