The Glories of Tulasi Devi Date: 2010-02-27 Author: Narahari Krishna das Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Gurudeva. The Lord states in the Gita that He accepts a leaf, flower, fruit or water from His bhaktas if it is offered with devotion. These items are easily available and by offering these things one can get His blessings to enter into His kingdom. And from the scriptures we hear that the Lord has great liking for Tulasi leaves and He is very much pleased if we offer tulasi leaves to Him. There is an interesting incident in the Mahabharata in this connection. After the Kurukshetra war was over and Yudhishtira became the King, the King performed a great Aswamedha sacrifice. After the sacrifice, he question Lord Krishna on a variety of spiritual subjects and he requested Lord Krishna to explain the process of devotional service. The Lord spoke elaborately on this subject and this section is popularly known as ‘Vaishnava Dharma’. In this section the King asked, "Which flowers can be used by your devotees to worship you?". The Lord then gave a list of flowers beginning with Jasmine etc., which are dear to Him. Then the Lord gave a hierarchy of the flowers He likes (Mahabharata- Ashwamedhika Parva 14.96.15). sarveṣām api puṣpāṇāṃ sahasraguṇam utpalam tasmāt padmaṃ tathā rājan padmāt tu śatapatrakam tasmāt sahasrapatraṃ tu puṇḍarīkaṃ tataḥ param puṇḍarīkasahasrāt tu tulasī guṇato 'dhikā Of all the flowers, O King, the bluish lotus flower (Utpalam) is thousand times more qualified for My worship. Greater than that is the red lotus (Padmam) flower. Of the red lotus, the lotus with hundred petals is more qualified. Better than that is the red lotus with thousand petals. Better than this is the white lotus flower (Pundarika). And better than white lotus flower with thousand petals is the Tulsi leaf, which is even more qualified for My worship. Srila Prabhupada therefore introduced the worship of Tulasi Devi in the Krishna Consciousness movement and encouraged all devotees to offer Tulsi leaves to the Lord. Srila Prabhupada also taught the devotees to add Tulasi leaves while offering bhoga to the Lord. Srila Prabhupada also quoted about Tulasi worship in many places. " A householder worshipping Tulasi Devi will make vigorous spiritual advancement." (Cc Madhya Lila 23.261), Tadiya (that which is dear to the Lord) means the Tulasi leaves, the devotees of Krishna, the birthplace of Krishna, Mathura, and the Vedic literature Srimad Bhagavatam. Krishna is very eager to see His devotee serve Tulsi, Vaishnavas, Mathura, and Bhagavatam." (Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya-Lila 22.125- Lord Caitanya's instruction to Sanatana Goswami). There is a beautiful verse explaining the Lord's liking for Tulasi leaves. tulasī-dala-mātreṇa jalasya culukena vā vikrīṇīte svam ātmānaṁ bhaktebhyo bhakta-vatsalaḥ Sri Krishna, who is very affectionate toward His devotees, sells Himself to a devotee who offers merely a tulasi leaf and a palmful of water. There are two interesting pastimes proving that the Lord gave Himself when devotees offered Him Tulasi leaves. From the Caitanya Caritamrita, we learn that Sri Advaita Acharya had a Narasimha Saligrama and worshipped the Lord in the Saligrama form with Ganges water and Tulasi Leaves. He prayed to the Supreme Lord to appear in this world to deliver the people of Kali Yuga. Pleased by this simple worship, the Lord advented Himself as Lord Caitanya and propagated the chanting of Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Once Narada muni visited the palace of Lord Krishna in Dwaraka. He met Satyabhama and Rukmini and told that they should give charity to him something which equals Lord Krishna's weight and in this way manifest their devotion to the Lord. Satyabhama always had the opinion that her devotion was always greater than Rukmini's devotion. Satyabhama made the Lord sit on the balance on one side and on the other side she started keeping her jewels. But the jewels did not match Krishna's weight. She then completely emptied all her treasury and kept all the jewels and gold in her possession. Still the riches did not become equal to the Lord's weight. She was completely baffled and finally accepted her defeat. Rukmini whose attitude was very meek and humble, prayed intensely to the Lord and Narada Muni and placed a small leaf of Tulasi in the balance. The balance then became equal on both side. Narada Muni then happily accepted the Tulasi Leaf as the charity from Rukmini. By these pastimes, the Lord is conveying the simple and sublime nature of devotional service and how one can attain His Kingdom easily in this age of Kali. I pray at the lotus feet of the all merciful eternal acharya H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj, Srila Prabhupada and the Supreme Lord so that I will get some inspiration to worship Tulasi devi and obtain the Lord's blessings in devotional service. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai..