Pariprashnena — Q&A Archive

Tulasi Devi is certainly Shakti and part of the Goddess stream of Divinity. May She bless you with some faith. She is taking the form of a beautiful delicate plant in order to serve Her beloved Krsna.

Do you have a problem worshipping your guru who is most certainly a jiva? She is much, much more than that.

Srimati Tulasi Maharani ki JAY!!!

I am personally forever in Her debt for opening a much deeper understanding of bhakti in me.

dandavats
thank you, prabhu.

She is the expansion of Sri Radha as per Brahmavaivarta Purana. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocimum_tenuiflorum#In_Hinduism

Actually the concept of Jiva is subsidiary of Shakti-tattva. There are many saktis, and Jiva is a category of Tatastha-sakti, there are three kinds of Jivas, those who are siddhas are worshipable by anyone who wants perfection, please do not feel resistance to it.

Dandavats

Which are the three types of jivas, ccd?

Two kinds of nitya-mukta jivas (those who are of Goloka Vrindavana and Vaikuntha) and the third is marginal jivas of the tatastha-sakti.

The jivas who are nitya-siddhas (or nitya-muktas) are worshipable and it is by following in their footsteps that you can get to Goloka, if you worship jivas who are nitya-siddhas of Goloka Vrindavana specifically. You can not be further from the truth if you think that one should not worship any jiva-tattva. Just the opposite, if you want to arrive at Goloka, the only way is by the mercy of a jiva-tattva ragatmika devotees of the Lord, who are expansions of Sri Balarama in tattva.

Excuse me, but it is a mistake to consider the guru is jiva. Sri Guru is not a jiva. Shastra states that to consider him so is hellish mentality. He is a resident of the spiritual world who came to deliver us. The benefit of having a bona fide guru as opposed to a jiva acting as guru is that one is in possession of Sri Krishna and has Him completely under His control, therefor He is able to petition Sri Krishna on our behalf. Guru means one who can give you Krishna. " No jiva can be the medium of the service of the Absolute to another jiva." Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. Jai Srila Prabhupada!!

Regarding your question. Srimate Tulasi devi is in the form of a tree, but there are temples where Her worship is done to Her young girl form. You can find photos online. Her real form is spiritual and because of that, her tree form is also spiritual. If you notice, She is a very beautiful bush and very auspicious too. You can think of Her as a pure devotee of Sri Krishna. Focus on the prayers and the meaning of the prayers. She is very, very merciful.

All glories to Srimate Tulasi Maharaji. Jai Srila Prabhupada.

Here SP equates guru with jiva:

Devotee: On ekadasi, we can offer the Deity grains?
Prabhupada: Oh yes. But not guru. Ekadasi observed by jiva-tattva, not by Vishnu-tattva.
(RC, April 22, 1972, Japan)

So the guru is both guru tattva and jiva tattva.

Hare Krishna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

In this room conversation Srila Prabhupada lumps all gurus into jiva catagory as he ocassionally has lumped all his disciples into the pure devotee catagory. Still, there are higher considerations. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur makes a very nice explanation of the two kinds of jivas in his Associates of Sri Caitanya.

"But all jivas are not liable to be eclipsed by the deluding potency. Those who are so liable are again distinct from the eternally free jivas. The eternally free jivas are inseparable associates of Nityananda. They are integrated part and parcel of Himself. They never fall into the clutches of Maya."

Then he makes a most important point which helps us understand how the Sri Guru is different from family, neophite, madhyama ,officiating or other types of gurus:

"Individual souls are under the direction of Nityananda. They receive their service of Sri Gaurasundar, i.e. of Krsna, at his hands. Nityananda is not a jiva. He is Divinity. He is the ultimate source of the jiva. The jiva is a potency of Nityananda. No jiva can be the medium of the service of the Absolute to another jiva. The Absolute alone may communicate His service to the separable constituents of Himself. This is the real nature of the function of the guru."

Srila Prabhupada "There is no difference between me and my picture, Therefore we should honor and keep the pictures in that spirit. If we throw pictures this way and that way, that is offense. The name and picture are as good as the person in the spiritual world." letter Sept 4, 1972

Hare Krishna

Yes,that makes sense to me. Sri Guru can not be considered as just a jiva as he is fully awakened and eternally one and different with Sri Nityananda Rama. This is Via-medium.

There is a very long conversation between Narada Muni and Bhagavan Sri Narayana in the Prakrti-khand of the Brahmavaivarta Purna where they discuss the origins, lila and method of worship of Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Gangadevi and Tulasi. The section on Tulasi alone is at least 1500 slokas. It may help if you study/read this lila to gain some further understanding, otherwise who will not feel awkward worshipping a tree?

The purana states that Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Gangadevi and Tulasi are personalities emanated from Srimati Radharani and are the wives of Sri Vishnu. The Godavari river and the Tulasi tree are the body of Tulasi, which are manifested due to the curse of Sri Vishnu. The Tulasi tree specifically is the form of the hairs of the personality Tulasi.

Dandavats

Great brother! Could yuu paste this chapter to us?

> Could yuu paste this chapter to us?

Sorry I ony have it in hard copy and it is too long to scan.

i found a link wih the Purana to download here: http://aimandconclusionsofvedasandhinduculture-vedicbible.org/index.php