Rules of planting Tulsi in your house

Tulsi is a very popular plant in Hinduism/Sanatana Dharma and usually kept in every house.\

There are 3-4 varieties of Tulsi out of which 2 Tulsi namely Vana Tulsi and Shyama tulsi are more significant.

Tulsi had a human form of Vrundaa and was the wife of Jalandhar. Jalandhar was the incarnation of Lord Shiva who became an asura. He had the boon that nobody would be able to kill him till his wife Vrundaa remains chaste.

Goddess Vrundaa was very pious and chaste. As a result, nobody could defeat or kill Jalandhar and he was creating havoc and menace everywhere. He also had the boon that nobody except lord Shiva could kill him.

In order to defeat him, Lord Shiva entered into a fight with Jalandhar and  Lord Vishnu went to Vrundaa disguised as Jalandhar. Upon seeing him, Goddess Vrundaa quickly hugged him and thus broke her chastity. As Jalandhar's wife's chastity was broken, Lord Shiva was easily able to kill Jalandhar.

When, Goddess Vrundaa reaised that it was Lord Vishnu  disguised as Jalandhar, Vrundaa cursed him to be a stone(Shalagram) and she herself immolated herself into the sacrificial fire. He also cursed Lord Vishnu that the way she has jumped in to the fire as a sati, similarly her wife Lakshmi will have to enter the fire.

Lord Vishnu using his powers grew her back in to the form of a plant and blessed her that she would be an integral part of all puja archana.

Tulsi is a pratyaksh goddess. When we worship Tulsi or do her puja, it is same as puja of  some other goddess herself sitting right in front of you.

However, there a few rules and facts regarding Tulsi upasana/sthaapna which need to be followed.

1.  If your naivedya doesn't contain tulsi leaves, it will never be accepted by gods.

2. The flowers of the tulsi are considered equal to parijaat, champa and lotus flowers in greatness.

3. Never offer Tulsi leaves or flowers to Tripur Sundari/Lalita/Shodashi/Bala/Nityas and to Lord Ganesh and Lord Shiva.

By offering it to the Shrividya goddesses, she becomes extremely angry on the sadhak.

Offering to Ganesha is forbidden because it is said that tulsi is cursed by Lord Ganesh.

Offering to Lord Shiva is forbidden because except bel patra, anything offered to Lord Shiva is nirmaalya i.e. it has be thrown away. On the other hand, tulsi leaves need to be reused again and again till it is not eaten or till it doesn't rot away. Throwing Tulsi otherwise is a very very great sin.

4. Tulsi leaves must always be kept in some vessel. Never keep them on  the ground. A person gets the sin of Brahma hatya if tulsi leaf is kept on the ground.

5. Whatever is achieved by donating the 7 continents, crore times the benefit  is achieved by donating just one leaf of Tulsi.

6. By doing darshan of tulsi on a saturday, one get rids of all kinds of Gau Hatya, Brahma Hatya, Maatru Hatya, Pitru Hatya, Baal Hatya, Bhrun Hatya. What is achieved by doing one crore gau daan is achieved by sitting on an aasan on saturday and doing darshan of Tulsi.

7. By doing Tulsi puja and chanting her stotras and mantras, it brings the uddhar and kalyaan of your whole family, whether alive or dead and gives moksha to pitrus.
8. By speaking your problems and praying in the ears i.e. near her branches, goddess Tulsi will remove you from your problems very soon.
9. By doing its darshan one gets rid of multiple sins, by touching it one becomes pure, by doing namaskar one gets freedom from diseases, by chanting Ram/Krishna/Narayan mantras near her one gets freedom from death, by eating tulsi leaves one gets wisdom, by doing tarpan using perfumed water/rose water one gets freedom from bad and sinful mindset and becomes a great vedachari or vaishnav.

10. Never break tulsi leaves unnecessarily.
11. Whenever you see tulsi, do its pradakshina at least 1 time. If you end up seeing tulsi 10 times a day, you must do pradakshina 10 times a day.
The person who does 100 pradakshina get success in all his endeavours. One who does 500 pradakshina gets lots of wealth and material benefits.
One who does 1 lac pradakshina gets all kinds of siddhis.

12. Touching or breaking Tulsi leaves  on Dwadashi is forbidden.
13. Watering/Touching/planting a new tulsi is forbidden on sankranti, sunday, saptami or any festive day. Breaking tulsi leaves on these days is like making holes on Lord Vishnu's head. The person who does so gets the sin of Vishnu hatya.

14. The puja that is done without tulsi is considered as aasuri puja i.e. demonic

15. To get rid of sins, one must touch the tulsi dal. If that is not possible, one must touch the leaves. If one cannot touch leaves, one must touch the branch. If not that, one must touch the root. If not even root, then one must tuch the soil in which tulsi is planted. If one cannot do even that, one must  keep on chanting the word "Tulsi". Doing any of these will destroy all your sins with the grace of Narayan and goddess Vrundaa.

16. In the root of Tulsi resides all the trillions of tirths. In the middle part resides all the billions of devtas. At the top part of the plant resides all the vedas. In the roots resides Lord Narayan. In the shadow resides Maa Lakshmi.

17. During  Tuesday, Friday, Grahan Kaal, Krishna Paksha, Afternoon time, Night time don't break Tulsi leaves. The person who does so gets adho gati i.e. durgati or misery. However, doing puja during these times is allowed.

18.The person who does jagran on dwadashi and eats tulsi leaves gets freedom from the 33 crimes one may have committed in Vaishanav upasana.

19. The amount of punya achieved by planting a 1000 mango trees or a 100 pipal trees is achieved by planting by just 1 tulsi.

20. The person who remembers Tulsi along with Sita, Ram, Hanuman, Lakshman, Bharat, Shatrughna  when in a fight gets victory over his enemies without any doubt.

21. By eating the tulsi dal one may have offered to Vishnu in puja, one gets the virtue of a 100 chandrayan vrat.

22. By using the branch of Tulsi as wick and ghee as the fuel and offering this diya to Narayan/Ram/Krishna, it is equal to offering lacs of diyas to gods.

23. Even if a single drop of tulsi mixed water enters the mouth of a dying person, he will surely reach vaikunth after death. If someone manages to make the dying person drinks 1-2 cups, even better.



24. The house where there is Tulsi is not 1% less than Vrundavan itself. Such a house is nothing less  than Vaikunth. Lord Narayan along with Lakshmi forever reside in the house where there is Tulsi.

25. Every alternate day, the vaishnav must offer gangajal to tulsi roots, doing this will bring immense growth in Tusl and increase its divinity.

26. By regularly eating tulsi leaves for 6 months, one can get rid of even leprosy. Let alone other diseases.

These were a few rules regarding Tulsi which everyone must follow.
Tulsi plant is a must for everyone in kali yuga.