r Chaitanya Sraswat Mah Philippines

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Guich Mrjan Ll Rahasya

9July2013

rla Bhakti Siddhnta Saraswat hkur explains the secret

behind the cleansing of the Guich Temple.

Guich Mrjan Ll Rahasya

The Secret Behind the Pastime of Cleansing of the Guich

Temple

An English translation of rla Bhakti Siddhnta Saraswat hkurs

commentaryonr Chaitanya-charitmta:Madhya-ll,12.135.

Through this Pastime, Jagad-guru rman Mahprabhu is

teaching that if a fortunate soul desires to sit Ka on the altar of
their heart, then they should first of all clean their heart of all
contamination; making the heart spotlessly clean, peaceful, and
resplendent with devotion is mandatory. If any thorny bushes,
weeds, dust, or sandanarthasremain within the field of the
heart, then the Lord, the ultimate recipient of all service, cannot
be seatedtherein.Contaminationandlitterwithintheheartmeans
anya-abhil (extraneous desires), karma (worldly action), jn
(speculative knowledge), yoga, and so on. rla Rpa Goswm
Prabhusaid,

anybhilit-nya jna-karmdy-anvtam
nuklyena knulana bhaktir uttam
(Bhakti-rasmta-sindhu: 1.1.11)

Whereverthesoulseternal,naturalpropensityfordevotionhas
beencoveredoverbydesiresunrelatedtodevotion,speculative
knowledge,worldlyaction,yoga,asceticism,oranymentalitythat
isunfavorabletodevotion,puredevotionisnotpresent.And
without pure devotion, which is by nature purely spiritual, Ka
doesnotappear.

Extraneous desire: As long as I remain in this world, I shall

gratify my senses exclusively. This sort of base desire, like a
thorny branch, lacerates the pure souls tender propensity for
exclusive devotion (kevala-bhakti). Worldly action: Through piety,
sacrifice, charity, and austerity, I shall enjoy the pleasures of this
world and the higher planes like Svarga. Such selfishactionislike
dust. In the whirlwind of the cycle of karma, heaps of this dust,
that is, desires, cover the spotless and clear mirror of our hearts.
Desires to perform both good and bad actions, like countless
heaps of dust, have contaminated the hearts of souls who are
averse to the Lord for numerous births, and thus the desire for
worldly activity has not left these souls hearts. Souls that are
averse to the Lord think, It seems that through action the thorns
present within action can be removed, but this is a
misconception; those who are convinced by it simply cheat
themselves. As an elephant smears its body with dirt again after
you bathe it, so desire for worldly action is not dispelled by
performing worldly actions. Only through pure devotion are all of
the souls difficulties dispelled. It is then that the altarofthesouls
pure heart becomes a suitable place for the Lord to rest. This is
why a devotee-poet has sung, Bhaktera hdaye sad Govindrera
virma: the heart of the devotee is always a resting place for
Govinda.

Monistic yoga and endeavors for speculative knowledge are

just like sand.Throughthem,whattospeakoftheLordsserviceor
satisfaction,anendeavorismadetolaceratetheLordsbodywitha
spear. Although at the beginning of the search for
non-differentiated Brahma, seekers of liberation may accept the
Lords Name, Form, and so on, to a certain extent, such seekers
does not accept the independent existence of the Lords Name,
Form, and so on, at the time of their liberation or identification
with Brahma. The Lord, therefore, does not appear within the
heart of such unfortunate souls, who proudly consider themselves
to be liberated [when in fact they arenot].Itisforthisreasonthat
r Gaurasundardidnotkeepstraw,dust,sand,andotherformsof
litter even within the boundary of the Lords Temple compound,
but rather threw them outside using His own outer clothlest
with the help of a storm all such rubbish would again enter the
Temple.

