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