Which stories do you want?

Let me know which stories from scriptures do you want to read. I will post those.

There is no scriptural basis for putting tulsi plant only outside the house. It is just that tulsi plant needs plenty of sunlight, which may not be possible inside house. But if you can make arrangement inside house so that the plant gets sunlight and you can also water it daily, then you can put it inside.

In olden days, there used to be central courtyard inside houses. This couryard(called as aangan) used to be open at the top. People put tulsi there.

Origin of Tulsi
The story of Tulsi posted here is taken from Brahm Vaivart Puran.
In Golok Krishn, Radha, gopas(cowherd boys) and gopis(cowherd girls) are always engaged in raas leela. Gopas are partial expansions of Krishna and gopis and partial expansion of Radha. Krishna and Vishnu are same. Krishn has two-handed form and lives in Golok; Vishnu has four-handed form and lives in Vaikunth. Radha and Laxmi are same. Radha lives with Krishn in Golok and Laxmi lives with Vishnu in Vaikunth. Therefore, any part of Krishn is part of Vishnu and any part of Radha is part of Laxmi. Therefore, gopas can also be called as partial expansions of Vishnu and gopis can also be called as partial expansions of Laxmi.

One day, during raas dance in Golok, Krishn and a gopi named Tulsi became intimate. Radha did not like this. She cursed Tulsi to be born on Earth as human.
Krishn said to Tulsi, "Go and take birth on Earth. Pray to Lord Brahma there. With Brahma's blessings you will get Lord Narayan as your husband. Narayan is my own form."
On another occasion, Radha talked very angrily with Krishn. Krishn was smiling. But a gop kumar named Sudama did not like Radha talking like this to Krishn. He got angry at Radha. Radha cursed Sudama to go to Earth and be born as demon. When Sudama started going, then Radha felt that she should not have been so angry. She requested Sudama not to go. But curse had to take its effect. Krishn said that Sudama will go and immediately come back thus fulfilling the curse. That way, Sudama had to be out of Golok for a very short time. But short time in Golok is many years on Earth.

On Earth, there was a king named Vrishdhwaj. He was a devotee of Lord Shiv and ridiculed other gods. Sun god got angry and cursed Vrishdhwaj that he would lose his wealth. Lord Shiv was very angry that Sun had cursed Vrishdhwaj. He took his trident and ran after Sun god. Sun god went his father Kashyap. Sun and Kashyap went to Brahma. Brahma, Kashyap and Sun god went to Vishnu in Vaikunth. Vishnu asked them not to worry. Lord Shiv came there. He explained to Lord Vishnu that Sun god had cursed Shiv's devotee Vrishdhwaj.

Vishnu replied, "You all are in Vaikunth. Therefore, you feel that very short time has elapsed. But on Earth many yugas have elapsed. By now, your devotee Vrishdhwaj is dead. His descendants Dharmdhwaj and Kushdhwaj are alive. Sun god's curse have affected them also. Therefore, they are very poor. They are worshipping goddess Laxmi. Goddess Laxmi will shower her blessings on them. Therefore, you all go to your respective places."
Shiv, Brahma, Kashyap and Sun went to their abodes.

On Earth Dharmdhwaj and Kushdhwaj were praying to Laxmi. Laxmi got pleased with them. Because of Laxm's blessings Dharmdhwaj and Kushdhwaj became prosperous. Dharmdhwaj's wife Madhwi gave birth to a girl, who was a partial incarnation of Laxmi. She was exceptionally beautiful Sages named her Tulsi because the word "tulsi" means "one of incomparable beauty". This Tulsi was the same as the Tulsi in Golok and had been born on Earth because of a curse by Radha.

There was a demon named Dambh. He prayed to Lord Vishnu because he wanted Vishnu as his son. A partial incarnation of Vishnu was born as Dambh's son. His name was Shankhchud. This Shankhchud was Sudama of Golok who had been born on Earth because of a curse by Radha. Shankhchud prayed to Lord Brahma because he wanted to marry Tulsi and also he wanted to be so strong that gods could not defeat him. Brahma granted him these two boons.

Tulsi performed austerities to please Lord Brahma. One day Lord Brahma asked her to ask for a boon.
Tulsi replied, "My name is Tulsi. In previous birth, I was a gopi in Golok. One day during raas leela, Krishn and I were very intimate. Radha did not like it. She cursed me that I should be born as a human being. After Radha cursed me, Krishn suggested me to worship you(Brahma) after taking birth on Earth. He said that you would grant me blessing to marry Lord Narayan."

