Sit Properly

For only a very short time, the New Vrndavana Accordion Ensemble has given The Hing permission to sell limited edition NVAE tshirts (as pictured above).

They are available in sizes S, M and L (XL is sold out).

The shirts are hand-printed on black tshirts made in America. No sweatshop nonsense here, prabhus!

All shirts are $15 ppd (postage paid). And all purchases will go through paypal.

Haribol!!

New Vrndavana Accordion Ensemble Reunites for North American Tour

NEW VRNDAVANA, WV — The New Vrndavana Accordion Ensemble announced their first tour in decades Monday at a rehearsal in the Palace Lodge as a throng of fans crowded near the legendary Palace of Gold.

The group, which led the Sunday feast program with a live performance of its hit “In Vrndavana’s Fields and Groves,” officially broke up in 1992, most of the members pursuing solo careers.

Click here to read the exciting news.

ITV Announces New DVD Series: Memories of Memories of Srila Prabhupada

After 54 volumes of the well-received Memories of Srila Prabhupada series, ITV Productions has announced that it will immediately begin production on Memories of Memories of Srila Prabhupada, a new DVD series to preserve the memories of devotees as they recall their first viewings of the Memories of Srila Prabhupada series.

“We basically ran out of devotees to interview,” said Visnupriya devi dasi, spokesperson for ITV. “The first generation of Srila Prabhupada disciples have told their story. Now it’s time for the first generation of viewers to tell theirs.”

Click here to read on…

We’re having a pretty good run with The Hing, thus far. We seem to have been able to walk that thin line between being offensive a-holes and being somewhat entertaining.

Personally, I edit all of the articles, and write most of them. So that means I’ve got to figure out what to do when I take my two month trip (starting late April, going through the first week in July).

My options are:

1) Stop The Hing till I return. This would mean that there would be nothing posted till Mid-July.

2) Come up with enough articles to cover the weeks I’ll be gone. That would be at least 10 articles. This would possibly require some help, so if anyone cares to write an article or two, or even submit ideas, that would be great.

3) Go fortnightly. Publish every other week. It would spread it out quite a bit. Honestly, I’m not sure how I’m going to keep up the weekly postings forever.

Whichever I choose, I will definitely be needing help in the writing/idea category. Anyone who has any desire to do that, it would be really welcome.

Which would be best?

When I first posted this, the link was broken, but now it’s all fixed up.

Grhasta Unable to Follow Vows, Becomes ‘Retired Grhasta’

MILWAUKEE – Local temple authorities have announced that well-known husband and father, Parampati das, will be renouncing his married life and assuming the status of “retired grhasta.”

In a move that could be seen as controversial, the Grhasta Bargaining Committee has suggested that, rather than divorce, which is fit only for sudras, Parampati simply retires from the grhasta ashrama and will no longer present himself as a grhasta.

Click to read the rest of this story.

Militant Brahmacaris Protest Charmin Toilet Paper Factory

CINCINNATI – Hundreds of fixed up brahmacaris rallied in front of the Charmin Toilet Paper Factory in Cincinnati, Ohio calling for a moratorium on the manufacturing of all bathroom tissue.

Police said around 400 celibate monks, including several high-ranking sannyasis and vanaprastas had taken to the streets.

The protests, sparked by a reprinting of the classic Brahmacarya in Krishna Consciousness, are the largest toilet paper factory protests since Fortunate Souls; The Bhakta Program Manual hit the bookshelves in 1996.

Click here to read the rest of the story.

Ritvik Movement Calls it Quits: Unable to Think Up More Silly Names for ISKCON Gurus

LOS ANGELES – The Ritvik movement has announced that it will be disbanding this week after members concluded that their arsenal of silly names for ISKCON gurus has finally been exhausted.

“While the basis of our philosophy is that Srila Prabhupada never told his successors to become gurus in their own right, 95% of our movement was based solely upon silly names for ISKCON gurus,” said Ritvik leader Prema Caitanya das. “And now that we’ve run out, there’s not much more we can do.”

Click here to read on…

Don’t you hate it when you really feel you got a good thing going and then a couple of knuckleheads who think they’re really funny pop up and start telling really lame and sometimes racist jokes? You feel kind of embarrassed for them.

You let it slide for a bit under the banner of “free speech,” but then you wake up to realize that they’ve been telling crappy jokes all night. You lie there in a groggy, half-awake state trying to figure out why some people were born without that little thing in the back of their minds that tells them “seriously, dude, shut up.”

I guess it’s a birth defect or something.

Oh, and after a little more thought, you realize that it’s somehow your job to take care of the drunk guys at the party. That “el vino did flow” and now you’re stuck cleaning up after two blokes you hardly even know.

So I guess what I’m saying is that I’m throwing down the puke-stained gauntlets when it comes to the comments on The Hing.

Until further notice, the two devotees who post as “Haribol” and “Bhakta Godhead” (aka Srila BS Sajjah Maharaj/Bhakta Fundamentalist/Bhakta Not a Fundamentalist/Jadhurani dasi) are taking a little time out (please note, they’re not “banned”).

I considered making The Hing’s comments only for registered users, but that’s just annoying. I mean, do you have any idea how many times I’ve wanted to say a few words on someone’s blog, but skipped it because I didn’t want to go through the whole registration process. Seriously, a lot of times.

The next step will be to individually approve comments. I really don’t want to do that, so play nice.

In the meantime, let’s all chip in and buy these guys some self-awareness.

-Eric
Hing guy

Local ISKCON Temple Holds Clearance Sale on Hindu Samskaras

PARAMUS, NJ – In their latest newsletter, ISKCON temple president, Mahavikas das announced that area brahmins will be holding a two-month long clearance sale to make way for new Samskaras.

“The assembled devotees would be crazy to miss out on such an auspicious event,” Mahavikas said. “But with the new samskaras coming in, the old ones must go, go, go.”

Click here to read on…

That there are three new changes you should know about.

First, at the request of Ekendra prabhu, The Hing has added a link at the end of each article that allows you to print the article. Also, if you just go to print it the normal way, it will look pretty good too.

Second, there is again a link at the end of each article that allows you to email the article to a friend. Much of The Hing’s traffic comes from devotees emailing it to other devotees. Thanks! Hope this makes it easier.

Third, there is now a “Contact” link at the top of the page. If you want to send The Hing some love letters or just have something to say that really doesn’t belong in the comments section, feel free to click “Contact” and tell The Hing how you feel.

Also, while there isn’t really a call for submissions, if you’ve got ideas, we’d love to hear them. (Use the contact form on TheHing.com for that).

Also, also, The Hing’s “hey we’re here!” notice just ran on Chakra. There were 320 hits on the site from that in under 24 hours. Now, 320 might seem like small potatoes to most ISKCON news sites, but it’s not too bad on our end. Just as FYI, we get about 150 hits when we post an article and an average of 20 – 30 hits on days that we don’t.

Thanks!