Parampara Awareness Club
A Parampara Endeavour ……..
No:46, Kasturi Ranga Road, Alwarpet, Chennai-18.
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Phone:044-24991516.
Email:paramparaind@yahoo.com
Raise Yourself by Yourself
www.parampara.org
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Paramparā
To be rooted is to flower & fruit—Return Home
In Tulsi is hidden, the consciousness and the Power of the Universal Mother. One of the few
remaining symbols of Indian tradition, Tulsi evokes a spontaneous reverence in our hearts.
Even today we find a Tulsi plant in many homes that have done away with traditional rituals
like Bhoomi Vandhan, Surya Namaskar, Sandhya Vandan, the worship of the Cow, the daily
Panchang reading, the Panch Maha Yagna…..
Tulsi is still a part of our psyche- it represents the sublime beauty of nature-its nurturing
and protection. It is called the mother and most Indian women still relate to it.
Holding the hands of Tulsi, we at Parampara, hope to reach the hearts and minds of our
mothers and children and bring our great traditions back to our lives. Reverence to all life
was not mere rituals, but great strategies designed by our seers for a smooth and
harmonious interaction of all life forces.
India is not an ordinary land or a mere geographical location on the globe. It is Punya
Bhoomi, a land where one is born after acquiring great merit, thus sang the Seers.
This is a land where knowledge and techniques of enlightenment were in abundance. With
incisive illumined minds, thinkers penetrated into various subjects and all aspects of our
existence to help evolve and sustain the harmony of life cycles. As a result of profound
understanding of our very existence, these sages gave us certain rules for harmonious living
that could not be transgressed.
Manifestation of Life
Life manifests not in just human form. All the cosmic forces, the planets, the energy of the
Sun, the Moon, the movement of the wind, the rain, etc., have a certain inherent pattern and
affect the entire world processes and our lives. All these movements are not arbitrary.
Each of them have a potential and are interactive. But when life manifests in the human
form it also acquires a free will to act. To grow and evolve, one has to interact with other
forms of life and an imbalance or a lack of knowledge in that could cause damage to the
whole.
Men evolve at different levels of mind and understanding. Not all are equal in their
understanding of the cosmic processes. Most just follow what is told to them or designed
as a way of right living. The Seers, who knew or understood the workings of the world,
formulated guidelines for action for those not so evolved- so that life could function
harmoniously and smoothly.
We do not or cannot live in isolation. All the components of universal life and existence are
inter-related and inter-dependent. There is connectivity, mutuality and relationship in all
that exists or in all that is manifested.
For our growth and evolution, we take from various forms of life and are, in turn, indebted
to them. To return the debt, we have to do all that is within our means, to the source that
we take from.
The Plant Life
The plant life is one such form of life so vital to our Being. Without the plant life, it is
difficult to imagine our very existence. The grain that nourishes our body, the herbs that
heal, the trees that store our waters, give us their fruits and their wood for our fuel and
dwelling, the same trees also provide shade and home to so many birds and small animals the favors that we receive from each one of them are innumerable. It is as if, we exist
because they exist.
There is a great debt due to the plant life from us. Just as they nourish and protect us we
too are expected to protect and nourish them. We can begin to do this first by
acknowledging their debt and reflecting their role in our lives. This creates a sense of
reverence.
Tulsi
Tulsi is the representative of the plant life that our Seers chose for us to pay obeisance
every morning- a symbolic act of such acknowledgement. Watering the Tulsi with reverence
and attention everyday creates a relationship with the plant. There is a communion.
We learn about plant life. We learn how it grows and what causes it to whither.
We
understand that plant life is dependent on sunlight, air, water, earth and manure, the pests
that plague it and the herbs that heal it, the effect of the sunlight, the cause of its drying
and blossoming. Improper and imbalanced intake of any can cause its destruction. We learn
to propagate it and grow it in abundance. The deity of Tulsi or the spirit of Tulsi, as we pay
more attention to it, slowly reveals its properties to us. This is how our Seers knew its uses
for us.
Thus we see that by a simple act or ritual of praying to the Tulsi, we bring in reverence of
plant life to our lives. With such a relationship existing, we will be cautious in destroying any
plant or trees. Respecting one form of life means respecting every form and also one Self.