Lord Brahma replied, "In Golok, one gop-kumar was Sudama. He wanted to marry you but he did not say it. As a result of a curse by Radha, he is born among demons. His name is Shankhchud. He is very energetic and strong. You remember your previous birth. Shankhchud also remembers his previous birth. He has performed austerities to get you as wife. I want to fulfill his desire. Therefore, please agree to marry him. Later on, you will be able to marry Lord Narayan."
Lord Brahma also gave Tulsi a mantra by which she could make Radha happy. Tulsi did the recitation of that mantra.

Shankhchud and Tulsi got married. Lord Brahma granted Shankhchud a boon that he will be killed only if his wife Tulsi becomes unchaste.
Lord Vishnu gave an amulet (talisman) to Shankhchud and gave boon that nobody could kill him so long he was wearing that amulet.

Shankhchud defeated gods and took their kingdom.
Gods were dejected. Lord Shiv agreed to help gods in fight against demons. Once again there was fight between gods and demons. Lord Shiv, Bhadrakali and Kartikeya, fighting on the side of gods, killed many demons.
In the middle of the war, Vishnu took the form of a Brahman and went to Shankhchud. He requested Shankhchud to give him alms. Shankhchud said, "Ask whatever you want. You will get that." Vishnu asked Shankhchud for the amulet. Shankhchud, true to his words, gave it to Vishnu. After that Vishnu went to Tulsi. Vishnu had taken the form of Shankhchud. Tulsi thought that war was over and her husband had come back. Vishnu and Tulsi slept together. Thus Tulsi's chastity was violated. Also, Shankhchud had already parted from amulet. Therefore now he could be killed without violating any boon. Lord Shiv killed Shankhchud. Shankhchud went back to Golok.
Tulsi realized that the person sleeping with her was not her husband because her husband behaved differently. She asked Vishnu to tell who he was. Vishnu showed his four-handed form. Tulsi started crying. She understood that Vishnu played this trick so that her husband Shankhchud could be killed. She cursed Vishnu, "You should become stone."

Vishnu replied, "You wanted me as your husband. Therefore I did this. Leave this physical body. Your body will become a very sacred river. It will be known as Gandaki. Your hair will become a plant, which will be called as tulsi. Tulsi leaves will be auspicious for puja. With your spiritual body, you will be in Vaikunth with me and will be my wife the way Laxmi is my wife. I accept your curse. With one form of mine, I will become shaligram stone. People will worship me in my form as Shaligram. In the worship, tulsi leaves will be used."

This is how Tulsi became a plant. Tulsi leaves are recommended to be used in the worship of any form of Vishnu(shaligram stone or any other form).
Edited by akhl - 16 years ago

Well I would like to know how the first humans were created.

Hi Akhl,
Could you also write the story of the the birth of Sita? When you do, could you write all the different theories or ideas people have presented.

Thanks.

Originally posted by: umi82990

Well I would like to know how the first humans were created.

In my next post, I will write about creation of various kinds of beings. It is in brief because otherwise the message will be too long, which may be boring to some readers. However if you want me to describe any part of the story in more detail, then let me know.

Creation of various kinds of beings
The material universe is temporary while spiritual universe is eternal. Material universe has 14 parts called lokas. One of them is Bhu i.e. Earth where we live. There are seven lokas below Earth:-
Atal, Vital, Sutal, Talatal, Rasatal, Mahatal, Patal.

There are six locas above Earth:-
Bhuvar, Suvar, Mahar, Jan, Tap, Satya.
Lord Brahma lives in Satya lok.

Time is not the same in all lokas. Below, one year as measured on Earth is written as Earth year. Please note that 1 Earth year = 360 day nights and not 365 or 366. This is because in scriptures of Hinduism, one year equals 360 day nights.

There are 4 yugs. Their durations in Earth years are as given below:-
Satya yug(also called Krit yug) - 1,728,000
Treta yug                                 - 1,296,000
Dwapar yug                             -    864,000
Kali yug                                   -    432,000
_____________________________________
Total                                        - 4,320,000

One revolution of the four yugs is called one Maha yug or one Divya yug. So, one Maha yug equals 4,32,000 Earth years.
One day of Brahma equals 1000 Maha yugs i.e. 4.32 billion Earth years. His one night is of the same duration.
When Brahma's night arrives, then he sleeps. At that time except the top four i.e. Mahar, Jan, Tap, Satya, the other ten lokas are destroyed. When Brahms's 100 years are over then all the 14 lokas i.e. the entire material universe is destroyed and Brahma himself merges into the body of Lord Vishnu. After 100 years are over, then the start of the next day, Brahma comes comes out and creates all the 14 lokas. Some people believe that the same Brahma comes every time and some believe that after 100 years a new Brahma comes. In between on any new day, Brahma creates 10 lokas because they were destroyed the previous night.
Out of the 100 years of the present Brahma, 50 years are already over. The 1st day of his 51st year is going on. One day of Brahma is called as kalp. Let us go through creation in the current day of Brahma:-

