The thulasi [ basil ] is a revered plant in Vaishnava Sampradaya. It shot into popularity, thanks to Rukmini, Lord Krishna’s consort. The story goes like this.
Lord Krishna had two main wives. Bhama and Rukmini. They had to share Krishna . Bhama being possessive, did not like this. Sage Narada gave her an idea. It was to give Krishna ’s weight in gold, purchase him and become the total owner of her husband.
So Krishna was made to sit in one of the scales of a balance, and Bhama put all her gold and silver on the other. Krishna ’s scale did not even stir from the ground.
Bhama panicked as all her wealth was in the scale and she had nothing more to offer.
She sought Rukmini’s assistance. Rukmini asked Bhama to remove all the wealth from the scale and in the now empty space simply put a single thulasi leaf.
And Lo! Krishna ’s scale went up to match the level of the other scale which had but just a single leaf of Thulasi.
That is how the Thulasi became famous. Sadly Rukmini did not. People generally have a tendency to imbibe the action and not the intention. Because, anything subtle is generally beyond the comprehension.
Had Rukmini not put anything on the scale, the Lord would have still graced her. For the God does not value your presentation, but your intentions. When intentions are honorable, the result will be positive.
We cannot give God anything, for everything there is, is God’s. But we still make offerings, of many materials. It is like, taking money from Dad’s pocket to get him a present. And such things are not necessary.
We in our ignorance make a mockery of all things, not even sparing our creator. Only if we could see the cake through the icing.
No comments:
Post a Comment