Question 1: What is the relationship between Vrinda Devi and Tulasi Devi?
Answer by Romapada Swami:
Gaudiya Vaisnava siddhanta is that Vrinda Devi and Tulasi Devi are the same; Vrinda Devi’s expansion comes to the material world as Tulasi Devi to purify conditioned jivas and bring them to Vraja, whereas Vrinda Devi engages jivas in Krsna’s service. Here are some verses confirming this understanding, as well as brief explanations.
Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura writes in his Vrindadevy-astakam
tvaṁ kīrtyase sātvata-tantra-vidbhir
līlābhidhānā kila kṛṣṇa-śaktiḥ
tavaiva mūrtis tulasī nṛ-loke
vṛnde namas te caraṇāravindam
O Vrinda Devi, I offer my respectful obeisances to your lotus feet. Those who have studied the Sātvata-tantra glorify you. You are Lord Krishna’s potency for performing pastimes, and you are known as Tulasi Devi in the human society. (Verse 7)
There is a verse in Rupa Goswami’s Hamsadutta
tṛṇāvartārāter viraha-dava-santāpita-tanoḥ
sadābhīrī-vṛnda-praṇaya-bahumānonnati-vidaḥ
praṇetavyo navya-stabaka-bhara-samvardhita-śucas
tvayā vṛnda-devyāḥ parama-vinayād vandana-vidhiḥ
In a spot near Kaliya lake you will come across the goddess Vrinda Devi who lives there in the shape of a tulasi plant. Her body is wilting due to the fire of separation from Krsna; her lamentation increases when she sees the new flowerbuds appearing on her branches. For she knows that Krsna is not here to enjoy them. Only she can really appreciate the anguish of the gopis and therefore you must honor her with all humility and reverence. (Verse 31)
In Vraja, Vrinda devi has her service of engaging others to serve Radha Krishna, in the form of the Tulasi plant she gives shelter to fallen jiva’s to bring them to the proper standard of love:
ye tomara sarana loy, tara vancha purna hoy
kripa kori’ koro tare vrindavana-vasi
mora ei abhilasha, vilasa kunje dio vasa
nayana heribo sada yugala-rupa-rasi
ei nivedana dhara, sakhira anugata koro
seva-adhikara diye koro nija dasi
In Sankalpa-kalpadruma Visvanatha Cakrivarti Thakura is recounting the various services he does as a manjari, then he says the following prayers:
he sri-tulasy uru-krpa-dyu-tarangini tvam
yan murdhni me carana-pankajam adadhasvam
yac caham apy apibam ambu manak tadiyam
tan me manasy udayam eti manoratho’yam
O Srimati Tulasi Devi, O celestial Ganges river of mercy, it is because I once placed my head at your lotus feet and drank some drops of water that washed your lotus feet, that these desires (to serve as a manjari) have risen in my heart. (Verse 89)
kvaham parah sata-nikrty-anuviddha-cetah
sankalpa esa sahasa kva su-durlabhe’rthe
eka krpaiva tava mam ajahaty upadhi-
sunyeva mantum adadhaty agater gatir me
O Srimati Tulasi Devi, how low I am, my heart pierced by hundreds of offenses! How exalted and difficult to attain is my aspiration! Your causeless mercy is my only hope. It is by Your mercy that I, who am so fallen, can have these desires and thoughts. (Verse 90)
Vrindadevy-astakam Verse 8
bhaktyā vihīnā aparādha-lakṣaiḥ
kṣiptāś ca kāmādi-taraṅga-madhye
kṛpāmayi tvām śaraṇaṁ prapannā
vṛnde namas te caraṇāravindam
O Vṛnda Devī, I offer my respectful obeisances to your lotus feet. Those who are devoid of devotion to Lord Hari, and who are thrown by their offenses into the waves of lust and other inauspicious qualities, may take shelter of you.
There are dozens if not hundreds of verses that describe the various ways Tulasi Devi purifies those who see/smell/touch/serve her, with the intention of bringing them to serve in Vraja.
This verse is found in Skanda Purana (Avanti-khanda) and is quoted in Bhakti Rasamrta sindhu (1.2.203), and Hari-bhakti-vilasa (9.104).
yā dṛṣṭā nikhilāgha-saṅga-śamanī spṛṣṭā vapuḥ-pāvanī
rogāṇām abhivanditā nirasanī siktāntaka-trāsinī
pratyāsatti-vidhāyinī bhagavataḥ kṛṣṇasya saṃropitā
nyastā tac-caraṇe vimukti-phaladā tasyai tulasyai namaḥ
l offer my humble obeisances to Srimati Tulasi Devi, by seeing whom all of one’s sinful reactions are destroyed; by whose touch, one’s body becomes purified; by paying respectful obeisances to whom [or by whose glorification of] one’s illnesses are cured; by watering whom, one’s fear of the wrath of Lord Yamaraja is quelled; by planting whom, one attains Krishnas close association; and by offering whose leaves at the lotus feet of Lord Krishna, one attains liberation in the form of pure devotional service.
Other sampradayas have other understandings based on sastra that fits their mood.
Question 2:
In Goloka, we find a description of the personal form of Vrinda Devi. How are we to understand the form of Tulasi Devi, offered to Krishna’s lotus feet — particularly in Goloka? Is this a second form of the same person, in Goloka?
Answer by Romapada Swami:
Yes, Vrinda devi can be in both places at the same time. The residents of Vraja are transcendental and are not limited to a physical body. For example, Radha Krsna take on the liquid form of Radha and Shyam Kund. Balaram is also Ananga Manjari. Krishna is also Govardhana. Vishaka is also Yamuna River, etc.
