Social media platform Koo has launched an "India Spiritual Journey" campaign to digitally connect devotees to temples across India. The initiative will help bring the holy shrines and spiritual centres closer to devotees who have been unable to visit these places over the past two years because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The company said e-darshans have seen a significant rise on social media as most temples were temporarily closed during lockdowns.
Koo, in a statement, said that the campaign will empower spiritual leaders and temple trusts in engaging with their followers on a real-time basis. They can also share updates with devotees and communicate to address their issues. "Through this campaign, our aim has been to create a spiritual social network where serious discussions are heard," a Koo spokesperson said.
Under the first leg of the campaign (journey), Koo plans to cover 4,000 km to bring prominent temples and spiritual centres from the hill state of Uttarakhand digitally closer to the devotees.
One of Koo's employees, Pratik Khedkar, has already started the journey on a motorbike to cover pilgrimage sites in Haridwar, Rishikesh, Uttarkashi, Gangotri, Yamunotri and Badrinath. Mr Khedkar will conclude his journey at Gaurikund, the base camp for the Kedarnath trek.
"'India Spiritual Journey' has helped me rediscover myself and has connected me with people who are spiritually inclined. Through this campaign, we aim to bring this experience to millions of users on Koo," Mr Khedkar said.
After the first leg, Koo said it will expand the first-of-its-kind campaign to other parts of the country.
Koo has over 100 verified spiritual accounts, including prominent personalities such as Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. The platform allows them to interact with their followers in their local language, helping with real-time translation of messages and thereby amplifying reach. Koo is currently available in 10 languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada, Tamil, and Telugu.
