The story of Tulasi Devi. Why do we worship a plant?

Some may have a little trouble with the idea of worshiping Tulasi. Why are we worshiping a plant? It goes much deeper than that.

Some may have a little trouble with the idea of worshiping Tulasi. Why are we worshiping a plant? It goes much deeper than that.

Tulasi Devi is the incarnation of Vrinda Devi, who is in turn the personification of the pastime potency of Krsna. She is the organizer of the pastimes between Radha and Krsna and it is after her that Vrindavana is named. "Vrindavana" means the forest of Vrinda. Radharani is called Vrindavanesvari (the queen of Vrindavana), and Krsna is considered the king, but without the mercy of Vrinda Devi is not possible to enter their pastimes. Therefore, we worship her every day in the morning, chanting “ye tomara sarana loy tara vancha purna hoy krpa kori koro tare vrndavana-vasi“ (Whoever takes shelter of you, all his desires are fulfilled and by your mercy, he becomes a resident of Vrndavana.) She is actually a partial expansion of Srimati Radharani and one of her intimate associates. As a gopi, she has a molten golden complexion and uses blue garments, decorated with many ornaments, pearls, and flowers. At the same time, she appears as the plant Tulasi, who is very dear to Krsna.

Vrinda Devi also appears as Tulasi in the material world in order to facilitate the service of devotees to Krsna and help us attain His service. There is a whole pastime explaining her advent, which is narrated in the Brahma Vaivarta Purana. As in other pastimes narrated in the same book, this pastime is hard to understand, because it is narrated in a way that appeals to people influenced by the mode of passion. It is, therefore, full of curses and apparent conflict. These descriptions are of course not false, but to properly understand them one has to study them under the light of Vaishnava philosophy.

The story is that, by the will of the Lord, once Sudama desired to have an amorous relationship with Vrinda Devi, and thus they appeared in this world as Tulasi and Sankhacuda. This story appears to be similar to the story of Jaya and Vijaya, as both came to facilitate the Lord's pastimes and not as a fall down. Just like Jaya and Vijaya, Vrinda Devi and Sudama came on the excuse of being cursed, but in reality, everything happened as part of a pastime. This story is full of deep meanings, but I will just try to describe it as far as I can understand.

It may look very strange that Sudama could have desired Vrinda Devi while in Goloka, but as many of Krsna's associates, Sudama is a partial expansion of Krsna, while Vrinda Devi is a manifestation of Krsna's pastime energy. There is therefore nothing wrong with their relationship, they are just like Laksmi and Narayana. However, it could not happen in Goloka, where the predominating mood is different, therefore they came to the material world under the pretext of a curse.

What curse was that? At some point, Vrinda Devi had an amorous encounter with Krsna. However, she was not able to take the ecstasy and just fainted. Vrinda Devi thus desired a relationship with Krsna but was not able to enjoy it in Goloka. Understanding her desire, Srimati Radharani "cursed" her to come to the material world, where she could obtain Lord Narayana (who is non-different from Krsna) as her husband. In reality, it was not a curse, but a blessing. Similarly, Sudama (being an expansion of Krsna) desired to have a relationship with Vrinda Devi and he was thus similarly "cursed" (blessed) to also come and take part in the pastime.

By definition, a curse happens as a result of some hateful exchange between two persons, but hate and envy are emotions that are not present in the spiritual world. Just like we have curses here, there are also curses in the spiritual world, but such curses are not uttered out of envy, but as blessings, as part of loving exchanges. Such blessings in turn led to the appearance of numerous pastimes.

Back to Vrinda Devi and Sudama, the whole pastime happened under the influence of Yogamaya, the internal energy of Krsna, and not Mahamaya (the material energy). Yogamaya is the potency of Krsna (more specifically of Balarama) who understands Krsna's desires, as well as the desires of His pure devotees, and makes arrangements for their pastimes. Just as Krsna can come in His different incarnations without getting in contact with the material energy, His pure devotees can also come to perform their pastimes without falling in Maya.

In this way, under the spell of Yogamaya, Sudama appeared as Sankhacuda, the son of Dambha, who although born in the dynasty of the demons was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. Dambha performed great austerities, and at the end, Lord Vishnu personally appeared to him. The Lord granted him the blessing of having a courageous son who would be invincible to the demigods, and be the conqueror of the three worlds.

It's described that Sankhacuda was radiant as a child and was a favorite of all family members. As he grew up he became handsome like Cupid himself. Later he practiced severe austerities and got blessings from Lord Brahma to become invincible to the demigods, and to be able to marry Tulasi Devi. Lord Brahma gave him a divine amulet, imbued with the power of Lord Vishnu, that made him practically invincible. There is another Sankhacuda who was killed by Krsna after the rasa dance, but this is a different personality, an associate of Kuvera.

