The Cleansing Of The Gundicha Temple

The Cleansing Of The Gundicha Temple by Srila Krishna Das Kaviraja Goswami

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu called for Kashi Mishra, then for the superintendent of the temple, then for Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. When these three people came before the Lord, He begged them for permission to wash the temple known as Gundicha. Upon hearing the Lord’s request for permission to wash the Gundicha temple, the paḍicha, the superintendent of the temple, said, “My dear Sir, we are all Your servants. Whatever You desire is our duty to perform. The King gave a special order for me to do without delay whatever Your Lordship orders. My dear Lord, washing the temple is not service befitting You. Nonetheless, if You wish to do so, it is to be accepted as one of Your pastimes. To wash the temple, You need many waterpots and brooms. Therefore order me. I can immediately bring all these things to You.”

As soon as the superintendent understood the desire of the Lord, he immediately delivered a hundred new waterpots and a hundred brooms for sweeping the temple. The next day, early in the morning, the Lord took His personal associates with Him and, with His own hand, smeared sandalwood pulp on their bodies. He then gave each devotee a broom with His own hand, and taking all of them personally with Him, the Lord went to Gundicha.

In this way the Lord and His associates went to cleanse the Gundicha temple. At first they cleansed the temple with the brooms. The Lord cleansed everything inside the temple very nicely, including the ceiling. He then took up the sitting place [siṁhāsana], cleansed it and again put it in its original place. Thus the Lord and His companions cleansed and swept all the temple’s buildings, big and small, and finally cleansed the area between the temple and the kirtana hall. Indeed, hundreds of devotees were engaged in cleansing all around the temple, and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was personally carrying out the operation just to instruct others. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu washed and cleansed the temple in great jubilation, chanting
the holy name of Lord Krishna all the time. Similarly, all the devotees were also chanting and at the same time performing their respective duties. The entire beautiful body of the Lord was covered with dust and dirt. In this way it became transcendentally beautiful. At times, when cleansing the temple, the Lord shed tears, and in some places He even cleansed with those tears. After this, the place where the Deity’s food was kept [bhoga- mandira] was cleansed. Then the yard was cleansed, and then all the residential quarters, one after the other. After Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
collected all the straw, dust and grains of sand in one place, He gathered it all in His cloth and threw it outside. Following the example of Sri  Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, all the devotees, in great jubilation, began to gather straws and dust with their own cloths and throw them outside the temple. The Lord then told the devotees, “I can tell how much you have labored and how well you have cleansed the temple simply by seeing all the straw and dust you have collected outside.”

Even though all the devotees collected dirt in one pile, the dirt collected by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was much greater. After the inside of the temple was cleansed, the Lord again allotted areas for the devotees to cleanse. The Lord then ordered everyone to cleanse the inside of the temple very perfectly by taking finer dust, straws and grains of sand and throwing them outside. After Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and all the Vaishnavas cleansed the temple for the second time, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was very happy to see the cleansing work. While the temple was being swept, about a hundred men stood ready with filled waterpots, and they simply awaited the Lord’s order to throw the water from them. As soon as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu called for water, all the men immediately brought the hundred waterpots, which were completely filled, and delivered them before the Lord.

In this way, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu first washed the main temple and then thoroughly washed the ceiling, the walls, the floor, the sitting place
[siṁhāsana] and everything else within the room. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself and His devotees began to throw water onto the ceiling. When this water fell, it washed the walls and floor. Then Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu began to wash the sitting place of Lord Jagannatha with His own hands, and all the devotees began to bring water to the Lord. All the devotees within the temple began to wash. Each one had a broom in his hand, and in this way they cleansed the temple of the Lord. Someone brought water to pour into the hands of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and someone poured water on His lotus feet. The water that fell from the lotus feet of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was drunk by someone who hid himself. Someone else begged for that water, and another person was giving that water in charity. After the room was washed, the water was let out through an outlet, and it then flowed and filled the yard outside. The Lord mopped the rooms with His own clothes, and He polished the throne with them also.

