Krishna-Balaram Tree?

[Guest guest]

My dear Prabhujis,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

 

> ohh *that tree* I thought you were talking about the tamal tree in the

> temple.. I'll ask Dinabandhu, or daivishakti to answer you as I'm in Lvov

> Ukraine right now.

The black tree is known in the local language as Chokra and in Sanskrit as Sami

Vriksha. Prabhupada mentions somewhere in SB that it's wood is used for Yajna.

Also in Mahabharat, when Arjuna puts all their weapons in a leather case, he

ties it in a Sami tree and hangs a dead body in the tree so no one will dare go

near it. In Rajasthan, the long beans that grow on it are called Singar and in

the late spring and early summer when it bears this fruit, no marriage can take

place without a subji made from these beans. As summer passes they turn from

green color to light brown or tan color and dry up. I used to just sweep them

off the veranda every morning at Vrinda Kunda as the big tree there is also

Chokra. But then I saw the Brijbasis come and collect them and eat them. So I

tried them out one day and they are very sweet and crunchy with a taste

something like an ice cream cone. I call it Braj chocolate.

 

The white tree as Daivishakti Mataji has mentioned is a Pipal just like the

huge one in front of Prabhupada's Samadhi. It has large heart shaped dark green

leaves that end with a little tail. In fact when Lala saw this tree He said, "O

meiya, O meiya, what kind of tree is this whats leaf has got a tail? Huh? What

kind of tree is this whats leaf has got a tail? O meiya, tell me." Mother

Yashoda said, "Arey, Lala, this is a Pipal tree." In Sanskrit it is known as

Aswatthta tree, which you all may remember from Bhagavad Gita, since it is also

related to the Banyan tree. It has a lot of medicinal qualities and is used in

many Ayurvedic remedies. Also I have heard that it gives off huge amounts of

oxygen both day and night, while most trees give one at one time and switch at

night. It also manages to grow just about anywhere and you can find them

growing from cracks in the walls of houses and such, and like this one in the

bough of another tree. In many tourist bazaars in Delhi, you can find small

paintings done on dried Pipal leaves.

 

Un fortunately as DS mentions, the Pipal tree has died for some reason or

another last year. I was hoping that Acyuta or someone could dig out a hole in

the dried root mass and fill it with nice earth and manure and plant a new one

and pray that it grows.

 

While we're on the subject of Banyan tree, I just read in a book on Indian

trees how the Banyan tree got it's name. In the local languages here it is know

as Vat Vriksha, as in Vamsi Vat. Its seeds like to roam here and there even

across the seas and you will find them in many places where there is a seacoast

and proper climate. So somewhere along the Mediteranean coast they are also

found. Now the merchants coming from India in the old days would always camp

under these trees. So the mercantile class in India are also known as Baniyas.

So since the baniyas liked to camp under these trees, the Europeans began to

call them the baniya trees. Which gradually came to Banyan tree.

 

In service to Sri Sri Krishna Balaram,

Deena Bandhu dasa