Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 5
तुलसी शुष्ककाष्ठेषु या रूपा विश्वव्यापिनी । मज्जायां पद्मवासा च त्वचासु च हरिप्रिया
tulasī śuṣkakāṣṭheṣu yā rūpā viśvavyāpinī | majjāyāṃ padmavāsā ca tvacāsu ca haripriyā
जी तुलसी विश्वव्यापी रूपाची आहे, ती आपल्या शुष्क काष्ठातही वास करते। तिच्या मज्जेत पद्मवासा (लक्ष्मी) आणि सालीत/त्वचेत हरिप्रिया—हरिची प्रिया—विराजते।
Skanda (deduced: Nāgarakhaṇḍa Tīrthamāhātmya narrative voice commonly attributes didactic praise to Skanda)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A cross-section vision of Tulasi: dried wood still glowing; pith revealed as a lotus-seat (Padmavāsā), bark as Haripriyā; the plant shown as cosmic, subtly filling the universe behind it.
FAQs
Tulasī is portrayed as intrinsically sacred in every part—wood, pith, and bark—making her constant reverence a direct form of devotion to Lakṣmī and Hari.
The verse functions as a Tīrthamāhātmya-style glorification of Tulasī herself rather than naming a single geographic tīrtha in this line.
No explicit ritual is prescribed here; it establishes the sanctity of Tulasī’s very substance as the basis for later practices (carrying, worship, service).