As I went about with my morning walk my thoughts were running through the story of Purandara Dasa which I am at present reading.He is said to be an avatar of Narada.
Before he was named Purandara Dasa he was named Raghunath Das by his parents.He was also referred to as Cheenappa Naicker.He was a successful money lender and believed money and his business very important.He never liked to part with his money for anything.His wife smt.Lakshmibai was a great pativrata and worshipped Tulasi mata.She worshipped Tulasi mata with great devotion.
One morning the lord comes in the form of an old Brahmin to Naicker shop asking for alms.Naicker is very rude to him and inspite of the old man trying all he could to get something from Naicker, he is unsucceessful.Naicker is rude,angry and pushes the old man out on the road.The old man gets up and decides to go to Naicker’s house and test his wife this time.It is a Friday morning, and when someones knocks at Lakshmibai’s door asking for alms, she is moved,and decides to give the Brahmin something without her husbands permission.She has her nose ring in her hands and gives it away to the brahmin.The brahmin leaves blessing Lakshmibai,and heads straight to Naicker’s shop and shows him the diamond nose ring and asks him for money in exchange for the nose ring.Naicker is a bit perplexed at the nose ring because he is sure it is his wife’s nose ring.He tells the Brahmin to sit in the shop and rushes home with the nose ring and asks his wife for her nose ring.Lakshmibai is now anxious and being a pativrata, has never ever done anything without his consent,has never lied to her husband .She runs to her tulasi mata and cries to herfor help and lo!! what does she find in her tulasi plant??A shining nose ring is there,she immediately takes it and rushes to her husband and gives it to him.Naicker convinced now goes to the shop only to find that the brahmin has disappeared from his shop.A rather confused Naicker comes home and asks Lakshmibai to tell him the truth.When Lakshmibai narrates what excatly happened, Naicker realises that it was the Lord himself who had come down and he did not recognise HIM.
This changes his whole life and Naicker now realises he is here to sing the Lord’s name and that he had wasted so many years of his life and so the story goes
The important thing here is the Bhakti of Lakshmibai .She has so much faith and bhakti that when she cries to tulasi mata she gets help.
In this context I would also like to add another story of Tulasi whch is very popular and also about tulasi Kalyanam which is very popular in most parts of India.
The Story of Tulsi Klayanam
The Tulsi plant is a variety of the spice we know as basil. The story of Tulsi and the holiday known as Tusli Kalyanam is a wonderfully symbolic story that resonates even today.
Tulsi Kalyanam, is the mythical marriage of the tulsi plant and Krishna, is celebrated on the 11th day of the bright half of the lunar month of Kartika. The festival is popular in all parts of India and particularly in the south.
Sage Narada who is the son of Brahma, the creator, takes the role of cosmic instigator. He is always sneaking in and out of these stories, usually starting things off by making devious suggestions which his unsuspecting target eagerly agrees to. Of course there are all sorts of interesting consequences and they are what make up the core of these stories.
During the time that Krishna was here on earth, the gods in heaven decided that he had been away long enough and that they missed him. They wanted him to come back to heaven. So with Narada, they hatched a plan to get Krishna to return.
While here on earth, Krishna had 2 wives; Satyabhama and Rukmini. Queen Satyabhaama enquired of the Rishi Narada how she could ensure that she would have Krishna as her husband in her next life. Narada told the Queen, and truthfully so, that you receive in the next life that which you give away in this life as charity (Daan in sanskrit). So Satyabhaama immediately gave Krishna away to Narada and they left immediately so that Krishna could go back to heaven.
But Krishna's wives Rukmini and Satyabhama sorely missed their husband, and both requested Narada to bring Krishna back. Narada said that they would have to give the gods something equal to the weight of Krishna if he was to return from heaven. Proud of all the jewels and valuables that Krishna had given her, Satyabhama set up a large weighing balance scale. Krishna came and sat on one side. Satyabhama, who as befits a Queen, was rather arrogant and brought out all her jewels and gold and silver pots to weigh against Krishna. But the more she piled onto the balance scale, the lighter her side became. Krishna just became heavier and heavier. Reduced to angry tears, she finally gave up.
