Non-Violence Non-Violence | Page 43

30 Non-Violence Dadashri: It is a sin to pluck flowers and it is also a sin to buy flowers, but when it comes to offering flowers in worship, one has to look at it in a different light. When one offers flowers devotionally, one derives benefits. Many believe that it is a great sin to pick flowers and yet so many others use them in their worship. This spiritual path is that of the Vitraag ( beyond attachment and abhorrence) Lords, which takes into account benefits over non-benefits. There is violence in picking flowers, but when those flowers are offered to the Lord or even to the Gnani Purush, it is thought of as worship visible to all. There is benefit in such worship. After all, the person is not using the flower for his own benefit. For example he incurs a five percent liability from the violence in picking flowers, but when he offers the flowers to a Gnani, he earns a benefit of thirty percent or when he offers it to the Lord, he earns a benefit of forty percent. So overall he has gained from this act. You should conduct yourself in such a way that your benefits are greater than your losses, but you should stop if your losses are greater than your gains. If however, you do not pick any flowers, then there is no gain or loss. Suffering Inflicted on Flowering Plants Questioner: Have I not bound sins for all the flowers that I have picked so far? Dadashri: The sin that you incur from picking flowers for thousands of years is still lesser than the sin you bind from just a single lifetime worth of kashayas (anger, pride, attachment and greed) you create with those near you. That is why the Lord has said that the first thing man needs to do is to stop arguments and bickering. Picking flowers is not a problem, but it should not be done unnecessarily for one’s own vanity and pleasure. You can pick flowers as an offering to the Lord. Questioner: But there is a saying: “Where even a flower