(3/11) Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Lord Nityananda Prabhu's Appearance, morning class
Sri Ekachakra Dham, 25 February 2021, part 3
Translated from Bengali

Very soon we are going for the parikrama, during which we will speak about different places (Pandav Tala and others). Some places are closed now for reconstruction, but we will still go there – we can pay our obeisances from outside and take the darshan of the place in our hearts.

If you cannot concentrate your minds, then it is a very difficult situation. The Lord has given you mouths to speak about Him. When we wake up in the morning, we sing:

ভজিব বলিয়া এসে সংসার ভিতরে ।
ভুলিয়া রহিলে তুমি অবিদ্যার ভরে ॥

bhajiba baliya ese samsara bhitare
bhuliya rahile tumi avidyara bhare

‘Forgetting that you came to this world saying, “I will serve You,” you carried on living in ignorance.’

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

When we were in our mothers’ wombs, we promised to the Lord, ‘I will worship You. I will speak about You with this mouth. I will look at Your Deity with these eyes.’ You can see that the devotees have decorated the temple so nicely. It takes very much time to do it because the Deities are very big here. The devotees have cleaned everything. Archan means cleaning. Do you think archan is only lighting a pancha-pradip and waving a fan? It is not.

বিষয়ে যে প্রীতি এবে আছয়ে আমার ।
সেই মত প্রীতি হউক চরণে তোমার ॥

visaye ye priti ebe achhaye amara
sei-mata priti hauk charane tomara

‘May I have the same kind of love for Your holy feet as I now have for this material world.’

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

You can see how you make your own beds – every day you first dust and clean the bed nicely, then you lie down on it. You must treat the Lord, the Deities, like that, too. The archan of Deities means to keep the Deities’ room clean. Sometimes, there can be some rats’ stool, some cobwebs – it must all be cleaned. There can be dust where the parampara photographs are kept. You must wipe the dust and keep everything neat.

You think Deities’ archan is only to offer the Deities a ghee lamp, wave a yak-tail whisk and a peacock fan in front of the Deities or only to bath the Deities, but archan is more about keeping everything clean, tidy and neat. Many think that archan means just to bath the Deities, and if it is very difficult to bath the Deities, then you must bath Them in your mind, by reciting mantras. But it is not only that. It is necessary to keep the Deities’ room clean.

I have heard that the Deities’ room here was very dirty. This is seva-aparadha. You are trying to do service, but instead you are committing offences. You can make many excuses, ‘Oh, the Deities are so tall, how can I clean Them?’ but you cannot make this excuse when it comes to the guru-parampara photographs because they are not placed high – you can always clean the place. I have got the news from the devotees who were cleaning the Deities’ room how untidy and neglected the room was. Those who do puja must always keep the altar clean!

Archan-puja is part of devotional practice (sravanam, kirtanam, archanam, and so on – archan is part of it). Do not think that you can just recite some mantras, and this is it – you have done the archan. Do I have to check if you keep the altar room clean or not and if you keep the guru-parampara clean or not? I have told you just now – there are nama-aparadhas, dhama-aparadhas, seva-aparadhas, vaishnav-aparadhas. We must all be very careful not to make any offences. And this is not only about this temple here. Wherever I go, I tell devotees, ‘Do not turn the Deities’ room into a jungle.’ If you do not keep everything clean and neat, it is not right. It does not work like that. Even Muslim people say, ‘Cleanliness is part of faith’ (pariskara parichhannata imanera anga – পরিষ্কার পরিচ্ছন্নতা ঈমানের অঙ্গ;; similar to the English proverb ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’). In this country, people are campaigning for clean water and sanitation (the famous Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign). It is necessary to keep everything clean! The temple must be always clean and neat.

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Supremely Worshippable Day
2) Do Not Pass Your Life in Vain
3) Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness
4) Meaning of Discipleship
5) Ask Yourself, "Am I Practising?"
6) Become Pure
7) Who Is Nityananda Prabhu?
8) How and When?
9) Scattered Heart
10) Learn the Truth
11) What Do You Need?