8: Cleanliness and Etiquette
Personal habits
- The mouth is a dirty place (being positioned at one end of the intestines, it is a place where many germs are found) and therefore one should not suck one’s fingers or pen, or bite one’s nails, etc. If one does touch one’s mouth then the hands should be washed. Don’t lick things like stamps and don’t blow out candles, incense sticks, etc. One extinguishes candle flames by creating a breeze with a hand movement. Also it is a good practice to learn to pour water/juice into your mouth when you drink, then the cup remains clean, not having touched the lips.
- If you make a mess clean it up, especially in the toilet or washbasin etc. A place should always be as clean, if not cleaner, after it has been visited by a devotee.
- When you clean anywhere in the temple building try to make the place as clean as glass (see TQK p.143)
- If someone else leaves a mess then you can clean it up.
- Use the right hand only for eating, chanting rounds, offering and accepting things to and from others, turning on communal switches, opening doors and using the toilet flush etc. (the left hand is reserved for cleansing oneself upon passing stool).
- Single men and women should only converse together when it’s necessary for particular devotional service.
- Do not waste Krishna’s energies such as toothpaste, electricity, water, etc. In fact, if you see a light or fire left on somewhere turn it off. Once on a morning walk, Srila Prabhupada turned off a running tap in someone’s garden. Another time when he was ill in Mayapur he rose especially from his bed to chastise a disciple for leaving a fan on when she left a room for only 5 minutes.
- Do not use your feet to do something that could be done with your hands.
- There is a particular floor cloth for every area. The cloth that is meant for use in the asrama should not be mixed up with the cloth for the showers, toilets, or stairs.
Sacred items
- Do not touch your foot to anything sacred or use your foot to do something that can be done with your hand.
- Do not walk over books, devotees, prasada or any sacred articles. To touch someone with one’s foot is considered offensive. For instance, if you have to walk past seated devotees in the temple room at class time, extend your right hand to indicate you wish to go by and they will move their knees to let you pass. If you happen to touch a devotee with your foot you can touch his body gently with your hand and then touch your head.
- Books, beads, karatalas, etc. should not go on the ground or on one’s seat or bed, nor should things be put on books (like alarm clocks, karatalas, etc.).
- If a sacred object falls to the floor pick it up and touch it to your head.
- If your japa beads are out of your bag, keep them in a clean place but do not hang them on a hook. The best is to have two bead bags. When you wash one, you can immediately put the beads into the other.
- Do not take sacred items into the toilet, e.g. beads, books, Harinam chuddar.
- Respect sacred items. Don’t lean on them or throw them around. Don’t write in books.
Asrama
- Do not take other’s possessions thinking that everything is Krishna’s and therefore everything is one. This is not our philosophy!
- Do not sleep on your stomach. When sleeping try to face South-East.
- A devotee puts on freshly washed clothes every morning.
- Do not stand in one’s underwear in front of Vaisnavas, or pictures of Krishna or the Guru. The Lord and His devotee are present in Their pictures and so should be respected accordingly. Always keep yourself covered with a gamsha.
- Your locker should always be neat and clean (Don’t leave prasada in it or even bring prasada to your room).
- If you sleep with a bedroll on the floor, roll it up upon rising and wash down the floor area where you slept.
- Do not leave clothing lying around. Dirty laundry is to be placed in a bag or laundry basket.
- The asrama floor should be washed daily.
- Prasadam should not be taken into the asrama.
Kitchen
- The kitchen is an extension of the altar, so whatever you do in the kitchen should be done with great care and attention for the Deities.
- Wear only clean, uncontaminated clothes in the kitchen. Clothes that have been eaten in or worn in the bathroom cannot be used. (Depends on the standards used in the particular temple.)
- Fingernails should be kept short. Wash your hands upon entering the kitchen before beginning your service.
- Never enter the kitchen in an unclean state.
- Don’t put anything in your mouth or touch anything to your mouth while in the kitchen. Don’t rinse your mouth or spit in the kitchen sinks.
- No eating or drinking in the kitchen.
- If you touch the floor, the waste bin or any of the openings of your body, wash your hands before touching anything else.
- No unnecessary talking in the kitchen, only Krishna katha or something directly related to what you are doing.
- If you are sick and have a bad cold, you should not work in the kitchen.
- It is important not to enjoy any of the preparations that are being prepared for Krishna’s enjoyment. You should not smell what is being cooked or even look at it with an enjoying spirit before it has been offered, what to speak of tasting it.
- Clean up the place you are about to work in and clean it up after you have finished.
- If a vegetable or cooking utensil falls on the floor, wash it off. If it falls on your foot, you may have to throw it away.
- Women should always keep their hair tied back and covered with a scarf. Men should make sure that their sikha is knotted.
- Don’t pass air or burp in the kitchen.
Temple
- Never enter the temple in an unclean state.
- Before entering one should ring the bell or knock and chant the names of the Deities.
- One should always pay obeisances when entering or leaving the temple room. Obeisances should be offered with two hands on the floor, not one.
- Do not talk informally, read or write personal letters in front of the Deities — only devotional activities such as hearing, chanting, reading and praying, or some important matter related to the service of the Deity should be carried on in the temple room.
- While sitting do not expose your feet to the Deities or point them at the spiritual master, or Tulasi devi, etc. Always try to keep them covered.
- Don’t pass air or burp in the temple room.
- Avoid sitting with your back to the Deities, the Vyasasana, Tulasi, or spiritual master.
Bathroom
- Nails should always be clipped short. This should not be done in one’s bedroom but in the bathroom and the clippings should be flushed away down the toilet or sink, or thrown in the rubbish bin provided. Evacuating, nail cutting, teeth brushing, shaving, etc., should be done before showering.
- Devotees prefer to use water than toilet paper. It is much cleaner. Afterwards the hands should be thoroughly cleaned with soap.
- In the toilets and bathrooms, the devotees should always be dressed in a gamcha.
- Take at least two showers a day (or more if you have to pass stool at another time) — the early morning shower can be cool to help invigorate the system and should be efficient but quick (a warm shower should be taken if one is sick). It is also important to take a “mental bath” by chanting Hare Krishna as one takes one’s physical bath.
- Scrub and file feet whenever necessary (which avoids painful cracks in the heel from developing)
- Tilak should be applied in all 12 places after showering.
- After doing these activities one is considered unclean and therefore needs to take a shower:
- sleeping more than one hour
- brushing teeth
- shaving
- passing stool
One should also take a shower after returning to the temple from harinam or from hard work that makes you all sweaty.
Do not worry unduly about all these rules and regulations; soon they will be your second nature. We all make mistakes in the beginning. Most of what we do is simply common sense. If anything is not clear or confuses you, please don’t hesitate to ask.