CHICAGO: The Hindu Mandir of Lake County celebrated Tulsi Vivah on Friday Nov 15 and Saturday Nov 16 with spiritual devotion and grace.
Over one hundred ladies took part in Mehendi Raat on Friday evening by singing traditional Maharastrian and Gujarati bhajans and dances. On November 16 afternoon, Maharashtrian Samaj led by Rakhi and Subhas Deodhar acting as father of Divine Saligram (Krishna) entered with their traditional outfits and dancing on Dhol with Baraat. Manubhai, Sanjay Jethva family led the Kanya side. Gujarati Samaj welcomed the dancing Baraat with aarti and exchange of uttaria to each other. Pt. Anil Joshi performed pooja along with the Ganapati and Sarvadeva poojan before Vivah ritual.
The whole ceremony was performed according to Hindu marriage rituals as Var Poojan (Krishna), Gotrachar, Hastha Milap, Kanyadan, Phere, Mangalsutra and Sindoor offering to Tulsi Devi. Varsha, Sanjay Jethva parivar performed the Kanyadan with devotion.
Further, seven families from both the sides performed agnipradakshana phere one by one by holding Lord Krisha and Devi Tulsi. At each phere, Pt. Joshi sang emotional Lava (phere) song to bless the Kanya Tulsi Devi for her Akhanda Saubhagya. People were enjoying the ceremony with devotion because it was performed by following actual Hindu tradition.
In between, different Bhajans added wedding colors to the occasion on various steps of the ceremony. The most important phase of the ceremony came when the 300 gathered devotees enjoyed the Tulsi Katha narrated by Pt. Joshi in such an emotional and interesting way that people were crying after listening to the story. Later he talked of Tulsi created by Lord Vishnu and Amla and Babri plants created by Lord Shiva for the purification of environment, blood and diabetes respectively.
Tulsi pooja is incomplete without Saligram which is a form of Lord Vishnu. Performing Tulsi Vivah is considered highly auspicious, good for married life and it removes obstacles to marriage. Popular belief is that performing the wedding ceremony of marrying Tulsi to Vishnu bestows Akhanda saubhagya and considering her as their own daughter is equal to performing Kanyadan in one’s life.
Finally, Archana and Aarti were performed for Lord Krishna and Devi Tulsi by the sponsors. Mahaprasad was sponsored by Jethva Parivar and served by temple kitchen committee members Neelakanth and team.
Geetha Patil
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