Tulasi Devi in her turn appeared as the daughter of Dharmadhvaja, a king who practiced great austerities. It's described that she stayed in her mother's womb for one hundred celestial years and was born as an already grown-up girl who was given the name Tulasi due to her incomparable beauty. However, the girl left home and started practicing severe austerities in the mountains soon after being born, with the goal of getting Krsna as her husband.

As a result of her austerities, Lord Brahma appeared to offer her a boon. When she revealed her desire to get Krsna as her husband, Lord Brahma replied: "O Tulasi, Sudama was a partial expansion of Krsna and was one of Krsna's cowherd boyfriends in Goloka. As a result of a curse by Radharani, he is presently living on Earth among the Danavas (demons). His name is Sankhacuda. He is very energetic and no one can compare with him in strength. While living in Goloka, he was very attracted to you and wanted to marry you. But because he feared Radharani, he did not make any overtures.

Just as you are a jatismara [one who knows her previous births] Sankhacuda also is. Remembering his past desire to be close to you, he has performed severe austerities to obtain you as his wife. I now wish to grant his desire. Therefore, O beautiful one, please agree to wed him. However, later on, by the special arrangement of Providence, you will get the beautiful Narayana as your husband. But after that, He will curse you and you will be transformed into the world-purifying Tulasi plant. You will be the best of flowers and dearer to Narayana than His own life. No one's worship will be complete without your leaves. You will remain as a tree in Vrndavana and will be widely known as Vrndavani. The cowherd men and women will worship Lord Hari with your leaves. As the presiding deity of the Tulasi plant, you will always enjoy the company of Krsna, the best of cowherd boys."

Tulasi Devi is eternal, just as Lakshmi Devi is. However, just like Lakshmi Devi appears from the churning of the milk ocean, Tulasi Devi also appears as part of a pastime. Everything in this material world has to have a beginning, and thus even when Krsna appears he takes birth, although He is eternal. Similarly, Krsna's different associates also appear to take birth when they appear here. These pastimes repeat cyclically in all the different universes.

As an answer to her prayers, Tulasi Devi was instructed by Lord Brahma to marry Sankhacuda, who was nothing other than Sudama. He also blessed her to later get Lord Narayana as her husband. This may also sound strange to some, but being both Sudama and Naraya expansions of Krsna, they are non-different, just like Krsna is not different from Lord Rama. In the same way as Laksmi Devi, although being the eternal consort of Lord Vishnu, desired to join Krsna's pastimes (and this was not infidelity, since Vishnu and Krsna are actually the same person), Tulasi Devi also accepted both Sudama and Lord Narayana as her husbands, being them actually the same person.

Vrinda Devi could not maintain an intimate relationship with Krsna in Goloka, since it was not her rasa, but by the blessings of Lord Brahma (inspired by the desire of Krsna), she could relate to Krsna through His expansions, who are non-different from Him.

Under the guidance of Lord Brahma, Tulasi Devi engaged for twelve years in worshiping Srimati Radharani through a sixteen-lettered mantra. At the end of this period, she attained success and became cheerful. Soon afterward, Sankhacuda appeared, wanting to marry her. They married under the Gandharva system, where the couple just falls in love and get married by exchanging garlands and gifts. An interesting dialogue happened at this point, which I explore in another article: "Tulasi Devi teaches how to find a good wife or husband".

After marrying Tulasi, Sankhacuda defeated all the demons and took all their weapons and opulence. He reigned over the celestial planets and had loving exchanges with his wife for a long time, but all this time equaled just about half a moment in the spiritual world. In this way, this whole pastime took a very short period from the perspective of his associates left in the spiritual world.

Taking shelter in Lord Shiva, the demigods were brought by him to Vaikuntha, where they got the audience of Lord Narayana after passing all the gates. One could question how the demigods could visit Vaikunta without being liberated, and how they could go back to the material world after gaining entrance there. Srila Prabhupada explains that sometimes Lord Narayana allows people from the material world to gain entrance to Vaikunta, so the inhabitants can see them, just like when animals from Africa are brought to other countries as an attraction. Druvasa Muni was also able to enter in the same terms when he was trying to escape from the Sudharshana Chakra after offending Ambarisha Maharaja. In this case, they are not accepted as permanent residents and have to return to the material world after their visits.

