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…

Sometimes I just like to change things up. And for awhile now I’ve been running Ubuntu Linux and Windows XP on the same laptop. When you start the laptop, you get the choice – do you want Ubuntu or XP? 99 times out of 100, I’d choose Ubuntu.

Well, yesterday, I saved everything I needed to save and reinstalled Ubuntu over the entire harddrive. Yep, installed it over XP. I always kept XP as a safety net, but never really needed it, except for two programs: Microsoft Streets and Trips and Bhaktivedanta Vedabse. Oh, and I also used it to view some TV shows on ABC.com and Fox.com – you have to have Windows running to access those sites (which is incredibly lame).

Anyway, I saved everything, reinstalled Ubuntu and am now single booting the Gutsy Gibbon.

So, what about the Streets and Trips? What about Vedabase? And what of those TV shows that I just can’t live without? Yes, what?!

Take a look-see (click on it to see it bigger, ok?):

Yep, that’s Ubuntu running in the background and XP running within it’s own little window. Aww, how cute! It’s reduced Windows to the crappy little program that it really is!

How is this amazing feat accomplished? Simple! I downloaded a program for Ubuntu called VirtualBox. That program allows you to “virtually install” other operating systems on your computer. It’s not just for Linux. Many Windows folks have Ubuntu as their virtual OS. I don’t really see the point in that, but whatever.

I’m fairly happy with this. I’m fully running Ubuntu and can also run the very small handful of Windows-based programs when I need to. And, I don’t have to miss even one episode of House or Lost!

So do I whole-heartedly recommend that you switch over to Ubuntu? Yeah, pretty much. For most of us, Ubuntu can do everything that Windows can AND it does it for free.

You can even try it out for free by downloading their LiveCD. The LiveCD allows you to temporarily boot up to Ubuntu – however, the whole thing is contained on your CD-ROM drive. Yeah, that makes it a bit slow and clunky, but it gives you a good opportunity to try it out.

And if you don’t think you’re computer savvy enough to pull it off, I knew nothing of Linux when I tried it. Sure, there’s a learning curve, but the jump from Windows XP to Windows Vista was much harder for me than from XP to Ubuntu. And if you still need help, there’s a ridiculous amount of help out there.

Woo!

“Mleccha Western culture naturally causes a person to become an inhuman monster and go to hell.”

Well… what about THIS!?
:)

And after seeing this, I’m betting neither culture is safe!

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!

Just to give folks an idea of when I’ll be where, here’s a run down of my schedule thus far.

March 10 – 15 in Pennsylvania (6 days)
March 15 – 29 in West Virginia (15 days – perhaps picking up Ruby II then)
March 29 – April 14 in Seattle area (17 days)
April 15 – April 27 in West Virginia (13 days)
April 27 – April 30 in Pennsylvania (3 days)
April 30 – May 2 in West Virginia (3 days)
May 3 – June 16 on Scoot 66 (43 days)
June 16 – June 27 in West Virginia (12 days)
June 27 – July 4 in Gettysburg (8 days)

What I’m doing before March 10, I don’t know. I’ll be based out of WV, I know that, but I’m not sure if I’ll take a small trip here and there. Largely, it depends on the evil weather.

Just to give folks an idea of when I’ll be where, here’s a run down of my schedule thus far.

March 10 – 15 in Pennsylvania (6 days)
March 15 – 29 in West Virginia (15 days – perhaps picking up Ruby II then)
March 29 – April 14 in Seattle area (17 days)
April 15 – April 27 in West Virginia (13 days)
April 27 – April 30 in Pennsylvania (3 days)
April 30 – May 2 in West Virginia (3 days)
May 3 – June 16 on Scoot 66 (43 days)
June 16 – June 27 in West Virginia (12 days)
June 27 – July 4 in Gettysburg (8 days)

What I’m doing before March 10, I don’t know. I’ll be based out of WV, I know that, but I’m not sure if I’ll take a small trip here and there. Largely, it depends on the evil weather.

In recent memory there are two gurus within ISKCON who have “fallen down.” One guru covered it up and seemingly had ISKCON cover it up for awhile, then came clean and is now a retired guru/retired sannyasi. The other guru simply left and started a new life.

And so here I am, trying to figure out which is better. Clearly, neither are ideal.

A guru is the person who will be taking you back to Godhead. S/he is a liberated soul and a pure devotee. Obviously, any fall down is pretty well proof (in my book) that this person isn’t presently qualified. Yes, there is certainly redemption and the healing power of bhakti is something not to be taken lightly. However, neither of these ex-gurus have sought redemption (and neither of them have gotten it).

In the first case (Satsvarupa), he lied for two decades, making one of his disciple’s lives hell just so he could be around her. He then had a sexual relationship with her. Yeah, he fell down and there is redemption that can take place, but he doesn’t seem concerned about it. Especially seeing how he covered it up for 20 or so years. Why? Wasn’t there another option?

In the second case (Vipramukhya), he stepped down. He simply stopped being a devotee. He met a woman (who is now his wife) online, started a relationship with her and then stepped down. Now, leaving the devotees is not a good thing, but it seems like he didn’t know what else to do.

While both cases had different outcomes, the situations were strangely similar. Each were in a role that they could not play. Each tried to maintain standards they could not maintain. And though one chose to stay and one chose to leave, they each did so for the same reason.

But here’s the thing. I don’t know what that reason is.

In Satsvarupa’s case, he’s clearly not much more of a sannyasi than I am. Yet there he is, in the garb of a sannyasi, being seen and treated as a sannyasi (even though he has the status of “retired”). Why didn’t he step down? Why didn’t he put on white (or just blue jeans), continue with his painting and writing and just be a normal devotee?

And in Vipramukhya’s case, I could tell that he wasn’t on the up and up by the way his web page was changing. He was doing things on it that weren’t quite what a sannyasi should be doing. Nothing “bad” of course, but just indicators. And soon after that, he announced that he was stepping down to get married and also leaving the association of devotees. Why couldn’t he just put on white and be a regular grhasta?

Why couldn’t these two supposedly pure devotees take the humble position and still remain devotees? I don’t know. But in both cases it’s sad.

It’s sad in Satsvarupa’s case because he’s still playing a role that he’s clearly not meant to play. And it’s sad in Vipramukhya’s case because he’s no longer a devotee.

Folks, we really just have to allow each other to be honest. If our gurus and sannyasis can’t be gurus and sannyasis, at least let them be devotees. It does nobody any good if our gurus and sannyasis are fake. And it does nobody any good if our senior devotees (who were once gurus and sannyasis) leave.

But this is the situation that we put them in. This is because of the pressure that we apply.

All that said, I believe I’ve got more respect for Vipramukhya in his decision. While he left the association of devotees, which isn’t good, he didn’t lie for 20 years, falsely initiating devotees who thought he was pure. He met a woman and decided to leave. He didn’t stick around to make a huge mess that we’d have to make lame ass excuses for. He didn’t put us, as devotees, in a position where we have to create a whole new institution (that of “retired” sannyasi and guru). And most importantly, I don’t feel that Vipramukhya lied to us. Satsvarupa did quite a bit and we still don’t know the whole story. Yet, the “honest” one is gone and the other one is still worshiped.

I don’t have any answers, and I apologize for this basically becoming a rant, but it’s really something we should take a look at.