Satyabhama asked Rukmini to do what she could. Rukmini removed all the gold and gems from the scale and plucked a few leaves of the wild tulsi plant growing nearby. She put them on the scale with all her love. The leaves proved to be far heavier than Krishna. With a smile, Krishna returned to earth to be with his wives.
Since that time, a tulsi leaf is added to any auspicious gift. A father also places a tulsi leaf in his daughter's hand during the Kanyadaan - giving away of the daughter during a Hindu marriage ceremony.
On Tulsi Kalyanam the yagya tradition is for the tulsi plant to be dressed up as if it were a murti. The ceremony of Vishnu’s marriage is reenacted in a puja called Kalyana Utsavam. A dainty wedding pavilion (mandap) is made of sugarcane stalks and the tulsi plant is decorated with a yellow bridal sari, miniature jewellery and red kumkum powder. Krishna wears a golden crown and the traditional bridegroom's attire. The wedding is conducted with complete wedding puja and homa rites. The Tulsi plant is offered a feast of seasonal berries, new tamarind, turmeric, amla fruit and rice. Krishna is offered sweets made of milk.
You might ask why it was that Rukmini, who was really Lakshmi, offered the tulsi plant to Krishna in this story. As is frequently the case in Vedic stories, it begins with a demon who has gained too much power and is troubling the gods. Since the strength of the gods can not always equal that of the demons, the gods have to win by some form of trickery. Of course ultimately it backfires and the gods have make amends.
In this case, there was a demon who was a famous warrior by the name of Jalandhar. By constantly annoying, fighting and defeating the gods he made his fellow demons happy and more and more of the universe came under their control. Jalandhar had a wonderful wife by the name of Vrinda who was a pure and spiritually dedicated soul and a powerful yogi in her own right. Because of her purity and spiritual strength, Jalandhar became invincible in all three worlds.
Desperately, the gods tried to find some way to defeat Jalandhar. Vishnu developed a plan and sent messengers to tell Vrinda that her husband had been killed in battle. The severed head and body of two monkeys were put in front of her, and after reciting some mantras, Vishnu, through his magical powers made her believe it was her husband’s dead body and she was plunged into grief.
Then Vishnu snuck away and took the form of a sadhu and seemingly innocent, walked by Vrinda. Faking compassion, Vishnu recited some mantras and joined the head and the body together again. Vishnu quickly took the form of Vrinda’s husband who thought that her husband Jalandhar stood there in front of her. She embraced him with passion and relief. But quickly she realized her mistake and discovered that it was in fact, Vishnu. In that conservative era, she immediately lost her spiritual virtue and power for having touched the body of man who was not her husband. She was distraught at having been tricked, but it was of no use. After Vrinda had lost her holiness and purity, Jalandhar lost the source of his power, and was killed in battle.
When Vrinda came to know the full truth of her husband’s death, she was wild with anger and cursed Vishnu saying, “Your wife will be taken away from you and you will have to ask help from monkeys to recover her.” A rishi’s curse is a powerful thing and not even the gods can escape it. It was after all, the result of Vishnu’s own actions coming back to him.
As we well know, this curse was realized when Vishnu took the form as Rama and Sita was taken from him only to be saved again by Hanuman, the monkey god.
After issuing her curse, Vrinda prepared the funeral pyre for her husband and jumped into the fire. Vishnu, whose job it is to protect everyone in creation, was very sorry because as a result of his deceit the poor widow had committed suicide. He remained sitting at the side of the pyre for many days, deep in depression. Worried about him because he was neglecting his cosmic duties, the gods planted three medicinal trees in the cremation ground; Tulsi, Amala, and Jasmine. Of these three trees the Tulsi was most dear to Vishnu and to this day is used in his worship rituals
Because Vrinda had for a while truly believed Vishnu to be her husband, when Vishnu appeared as Krishna, Vrinda came in the form of Rukmini and on the day which we celebrate as Tulsi Kalyanam, they were married.
JAI GURU DEVA!!!!!
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