How To Perform Tulsi Pooja
Tulsi is a very powerful herb used in Hindu pujas. No puja to Lord Vishnu is deemed complete without offering Tulsi leaves. In every household we find a Tulsi plant watered and taken care with devotion. It is believed that poisonous insects and evil powers do not enter where Tulsi plant grows.
Also, the very breeze of Tulsi plant can remove several diseases and send positive vibrations all around. Tulsi is one of the biggest purifiers of the atmospheric air.Tulsi Puja is a famous ritual performed in every household. Many saints and sages even advise Tulsi puja daily. Tulsi Puja is a very simple but highly beneficial puja. You just need three items to do Tulsi puja including incense, ghee lamp, and flowers.
According to the Hindu scripture’s, the Tulsi plant was a woman named “Vrinda” .She was married to the Asura king Jalandhar, who due to her piety and devotion to Vishnu, became invincible. Even Shiva could not defeat Jalandhar, so he requested Vishnu – the preserver in the Trinity – to find a solution. Vishnu disguised himself as Jalandhar and tricked Vrinda.
Her chastity destroyed, Jalandhar lost his power and was killed by Shiva. Vrinda cursed Vishnu to become black in colour and to be separated from his wife, Lakshmi. This was later fulfilled when he was transformed into the black Shaligram stone (actually a fossil), and in his Rama avatar, he was separated from his wife Sita, who was kidnapped by the asura king Ravana. Vrinda then drowned herself in the ocean, and the gods (or Vishnu himself) transferred her soul to a plant, which was henceforth called Tulsi.
As per a blessing by Vishnu to marry Vrinda in her next birth, Vishnu – in form of Shaligram – married Tulsi on Prabodhini Ekadashi. To commemorate this event, the ceremony of Tulsi Vivah is performed.
Another minor legend narrates that Lakshmi slew a demon on this day and remained on earth as the Tulsi plant