Page 41 - Yearbook 2013update.pub

Tulasi Shaligrama vivaha: The most auspicious wedding of
lord and his eternal consort was performed as Tulasi Shaligrama
vivaha on Sun, Nov 17th 6pm at the VCC.

Brief history and process for Tulasi worship: Sage Vasishtha said
that what I have heard in ancient times from Lord Brahma about
the marriage of Tulasi I will now describe according to what is writ-
ten in the Narada-pancaratra. First one should plant Tulasi either in
the house or the forest, and after three years one may perform her
marriage. The auspicious times when one may perform the mar-
riage of Shalagrama and Tulasi are described as follows. When the
sun is moving in the north, Jupiter and Venus are rising, in the
month of Kartika, from the Ekadashi to the full moon in the month
of Magha, and when constellations that are auspicious for marriage
appear, especially the full moon day. - First one should arrange a
place for sacrifice (yajna-kunda) under a canopy (mandapa). Then
after performing shanti-vidhana, one should install sixteen god-
desses, and do the shraddha ceremony for his female maternal an-
cestors. One should call four brahmanas learned in the Veda, and
appoint one to be the Brahma, one to be the acarya, one to be the
rishi, and one to be the priest. One should establish an auspicious
waterpot (mangala-ghat) under that mandapa according to the
Vaishnava rituals. Then one should establish an attractive
shalagrama-shila (Lakshmi-Narayana). After that one should per-
form home sacrifice (griha-yajna), worship the sixteen goddesses,
and do the shraddha ceremony. - When it is dusk one should in-
stall a golden Deity of Narayana and a silver murti of Tulasi accord-
ing to one's means. With vasa-shanta mantra two cloths should be
tied together, with yadavandha mantra the marriage bracelets
(kangana) should be tied on the wrists, and with ko' dat mantra
the marriage should be consecrated. Then the host along with the
acarya, rishi, and others should make nine offerings in the yajna-
kunda. After these marriage rites have been done, the wise
gurudeva should offer sacrifice according to the Vaishnava rituals
chanting, "Om namo bhagavate keshavaya namah svaha." - The
host with his wife, friends, and relatives should then do parikrama
of Tulasi four times with shalagrama-shila. Everyone should then
recite the following prayers in front of the yajna-kunda: shat-
kumbha-sukta, pavamani-sukta, shakti-kadhyaya, nava-sukta, jiva
-sukta, and vaishava-samhita.

After this the ladies should blow conch and other similar instru-
ments, sing auspicious songs, and recite mangalacarana. Following
this the final sacrifice should be done (purnahuti) and then ab-