In this way all the rooms were cleansed with a hundred waterpots. After the rooms had been cleansed, the minds of the devotees were as clean as the rooms. When the temple was cleansed, it was purified, cool and pleasing, just as if the Lord’s own pure mind had appeared. Since hundreds of men were engaged in bringing water from the lake, there was no place to stand on the banks. Consequently someone began to draw water from a well. Hundreds of devotees brought water in the pots, and hundreds took the empty pots away to fill them up again. With the exception of Nityananda Prabhu, Advaita Acharya, Svarupa Damodara, Brahmananda Bharati and Paramananda Puri, everyone was engaged in filling the waterpots and
bringing them there.

Many of the waterpots were broken when people collided with one another, and hundreds of men had to bring new waterpots to fill. Some people were filling the pots, and others were washing the rooms, but everyone was engaged in chanting the holy name of Krishna and Hari. One person begged for a waterpot by chanting the holy names “Krishna, Krishna,” and another delivered a pot while chanting “Krishna, Krishna.”

Whenever anyone had to speak, he did so by uttering the holy name of Krishna. Consequently, the holy name of Krishna became an indication for
everyone who wanted something. As Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was vibrating the holy name of Krishna in ecstatic love, He Himself was performing the work of hundreds of men. It appeared as though Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu were cleansing and washing with a hundred hands. He approached every devotee just to teach him how to work. When He saw someone doing nicely, the Lord praised him, but if He saw that someone was not working to His satisfaction, He immediately chastised that person, not bearing him any grudge. The Lord would say, “You have done well. Please teach this to others so that they may act in the same way.” As soon as they heard Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu say this, everyone became ashamed. Thus the devotees
began to work with great attention. They washed the Jagamohana area and then the place where food was kept. All other places were also washed. In this way the meeting place was washed, the entire yard, the raised sitting places, the kitchen and every other room. Thus all places around the temple were thoroughly washed within and without.

After everything was thoroughly washed, a Vaishnava from Bengal, who was very intelligent and simple, came and poured water on the lotus feet of the Lord. The Gaudiya Vaishnava then took that water and drank it himself. Seeing that, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu  elt a little unhappy and was also outwardly angry. Although the Lord was certainly satisfied with him, He became angry externally in order to establish the etiquette of religious principles. The Lord then called for Svarupa Damodara and told him, “Just see the behavior of your Bengali Vaishnava. This person from Bengal has washed My feet within the temple of the Personality of Godhead. Not only that, but he has drunk the water himself. I now do not know what My
destination is because of this offense. Indeed, your Bengali Vaishnava has greatly implicated Me.” At this point Svarupa Damodara Goswami caught the Gaudiya Vaishnava by the neck and, giving him a little push, ejected him from the Gundicha Puri temple and made him stay outside. After Svarupa Damodara Goswami returned within the temple, he requested Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to excuse that innocent person. After this incident, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was very satisfied. He then asked all of the devotees to sit down in two lines on both sides. The Lord then personally sat down in the middle and picked up all kinds of straw, grains of sand and dirty things. While Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was picking up the straws and grains of sand, He said, “I shall gather everyone’s collection, and I shall ask whoever has collected less than all the others to pay a fine of sweet cakes and sweet rice.”

In this way all the quarters of the Gundicha temple were completely cleansed and cleared. All quarters were cool and spotless, like one’s cleansed
and pacified mind. When the water from the different rooms was finally let out through the halls, it appeared as if new rivers were rushing out to meet the waters of the ocean. Outside the gateway of the temple, all the roads were also cleansed, and no one could tell exactly how this was done. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also cleansed the Narsimha temple inside and outside. Finally, He rested a few minutes and then began dancing.

— Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta » Madhya-līlā » 12: The Cleansing of the Guṇḍicā Temple » Verses: 72 to 136 ·