Chandan Yatra, the festival of sandalwood, is celebrated for twenty one days in the hottest period of the summers. During this period, the deity of Lord Sri Gopal is completely covered from His head to His feet with sandalwood paste in day time. This keeps the body of the Lord cool, since sandalwood has a cooling property.

Ten days prior to the festival, devotees start grinding sandalwood, and the grinding continues till the last day. In all, around four kilos of sandalwood is ground.

Devotees of all walks of life and of all ages volunteer in this service. Grinding stones with wood atop and water in cups are placed in the temple corridor, and anyone at any time of the day can chip in their contribution to fill the stock of chandan paste.

Paraphernalia for Grinding Sandalwood.

Interestingly, in the whole exercise, the devotees sweat to cool the Lord’s body. Radhanath Swami explains why. “The philosophy of Bhakti Yoga is that to the degree one is thinking in terms of one’s own happiness, to that degree one will suffer, either today or tomorrow. And to the degree one selflessly engages for the pleasure of Krishna, the Supreme Lord, to that degree one will experience real joy, joy of the soul.”

Sure enough, every morning before the curtain opens for the morning darshan, devotees throng to the temple hall, with thrilled anticipation of having the darshan of Sri Gopal draped in colored chandan, with designs drawn on his limbs, and in many forms.