Often, even when worldly action, speculative knowledge, and

so on, have been dispelled, subtle forms of contamination remain
within the heart. These can be compared to kuini, pratih,
jva-his, niiddhchr, lbha, pj, and so on. Kuini means
duplicity. P ratih means desire for worldly honourMay the
ignorant call me a great soul on account of my solitary worship
and imposture. P ratih means desire to be recognised as a
devotee or Avatr by showing a perverted reflection of divine
emotions, such as artificial symptoms of ecstasy within ones hard
heart, in order to fulfil ones selfish desires for worldly enjoyment.
Jva-his means hesitation to, or miserliness about, preaching
puredevotion;indulgingmyvds,materialists,andenjoyers;and
speaking so as to keep the attention of such persons. Lbha and
pj mean living off the Lords Names, mantras, Dieties, or the
Bhgavat in the name of religion, cheating the ignorant, and
accumulating wealth, honour, and so on. N iiddhchr means
associating with the opposite sex and non-devotees of Ka, such
asmaterialists,speculators,andenjoyers.

r Gaurasundar first swept out large heaps of all such sand,

straw, dust, and so on, that had accumulated over many days and
then, after cleaning every area within the Temple a second time
with brooms and water, began scrubbing the Temple and the
Lords altar with the dry cloth He was wearing so that no subtle
blemisheswouldremainanywhere.

After all of the sweeping, cleaning, scrubbing, and so on,

there was no trace of any dust particles or even subtle blemishes
within the Temple, which was not not only spotlessly clean but
also soothingly cool, that is, the practitioners heart had become
free from the bearing pain comparable to being a desert scorched
by the sunfree from the flames of the fire of the three miseries
produced by desire to enjoythemundane(dhytmik-tp:miseries
caused by the body and mind; adhibhautik-tp: miseries causedby
others; and adhidaivik-tp: miseries caused by the gods). In fact,
when desires for enjoyment and liberationall extraneousdesires,
worldly endeavours, speculative knowledge, yoga, and so onare
dispelledfromthepractitionersheartandthesoulspropensityfor
pure devotion manifests,suchpeaceandsoothingcoolnessappear
naturally.

Ignorant souls do not understand that often, even when all

selfish desires have been dispelled, a subtle blemish still remains
within an unknown nook or corner of the heart: the desire for
liberation. What to speak of the impersonalists desire for
syujya-mukti (the liberation of merging into Brahma), rman
Mahprabhu scrubbed away with His own cloth even the subtle
blemishes of desire for the four other forms of liberation [slokya:
residing in the Lords abode, smpya: being in the Lords
presence, srpya: having a form like the Lords, and sri: having
opulenceliketheLords].

In this way, adopting the mentality of an soul for the welfare

of all souls, r Gaurasundar, as a Jagad-guru, personally taught
how a practitioner should, with great enthusiasm, while loudly
chanting Kas Name, cleantheirheartforKassakeinorderto
make their heart a place for the pleasure Pastimes of the Autocrat
r Ka and be able to lovingly gratify Kas senses.

yadyapyany bhakti kalau kartavy,

tad krtankhya-bhakti-sayogenaiva
(Krama-sandarbha-k on rmad Bhgavatam 7.5.2324)

[Althoughtheothereightpracticesofdevotionshouldbe
performedduringKali-yuga,theyshouldbeperformedin
conjunctionwithkrtan.]
rmanMahprabhucameovertoeverydevotee,tookholdof
their hands, and taught them how to clean theTemple.Hepraised
the devotees who wereservingwell,and,astheLordadornedwith
the heart of She who is the personification of the fulfilment of
Kas desiresr Rdh, He benevolently chastised those whose
service was not up to His standard, took hold of their hands, and
taught them the proper way to serve Ka. Not only that, He also
instructed and inspired the pure-hearted devotees who were
dedicated to the Absolute and proficient in serving according to
His teachings to perform the work of an chrya for souls averse
totheLord.

tumibhlakariychha,ikhhaanyere
ei-matabhlakarmasehoyenakare
(r Chaitanya-charitmta: Madhya-ll, 12.117)

[TodevoteeswhosecleaningHeapprovedof,theLordsaid:You
havedonewell.Teachthistootherssothattheyalsoperformwell
 inthisway.]
Furthermore, [the Lord taught that] one will become dear to
the Lord to the extent that one can remove impurities from ones
heart and keep it clean,andHeprescribedthepeacefulpracticeof
service to Hari-Guru-Vaiava for those who have not yet
completedtheprocessofanartha-nivtti(thepurgingofevils).