In the beginning of his current day, Brahma got up. He came out of a lotus flower coming out of Lord Vishnu's navel. He created four sons from his mind. They are called as Kumar brothers and their names are Sanak Kumar, Sanand Kumar, Sanatan Kumar and Sanat Kumar. In spite of being very old, they always look like children. But they are highly knowledgeable. They were not interested in family life. Not only that, they were not interested in any material pleasures.
Then Brahma created following sages one after another: -
Marichi, Atri, Angira, Pulastya, Pulah, Kratu, Bhrigu, Vashishth, Daksh, Narad, Kardam.
Brahma thought that this was not sufficient to have enough population in the world. In order for population to sustain, he needed to create both male and female. He created another body just like himself. That body divided into two parts - male and female. Male was named Swyambhuv and female was named Shatrupa.
Swyambuv and Shatrupa became husband and wife. Swyambhuv and Shatrupa had two sons Priyavrat and Uttanpad and three daughters Akuti, Devhuti, Prasuti.
Akuti married Ruchi, Devhuti married Kardam, Prasuti married Daksh. Kardam and Daksh were created by Brahma. Marichi created Ruchi from his mind while Marichi himself was created by Brahma. The descendants of the five children of Swyambhuv filled the world with population. This is why Swyambhuv was given the tile of Manu, which means father of mankind. In one day of Brahma there are 14 manus. Swyambhuv was the first manu. At present, there is seventh manu named Sraddhadev; he is also called Vaivasvat Manu because he is the son of Sun god Vivasvan. Before a new Manu comes, majority of population becomes extinct. From Manu, population again starts. That is why in any cycle of the new population creation, Manu is called as first man. From Manu, the word Maanav has come, which means human. Since we are children of Manu, we are Maanavs.
Current Manu is Vaivasvat Manu. Therefore, we can say that Vaivasvat Manu is the guardian of all mankind at present.

Before Akuti's marriage to Ruchi, Akuti's father Swyambhuv said that Swyambhuv himself will raise the first male child of Ruchi and Akuti.
Ruchi and Akuti had a son named Yagya and a daughter named Dakshina. Yagya got the post of Lord Indra at that time i.e. in the time of Swyambhuv Manu. During different manus, there are different Indras. Yagya was partial incarnation of Vishnu and Dakshina was partial incarnation of Laxmi. As had been agreen upon, Swambhuv brought Yagya to his home while Dakshina remained with Ruchi. When Yagya and Dakshina grew up, they married each other. This is one instance of brother-sister marriage.
Yagya and Dakshina had 12 sons. They all became gods. As mentioned earlier, Yagya himself became Indra i.e. king of gods.

Kardam and Devhuti had nine daughters and one son. The son was sage Kapil who was an incarnation of Vishnu. The nine daughters were
Kala, Ansuya, Shraddha, Havirbhu, Gati, Kriya, Arundhati(also called Urja), Chitti, Khyati.

Kala married Marichi. They had one son Kashyap and one daughter Punima.
Ansuya married Atri and gave birth to Som, Dattatreya and Durvasa. Som became moon god. Dattatreya and Durvasa became sages. Som was part of Brahma, Dattatreya was part of Vishnu and Durvasa was part of Shiv.
Shraddha married Angira and gave birth to four daughters and two sons. One son Brihaspati was a great scholar and he became the guru of gods.
Havirbhu married Pulastya and gave birth to two very famous sages Agasyta and Vishrava. Vishrava was Ravan's father.
Gati married Pulah and gave birth to three great sages.
Kriya married Kratu and gave birth to sixty thousand great sages.
Arundhati married Vashishth and gave birth to seven great sages, the eldest of whom was Chitraketu, who was a great devotee of Vishnu.
Chitti married Atharv and gave birth to a son named Ashwashir.
Khyati married Bhrigu and had two sons and one daughter. The daughter was named Sri and she was an incarnation of Laxmi.
Thus the nine daughters of Kardam married sages created by Lord Brahma.

Daksh had thousands of sons. They became renunciates and did not have any children. After that Daksh had 60 daughters who married sages and gods. One daughter Sati married Lord Shiv.
Seventeen daughters of Daksh married sage Kashyap. These seventeen were mothers of majority of living beings and gave births to various kinds of beings - gods, demons, gandharvas, apsaras, animals, birds, snakes.Edited by akhl - 16 years ago

Originally posted by: akhl

In my next post, I will write about creation of various kinds of beings. It is in brief because otherwise the message will be too long, which may be boring to some readers. However if you want me to describe any part of the story in more detail, then let me know.

Okay. Thanks. The story is great! This has explained a lot!

Thank it does explain a lot.