Don't Pluck the Flowers

                                           DON’T PLUCK THE FLOWERS

 

              Just saw a tweet from somebody who is fed up with the theft of flowers, grown by him in pots, by strangers, for use in ‘Puja’. I fully empathise with him.  I have often got on the wrong side of people while forbidding them to ‘steal’ flowers from public places and our flower beds along the boundary wall of my home.

              My house is facing a park. There are many Yellow Kaner (Oleander) trees that keep blooming almost throughout the year. Every morning I keep seeing a few men and women plucking the flowers. I can’t help walking up to them and confronting them.  On questioning them I get the reply, “Puja ke Liye”. I confront them by saying, “Why can’t you pick up fresh flowers that have already fallen on the ground? Why to pluck those that have just bloomed?” They get annoyed as if I have committed a serious act of blasphemy. “How can you say that? How can the ‘fallen’ flowers be offered to Bhagwan?”, they retort. “But those on the trees are also grown by the will of same Bhagwan.”   I argue back. But of no avail. They carry on plucking flowers, without any sense of guilt or remorse, till a small polythene bag is full. I persist, “Will your Bhagwan be happy to receive these stolen flowers (Chori ke phool).” They have no answer. Some of them argue back by saying that it is a public place and trees do not belong to ‘me’.  I point out to a board displaying ‘Do not pluck flowers’ written in English as well as in Punjabi. They just give an indifferent look and shamelessly move on. My advice to them, to grow their own flowers and then pluck, finds no takers.  I stand helplessly.

              It is often embarrassing to see people known to you getting caught stealing flowers from your flower beds. But I can’t help walking up to them and saying,” Flowers look best on plants”. They carry on with a silly smile. Having a rudimentary knowledge of Bhagwad Gita I often sermonise these ‘thieves’ by quoting Shalok 26 of Chapter 9 where Bhagwan Shri Krishna says that a devotee can offer him fruit or flower or even a leaf or water,  but with devotion. Meaning thereby that He is not pleased by materialistic things. What matters is devotion. Buddha has said, “When you like a flower, you just pluck it. But when you love a flower, you water it daily”.

              My sincere request to ‘flower thieves’. Please have mercy on the flowers that are beautiful creations of God. Don’t try to please Him by destroying His creation. Will someone listen?   

    I wrote the article when I caught few people stealing flowers from the flower beds around our house. The article was published in The Tribune newspaper under the heading, 'Let Them Bloom' on  on 14 April 2021. Here is the link to view it on internet :- https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/musings/let-them-bloom-where-they-belong-238840