śrī tulasī jī kī āratī

A Hindi arati to Tulsi as a mother and a plant at once, and it moves between the two without seeming to notice. She is above all disciplines and above all diseases and protects from sickness; she is the daughter of the small one and the dark one, the creeper of the gods and the one of the village; she is dear to Vishnu, and whoever serves her is carried over. Then the botanical claim becomes the theological one: she rests on Hari's head, and is saluted from the three worlds. One verse gives her a history — taking birth in a lonely place, she came into a divine house — which is the story of the plant moving from wilderness to courtyard, and the human world getting its ease and wealth from her. The last asks what kind of bond it can be that binds Hari so to her.