After the demigods met Lord Narayana and explained their situation, the Lord explained to them the real identity of Sankhacuda and gave His trident to Lord Shiva, so he could fight and kill him. Sankhacuda had two opulences that were the source of his power. The first was a divine amulet that made him invincible, and the second was his wife's chastity, which protected him from all dangers. As long as he had these two things, it would be impossible for anyone to kill him, even Lord Shiva. Therefore, Lord Narayana devised a plan so he could deprive him of both things, allowing Lord Shiva to fight and successfully kill him. At that time, it was already time for Sudama to return to the spiritual world.

Lord Shiva sent an envoy to Sankhacuda, ordering him to return the kingdoms of the demigods, but it was of course refused. Sankhacuda was fearless and was prepared to fight even Lord Shiva.

The next day, Sankhacuda took his weapons and summoned his armies. It's described that he had 300,000 aksauhinis. Of course, it's not possible to gather such a vast army on this planet, but it's important to consider that other planetary systems are vast and have much bigger populations, and these were armies from not just one planet, but from all over the lower planetary systems. On the opposite side, Lord Shiva gathered his associates, as well as the different demigods, and ordered them to prepare for battle.

Sankhacuda and his army met Lord Shiva in a sacred place called Siddhasrama, on the banks of the Puspabhadra River. Being a devotee, he was naturally respectful to Lord Shiva, and thus he bowed down before him, alongside all his associates. In return, Lord Shiva gave him blessings and glorified him. Lord Shiva understood that he was Sudama, and therefore there was a lot of respect and affection in their meeting.

Lord Shiva urged Sankhacuda to return the kingdom to the demigods, arguing based on religious principles. Sankhacuda argued that the quarrels between the demons and demigods are eternal, with sometimes the demigods winning, and sometimes the demons getting the upper hand, and that therefore there was no need for him to get involved in such petty affairs, understanding that both are equal, as souls. He also explained that Lord Shiva was much greater than him, and therefore if Lord Shiva would kill him in battle this would not be a loss, but if somehow he would be able to defeat him, it would be a great glory. In this way, negotiations were over and they prepared to fight.

It's important to understand in this case the fight was not conducted in envy or enimity. Both Lord Shiva and Sankhacuda are eternal associates of the Lord. However, they had a role to play in the pastime, and thus they enjoyed fighting each other sportively, just like two friends in a mock fight. Materialistic people may fight over a kingdom under the spell of attachment, but as Krsna explains in the Bhagavad Gita, both the one who thinks he kills and the one who thinks he is being killed are an illusion, thinking they are the body. Sankhacuda understood who he was, and understood that his duty was to fight in the battle and return to his eternal position in the spiritual world.

As the battle started, soldiers and commanders on both sides chose opponents of similar strength to fight with. Both sides fought righteously using both regular and mystical weapons. Initially, the demons had the upper hand, but then Karttikeya entered the battle, fighting alongside his mother, in the form of Bhadra-Kali. Very quickly they started destroying the army of the demons.

Entering the battle, Sankhacuda fought valiantly with Kartikeya and eventually defeated him by attacking him with a mystical spear that was imbued with Lord Vishnu's energy. Kartikeya fell unconscious from the attack and was rescued by his mother, who took him back.

Lord Shiva revived Kartikeya but prevented him from returning to the fight. Kali started fighting Sankhacuda, but he was able to counteract all her weapons. Eventually, Kali attacked him with the Narayana weapon, but Sankhacuda avoided the attack by simply paying obeisances. The weapon of Lord Narayana can't kill a devotee, and thus simply dissipated upwards like a great fire. Kali threw a Brahmastra, but Sankhacuda counteracted it with another Brahmastra.

Sankhacuda revered Kali as his mother and thus avoided attacking her directly. Kali, on the other hand, was unable to defeat him by any means. She even tried to throw the Pasupata weapon at him, but a celestial voice told her that as long as he had his amulet no one would be able to defeat him, including her. In this way, Kali defeated most of the demons and returned to Lord Shiva. Now it was time for him to personally fight with Sankhacuda.

Both Lord Shiva and Sankhacuda fought using many different types of weapons. Now, fighting with the powerful Lord Shiva, Sankhacuda was not holding back. Both were fighting to the best of their abilities, but the battle came to a standstill. Sankhacuda was protected by both his amulet and the chastity of his wife, therefore even Lord Shiva was incapable of defeating him.

At this point, most of the demons had been killed or had run away. However, Sankhacuda was still determined to fight to the end. He threw different weapons at Lord Shiva and used different illusory tricks, but Lord Shiva was able to dispel all his attacks. Lord Shiva was preparing to use the trident he got from Lord Vishnu to kill Sankhacuda, but a voice from the sky told him to not do that. Sankhacuda was protected by the blessings of Lord Brahma, and could not be killed while he was wearing his amulet, and Lord Shiva should not violate this boom.

