Tulasi tea?

[Guest guest]

SrI SrI Guru Gaurangau Jayatah

 

Camp: Tallinn, Estonia

DaNDavats Dear janaka and tulasi upasakhas. Jaya Krishna BalarAma!

Please accept my respectful obeisances. All Glories to Sreela PrabhupAda..

 

Thank you for your letter.

 

janak asked:

 

> What do you say about this quote. You mentioned one baba was making a

> juice from tulsi garlands in Vraja.Can you eleborate on that. Is it

> offensive to use Tulsi for your own health etc?

 

one does not exploit Tulasi's divine body for one's sense gratification

(health can sometimes be gratifying), this is why PRabhupada wanted to

discourage the devotees getting into a bad mentality of thinking "Tulasi

rani is our servant', no.

 

we are Her eternal servant. and to Her sincere servants, she gives her

medicinal mercy in the form of Her prasadam leaves. not otherwise.

 

not very many Iskcon temples have a huge garden of tulasi plants to make

Garlands with, Mauritius, Vrndavana, mayapura, Juhu are some examples of

temples who offer Tulasi garlands to the Lords regularly.

 

If in such temples (where the prasadam garlands are not honoured in the

prasadam- i once suggested to Rupa-raghunatha once to put them all in his

FFL kitchri for the sadhus).

 

this comment of mine was refering to the huge number of tulasi garlands in

KB vrndavana mandir, Bk. charles (who wanted green juice for health), took

the prasadam garlands that normally would of gone to the compost dump or

Yamuna, and he crushed the soaked garlands on a grinding stone with a bigger

stone, then strained the juice off and drank at least 1-2 8 oz. glasses a

day with no strange side effects of loose motions or nothing. I was amazed

last year when I saw that.

 

I've seen that Ram sevak dasa (my vraja ayurvedic ramanandi sadhu friend)

told me that 10-12 prasadam tulasi leaves at most should be taken at one

time as they were heating the body in nature.

 

however he was quite happy (and also surprised!) when I told him that a

prasadam garland of hundreds of leaves crushed into juice does not harm the

body.

 

> Here is a quote:

>

> During his massage Prabhupada heard a letter from Balavanta dasa, the

> temple president in Atlanta, in which he learned that the devotees were

> making a tea from tulasi leaves. "Immediately stop it!" he exclaimed. He

> was very disturbed by this news and declared that such "tea" should not

> be made even for Lord Jagannatha during His yearly convalescence.

>

> >>> Ref. VedaBase => TD 1-9: Sri Dhama Mayapur

 

here's an old reply on this matter.

 

---------- Forwarded Message ----------

 

Text PAMHO:6275184 (28 lines)

Mithila (das) PVS (London - UK)

08-Dec-02 13:19

(Arcana) Deity Worship [5311]

Cc: Kusha (dd) ACBSP (Philadelphia, PA - USA) [2944] (forwarded:

09-Dec-02 00:50 +0100) (sender: Bhakti Visrambha Madhava Swami)

Cc: Tulasi Worship [275] (sender: Bhakti Visrambha Madhava Swami)

Reference: Text PAMHO:6271438 by Gaurangi (dasi) LOK (New Mayapur - F)

Tulasi tea?

---------------------------

> A friend of mine read in a book of natural herbal remedies that they use

> tulasi in different concoctions and teas. Is that the sacred tulasi we

> worship every day or it is another similar plant? If it's the same, it

> must be a great offense, I imagine.

 

-----------------------------

11. May Tulasi be made into a tea after she has been offered?

Letter from Vidya dd to Srila Prabhupada -- September 27, 1976

Prabhupada Nectar book, vol. 5, page 12

 

11) No.

Letter to: Vidya -- Vrindaban 25 October, 1976 (Folio)

Prabhupada Nectar book, vol. 5, page 15

-----------------------------

 

The tulasi leaf is very useful even from the medicinal or antiseptic point

of view. It is considered sacred and is offered to the lotus feet of the

Lord. The tulasi leaf has numerous good qualities, but if it were not

offered to the lotus feet of the Lord, tulasi could not be of much value or

importance.

SB 3.15.49

 

Prabhupada also agreed to try a vegetable broth that Abhirama will prepare.

And today, at the suggestion of Mahadevia, he took some tulasi tea. It was

an encouraging sign that His Divine Grace is thinking of ways to improve his

condition.

TKG's Diary: Prabhupada's Final Days by Tamala Krsna Goswami

September 20, 1977