Can devotees use products containing Tulasi for medicinal purposes?

Question.

Can devotees use Tulsi in medicines or in soaps? Answer. Haripakti Balas, which is the standard book for guiding devotees in this kind of behavior, clearly states that as Vaishnavas, we should not use Tulsi. We should serve Tulsi by honoring her with our food.

And in general, it is not meant to be used for medicinal purposes because Tulsi Devi is not just a vegetable, not just a plant. She's actually a goddess who's manifesting through that way. Now, this does not mean that the medicinal benefits are to be denied or downplayed.

But the key principle is that the focus has to be on taking Tulsi as a transcendental devotee who can bless us spiritually. So it is not that as devotees, if there are some soaps which use Tulsi or if there are some medicines which involve Tulsi, it is not that they are banned for us and we cannot take them. Certainly, those who make these kind of medicines, maybe if they are overall using herbal products and this is the appropriate product for a particular medicine, we can take it.

But the motive of a devotee should not be that, okay, I'm taking this because it has Tulsi in it and Tulsi is good for health. That should not be the motive. So that means these kind of products are not products which are banned, like say products which involve meat directly.

They are to be strictly avoided. And if there is a traditional alternative where one can get a herbal soap or a herbal medicine which does not use Tulsi, then one should prefer that because ultimately it is customers, as long as there are customers who see Tulsi materially, there will be producers who will produce Tulsi for material purposes. So that's why we would like to discourage that.

And where there are traditional alternatives available for whatever product involves Tulsi, if that alternative is available, then we should prefer that alternative. And when that is not available, so if you have to choose between a product, say, which involves some animal fat or animal bones or whatever, and a product which involves Tulsi, then one can choose the product involving Tulsi. Not because we want the health benefits, but because we don't want to use products which involve animal products inside them as ingredients.

So we primarily see Tulsi as a transcendental devotee and we serve her by honouring her with our tongue when we have offered her to Krishna with our prasad. And all other purposes, we try to minimize interacting with Tulsi Devi for other purposes because that will promote other producers to use Tulsi that way. Thank you.