The electric energy contained in Tulsi purifies the air and invokes good spirits. In our
Puranas, which explain the eternal truths with the help of moral symbols and stories, Tulsi
was wedded to Vishnu, who represents protection and nurturing. Krishna and Hanuman wear
garlands of Tulsi to derive from it their shakti to protect.
With so many stories woven around her to emphasise her various attributes—the ultimate is
the story of tulabhaar where Krishna is weighed with the jewels of Satyabhama but a single
leaf of Tulsi offered by Rukmini is enough to bring the balance—Krishna and Tulsi are equal.
This is a master stroke of our image creators—Krishna and Tulsi weigh equal.
Tulsi is said to contain Shiva’s semen or mercury. Healers and priests swear by it. Tulsi
rosaries,beads and water soaked in Tulsi is given in the temples. It is a classic giving tree.
Every part, the root, the leaves, the seeds, and the bark are all used. The entire plant is
placed at the time of cremation.
Why Tulsi?
Just as there are people with different dispositions like the Satvik, the Rajasic and the
Tamasic, so are the plants. Plants are only a less evolved form of consciousness.
Among the human beings we respect and love the knowledge givers, the protectors, and the
kind and generous and so it is with the plants. Some men are holy, so it is that Tulsi is a
divine holy plant because among the plants it has evolved to that level. It can protect, heal
and help us to evolve…
Strategies to percolate knowledge
Our seers were not only knowledgeable but they had compassion for all. They were great
strategists. They know how to percolate the knowledge to all people. For those more evolved
and more intellectual capacities were treatises that were terse and to the point but for the
not so aware they wove stories around great truths which then became easy to understand
by all. Thus a good degree of harmony existed in the society and the environment. The
Bhoomi Vandan, the Sun worship, watering the Tulsi, paying obeisance to the parents and
teachers, were all part of a divine plan of our Seers to create a balance and harmony in life.
Our only hope to protect our environment is through reinventing these rituals. In the
understanding and appreciation of these we are not traveling to antiquity but collecting the
gems of eternal wisdom, looking forward to a future where nothing precious in life has been
left behind.
WITH THE HELP OF THE AWARENESS OF TULSI –
1. We can create a reverence for the plant life
2. Protect our physical, mental and spiritual health.
Just a decoction of Tulsi leaves will protect us from so many diseases including cancer.
Because of lack of basic knowledge people spend so much money on medicines for ailments,
which can be prevented and cured by natural herbs like Tulsi and others.
3. Protect our heritage and culture by bringing back the understanding of Tulsi in our
lives.
When a woman performs certain rituals she also preserves so many other forms of rituals
knowingly or intuitively which were designed for harmony and sustenance. Faith and
understanding of one ritual will lead to the understanding of other such designs. To water
the Tulsi in the morning at a particular time of sunrise will help the person to start their
day at dawn availing of the freshness of the morning the sun- a pure clean and calm air etc,
which are all conducive to good health and a cheerful mind. One learns more about Ayurveda,
which deals with the properties of the herbs. Awareness of one herb makes us aware about
other herbs.
4. Awareness of Tulsi Will help us to educate, in an integrated way.
Reflecting and creating a bond with plant life will help us not to destroy it. It will help the
mind to focus on conservation and protection. This can, then, is extended to any form of
life, be it animal or fellow humans—it will make us think!
A mind that is contemplative and compassionate also becomes simple, understanding and
insightful. Its needs will become simple and less, which will result in austerity.
This will
make a great economic sense both materially and mentally.
The energies thus saved will be used for solving problems of life and understanding various
deeper aspects of life rather than spending this great gift of human existence frivolously
on acquiring and enjoying the same things perpetually. This was the way our culture had
reached its highest in all fields of existence.
We can do it again. We have it in our psyche—the method to be great, for we of the Indian
tradition know to revere all and see the same spirit in all. We know what interdependence
is.
Just by the simple act of respecting the Tulsi, we can begin another step towards the
greatness of this country.
And, whatever we do can be good for the entire world.
We need to do more than recycling newspapers into envelopes or using ozone friendly sprays
or talk glibly of environment protection.
We need to relate, to communicate, to revere and respect, for, we exist because the
TULSI EXISTS.
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It is our goal at Parampara to bring the story and glory of Tulsi in every home.
That each woman identifies with it.
That each child grows up nurturing it.
We invite you all to join our movement– this Maha Yagna of Tulsi Seva
Come Pick up a sapling of Tulsi from Parampara – Today.
( Manjulika
Jhaver)