Kuala Lampur - Hing News, an independent
Vaisnava news blog, threw its
cyber-hat into the ring this morning, with a curt and mysterious announcement that it is officially open for business. The announcement -- made a few seconds ago via a blog posting on hingnews.blogspot.com -- sent
shockwaves throughout the Hare Krishna movement, inciting a flurry of philosophical debate and bookmark list re-arranging among the devotee geek demographic.
The blog, brainchild of editor
Hasmukh Das, aims to provide a balanced, informed perspective on news and events within the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. In the tradition of both bloggers and
ISKCONdevotees, the project will start off with a big bang, generate some buzz, and promptly fizzle away -- at which point it will be updated only
sporadically and with profuse but empty apologies.
Self-acclaimed devotee web-guardians, meanwhile, called emergency
Skype meetings to speculate what
Hing's pungent presence will do to
Gaudiya-gossip mainstays
Dandavats.com and
Chakra.org.
Dandavats has attracted a steady following, thanks in part to the site's catchy "the website that will fall over to serve you" motto, while
Chakra -- who opted for the more
aggressive "we will trip you, kick you while you are down, and steal your
beadbag"
tag line -- has witnessed steadily declining numbers.
"With Hing, we're really trying to do something different [than
Dandavats or
Chakra],"
Hasmukh Das explained, "Essentially, we're trying to create a news network for devotees. One might even call it a
Vaisnava news network."
Despite the fact that it has only been online for a few seconds, the renegade website has already drawn sharp criticism from the
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, publishing arm of the
Voltron that is
ISKCON. In a stinging statement issued by the Trust, believed to be the world's largest publisher of
BBT books, trustees expressed "grave doubt that these
so-called internets are anything more than passing fads," and urged fellow devotees to arm themselves with
Prabhupada quotes and anecdotes.
"Quite frankly, this whole blog thing seems a little too post-1975 to me,"
BBT typesetter
Granthanatha Das told reporters via telex, cautioning bloggers not to "jump over like monkeys."
"A
vedabase search revealed that
Prabhupada never once mentioned blogs or the
internet,"
Granthanatha said, "Shouldn't we be asking ourselves why that is?"