The fight was thus at a standstill, with neither party being able to defeat the other. At this point, Lord Vishnu intervened, as He had promised.

Appearing in the form of a Brahmana, he begged Sankhacuda for his amulet. Being devoted to Brahminical culture, Sankhacuda gave it to him, and thus he was deprived of its protection. Lord Shiva took the opportunity to continue fighting Sankhacuda but, despite his best efforts, he was still unable to defeat him. It happened that apart from the amulet, Sankhacuda was protected by the chastity of his wife. Although he lost his amulet, as long as Tulasi remained faithful to him, he could not be defeated.

This makes the point about the value of a caste wife. Every woman has a very powerful energy that she can't use directly. This energy can only be given to a man she is devoted to. Therefore, when a woman marries a qualified man and becomes devoted to him, she is able to empower her husband to perform great deeds. A chaste wife is thus an extremely valuable asset. In the case of Sankacuda, his wife was so devoted that even Lord Shiva was not capable of killing him.

To solve this problem, Lord Vishnu assumed the form of Sankhacuda and went to his palace to see Tulasi. It appeared that her husband was returning after winning the battle. After being well received, He entered the internal chambers and met Tulasi. Thinking that her husband had returned she worshiped him, seated him in the throne, and asked about the battle. Lord Vishnu told her that after a long fight, they had agreed to make peace, and thus he had returned home. In this way, He became intimate with Tulasi Devi, breaking her vows of chastity to her husband.

When he was deprived of both the protection of the amulet and the chastity of his wife, Lord Shiva was finally able to kill Sankhacuda, hitting him with the trident given to him by Lord Vishnu. Although Sankhacuda was still powerful enough to fight the demigods, at this point he was not a match for Lord Shiva.

Sankhacuda was killed while in deep meditation on Lord Vishnu, and thus he easily returned to his original position in the spiritual world, where he was received by Sri Sri Radha and Krsna with great delight. The bones of Sankhacuda were thrown into the ocean and became all the conchshells of the world, which are thus considered pure and auspicious.

Back in the palace, Tulasi Devi understood that the person lying in bed with her was not her husband. Without knowing who he was, she cursed him. Lord Vishnu then assumed his true form and Tulasi Devi fainted. When she came back to consciousness, understanding that her husband had been killed due to the trick employed by Lord Vishnu, she lamented that He had a heart of stone.

Lord Vishnu consoled her by remembering that she desired to have Him as her husband, and He had satisfied her wish. Sankhacuda also desired to have her as his wife, and this was also satisfied, thus there was no need for lamentation. He blessed her to assume a spiritual body and be eternally his wife, just like Lakshmi Devi. At the same time, she would remain on Earth as the river Gandaki and as the sacred Tulasi plant, giving her mercy to everyone.

The leaves of the Tulasi plant are most sacred and most dear to Lord Vishnu. The Brahma Vaivarta Purana offers a long list of blessings one can achieve by just offering a single Tulasi leaf to Lord Vishnu, drinking water that has touched these leaves, dying while holding Tulasi leaves, or wearing a kunti-mala made of Tulasi wood. However, these are actually secondary benefits. The real benefit is that by worshipping Tulasi Devi and offering her leaves to the Lord, one attains love for Krsna.

Tulasi Devi is simultaneously in Goloka, in her original spiritual form, and on Earth as the plant Tulasi. Although she may look like a regular plant, her form is actually spiritual. Just like a deity is not different from Krsna, the plant Tulasi is not different from Vrinda Devi. She is just like a living deity.

To honor the curse that was uttered by Tulasi Devi, Lord Vishnu assumed the form of the Salagrama Silas, which appear close to the bank of the Gandaki River. In this way, He is always close to His wife.

These stones have series of internal marks made by Vajrakita worms and can be recognized by the format of these rings. The Brahma Vaivarta Purana describes different types of Salagrama Silas (which can be recognized by the number of holes, the format of the rings, and other characteristics) and the material effects of worshiping which type, but again these are just secondary benefits. The real benefit is to attain the service of the Lord.

Both the plant Tulasi and the Salagrama Silas appear all over the cosmos in different universes. In the same way, the pastime of their appearance is also shown in different universes to give the inhabitants the idea of a beginning, although both are eternal and spiritual. A deity may be carved at some point by an artisan, and thus it can be said that the form of the deity has a beginning, but we know that the form of the Lord is actually eternal.

The story of Tulasi Devi is described in more detail in the booklet "The Story of Srimati Tulasi Devi" by His Holiness Amala-Bhakta Swami. It's from there I got the translations for the fragments I quoted. Here I'm just giving a summary.

Read the second part: Tulasi Devi teaches how to find a good wife or husband