“Plants should never be disturbed at night! “We should never pluck their leaves after sunset.” Our parents would always admonish us when we treated plants as non-entities!

A simple set of instructions like that would trigger a series of questions.Our elders never had the real answer! (In fact, I came to know the real reason only today while doing a Google search for this article!) But they made us aware of other living beings that existed around us. Plants, insects, animals, bugs and even yucky looking worms were a part of our ecosystem.

“Do you like being disturbed at night while you are fast asleep?” 

“In the same manner, plants and other beings too do not like to get disturbed while they were sleeping!” 

Simple effective profound logic! A value was successfully infused in our subconscious minds! We started looking at other beings with our new found all-inclusive perspective.Then we would always see our mothers lighting a lamp each evening near the Tulsi plant that adorned our front yard! Unfailingly!Early every morning, she would water it, create a small rangoli, apply kumkum and haldi to the plant and circumambulate it! Unfailingly!

On a particularly auspicious day between Diwali and Karthik Poornima, we would be shaken out of our deep slumber at midnight!We would get up in confusion, but would smile delightedly when we remembered that today was Tulsi Vivaah – Tulsi was getting married to Vishnu Bhagwan! 

The rhythmic ringing of the temple bells, the devout faces of all the people who were performing the marriage ceremony, the divine sugarcane canopy and the well decorated Tulsi plant and Vishnu’s idol was a vision worth feasting our eyes on. Hey! Even Gods get married…..we would whisper delightedly amongst ourselves as we feasted on all the yummy goodies after the wedding got over!

That is a culture in the truest form. That is the essence of spirituality.

Time is created for such rituals. A lot of effort goes into performing such elaborate ceremonies and the impact on anyone’s minds and hearts is always intangible.Our ancestors created such rituals so that people could nurture such cultural and spirituality aspects in their lives. When children are exposed to such rituals – they are bound to grow up with unflinching faith in a higher divine force!

Children may never understand such rituals. They may never get the real answers to their endless questions. But they do enjoy them and that is a good way to introduce them to such intangible but powerful spiritual nuances! As adults, we too may not know the real reason behind all these rituals. But we do know that they fill us with peace and bliss. So we continue to follow such simple rituals like lighting a lamp before Tulsi each evening or performing a grand ceremony for Tulsi’s wedding.

The medicinal uses of Tulsi are many and anyone can get the facts and the details by doing a simple Google search. 

The stories related to Tulsi Vivaah too are really interesting to read.Perhaps we will understand the truth in depth symbolic meaning of Tulsi Vivaah only when we read these mythological tales.Perhaps we will yearn to probe into such tiny details only when we want to renew our faith in a higher force.

And when we read these endless tales, we realize that the Gods too faced a lot of problems in their divine lives. They too pined for lost love.They too had to take a different form and undergo several trials and tribulations to regain the love of their life! Tulsi, also known as Vrinda or Brinda, has the ability to inspire young minds, especially women with the several stories that are related to her life. 

Maybe women get the courage and the strength to overcome the challenges of their lives by praying to Tulsi/Vrinda/Brinda.Tulsi is believed to be a form of Goddess Lakshmi and epitomises pure love for her husband Vishnu.It is believed that Vrinda’s soul resides in the Tulsi plant at night and in the leaves during the mornings.That is why we should never pluck the leaves from plants at night! 

The Tulsi plant has a special tale to narrate to all of us but we can extend the same thinking to include all the plants………..because essentially each plant has a soul……….and an equally interesting tale to narrate!