Teacher's Lucky Lottery Win After Temple Cleaning Service

A heartwarming story has emerged from Samut Songkhram province. Arun Kleuan Panthu, director of Samut Songkhram Technical College, organized a 2569 candle-offering project where departments brought candles to various temples and encouraged faculty and students to volunteer cleaning temple bathrooms before the ceremony.

On July 15, Ms. Ubonrat Gaeochchaichareongkit, a culinary and nutrition instructor, led students in cleaning bathrooms at Wat Inthaaram. She personally cleaned three bathrooms and offered prayers for good fortune as usual. The next day, when the government lottery drew on July 16, she discovered she had won the three-digit prize.

This morning, she brought flip-flops as an offering to Phra Metthi Watcharaprachathorn (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Luang Pho Daeng), the abbot of Wat Inthaaram, and volunteered to clean six additional bathrooms. She hopes the merit will help her win the first-prize six-digit jackpot this draw. Ms. Ubonrat explained that after the initial three-bathroom cleaning brought her the three-digit win, she realized the power of her actions. She even touched a turtle statue for luck and prayed to the 300-year-old Buddha image before the bathrooms. When she later found a broken shoe in the bathroom, she decided to offer new flip-flops to the temple.

She forgot she had bought a lottery ticket through the Pao Tang app until money suddenly appeared in her account the next day. Now, having cleaned three bathrooms successfully, she is doubling down by cleaning six more, hoping for a first-prize match. Ms. Ubonrat noted that while luck and coincidence play a role, the real value lies in performing good deeds with a pure heart and removing filth—both literal and spiritual. She encouraged the public to visit Wat Inthaaram during the long holidays to participate in merit-making activities.

Arun Kleuan Panthu, the college director, stated that the institution emphasizes promoting Buddhism among teachers, staff, and students through candle offerings and community service projects. This year, 19 candles were offered to various temples, with bathroom-cleaning activities designed to instill public consciousness, patience, and sacrifice for the common good. The symbolic connection between cleaning away filth and removing obstacles and negativity from one's life is central to the initiative.

Abbot Phra Metthi Watcharaprachathorn praised the volunteers, noting that cleaning temple bathrooms represents great merit-making. Bathrooms are centers of uncleanliness, and by scrubbing them clean, volunteers benefit users while also training their minds to purify greed, anger, and delusion—like planting seeds that yield their own fruit. Such good deeds become lasting blessings in one's life.