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Holy Tulsi
In alt.health.ayurveda, in article
<Pine.OSF.3.91.951217141855.28453A-100000@alcor.concordia.ca>,
of Sun, 17 Dec 1995 14:38:08 -0500,
SHRINIVAS TILAK <tilak@alcor.concordia.ca> wrote:
>
> Dr Jai Maharaj supplied some information about the holy Tulsi
> plant to a questioner. Here is additional information I was able
> to find. Tulsi (Indian Basil) is very dear to Lord Vishnu and is
> ceremonially married to him annually on the 11th bright day of
> the month of Karttika. The ritual continues for five days and
> concludes on the full moon day. This ritual inaugurates the
> annual marriage season in India.
>
> But there is a medical explanation and reason behind this
> religious practice. In a letter written to the London Times on
> 02-05-1903 Dr George Birdwood, Professor of Anatomy, Grant
> Medical COllege, Bombay makes the following observation
>
> When the Victoria Gardens were established in Bombay, the men
> employed on those works were pestered by mosquitos. At the
> recommendation of the Hindu managers, the whole boundary of the
> gardens was planted with holy basil, on which the plague of
> mosquitos was at once abated, and fever altogether disappeared
> from among the resident gardners.
>
> No one in those days knew anything of the "mosquito-malaria
> theory" of today. A decoction of the stalks and leaves of Tulsi
> is a universal remedy in cases of malarial fever.
>
> {When Hindu women pray for Tulsi} they are praying for less and
> less carbonic acid and even more and more oxygen--a perfect
> object lesson in sanitation, art and religion.
>
> See Historical Truths & Untruths Exposed by Jeevan Kulkarni,
> Itihas Patrika Prakashan, Thane, Maharashtra, India, 1991, p.75
>
> Shrinivas Tilak,
> Part time lecturer,
> Drpartment of Religion,
> Concordia University,
> Montreal
Dhanyavaad to Shrinivas Tilak for the beautiful post. Only
yesterday the news was received that several people known to yours
truly in various areas of Delhi are either suffering from malaria
or recovering from it. The subject of the Holy Tulsi as a medicine
came up several times during the conversation. Two different Tulsi
preparations had been successful, they said: One was a simple "tea"
with added ingredients such as ginger and mint, the other was a
paste applied to the patient's navel. She is the wife of a modern
endocrinologist.
The particular Full Moon Tilak ji refers to above was on October 14
this year. Very auspicious, indeed.
The Victoria Gardens description mesmerizes one to find this
excerpt from the GANDHARV TANTR about the ideal places of worship:
"The best places are holy grounds, river banks, caves, sites of
pilgrimage, the summits of mountains, confluences of rivers, sacred
forests, solitary groves, the shade of the Bel tree, valleys,
places overgrown with Tulsi plants, pasture lands, temples of Shiv
without a bull, the foot of a sacred fig tree or of an Amalaki
tree, cow sheds, islands, sanctuaries, the shore of the sea, one's
own house, the abode of one's teacher, places which tend to inspire
concentration . . ."
Jai Maharaj <jai@mantra.com> Jyotishi, Vedic Astrologer
%:%:%:%:%:%:%:%:%:%:%:%:%:%:%:%:%:%:%:%:%:%:% *-=Om Shanti=-* %:%:%
