Tulasi Laksharchana
Another time when a devotee wanted 1 lakh (one hundred thousand) Tulasi
leaves to perform an elaborate puja, she did not escape Bhagavan’s
wrath.
“People will not allow the leaves to remain where they are,
beautiful and alive. They pick them, pierce them, thread and kill them.
Does God need such worship? Don’t they belong to him when they are on
the plants or trees? We do these horrible things to flowers, but we
would not offer ourselves to God.”
Trees also have pain
Bhagavan’s kindness and solicitude even extended to the vegetation.
There used to be an almond tree to the north of Bhagavan’s hall.
Chinnaswami asked a man to clear it of dead leaves, which could be used
later for making leaf plates. The man started chopping with his billhook
the leaves of the tree, indiscriminately right, left and centre.
Bhagavan who was observing all these winced and called to the man, “Hey!
What are you doing? You are torturing the tree too much. Don’t you know
the tree is alive?”
The workman said he had been ordered by Chinnaswami to cut-off dry leaves.
Bhagavan kept on admonishing the man, “You people can do nothing
without causing pain. Imagine what would happen if I suddenly grabbed
your hair and pulled it. Your hair may have no life, yet you would feel
it. Better leave the poor tree alone and go away!”
Once Bhagavan saw somebody cutting a twig from a Neem tree in the night to use it as a tooth brush the next morning.
Bhagavan asked him, “Cant you let the tree sleep in peace? Surely you
can take your twig in the day time. Why not have a little sense of
compassion? A tree does not howl, nor can it bite or run away. Does it
mean one can do anything to the tree.”
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Does it not pain the coconut tree?
One morning Krishnaswami, Bhagavan’s attendant, was plucking down the
ripe coconuts from the trees with a stick while Bhagavan was returning
from the goshala. Bhagavan asked Krishnaswami, what type of stick he was
using to pluck the coconuts, whether it had a bamboo bit attached to
the end or an iron point. Krishnaswami remarked that it was only an iron
sickle.
Bhagavan asked, ‘Will not the trees be hurt by the sharp iron? Would not a rod with a bamboo bit at the end serve the purpose?’
But he did not wait for a reply. Krishnaswami went on with his work
without changing his implement. He continued to use the same iron sickle
every morning.
A week later, at the same time as on the
previous occasion, while Krishnaswami was cutting down the coconuts from
the trees, one fell on his forehead, striking his nose very painfully.
This news was reported to Bhagavan. While expressing pity for the man,
Bhagavan also remarked, ‘Now he will know what it is to be hurt, and
also how much his iron sickle must have hurt the uncomplaining trees.’
This is how Bhagavan finds all nature pulsating with life and light!
Bhagavan’s kindness and solicitude even extended to the vegetation. There used to be an almond tree to the north of Bhagavan’s hall. Chinnaswami asked a man to clear it of dead leaves, which could be used later for making leaf plates. The man started chopping with his billhook the leaves of the tree, indiscriminately right, left and centre.
Bhagavan who was observing all these winced and called to the man, “Hey! What are you doing? You are torturing the tree too much. Don’t you know the tree is alive?”
The workman said he had been ordered by Chinnaswami to cut-off dry leaves.
Bhagavan kept on admonishing the man, “You people can do nothing without causing pain. Imagine what would happen if I suddenly grabbed your hair and pulled it. Your hair may have no life, yet you would feel it. Better leave the poor tree alone and go away!”
Once Bhagavan saw somebody cutting a twig from a Neem tree in the night to use it as a tooth brush the next morning.
Bhagavan asked him, “Cant you let the tree sleep in peace? Surely you can take your twig in the day time. Why not have a little sense of compassion? A tree does not howl, nor can it bite or run away. Does it mean one can do anything to the tree.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Does it not pain the coconut tree?
One morning Krishnaswami, Bhagavan’s attendant, was plucking down the
ripe coconuts from the trees with a stick while Bhagavan was returning
from the goshala. Bhagavan asked Krishnaswami, what type of stick he was
using to pluck the coconuts, whether it had a bamboo bit attached to
the end or an iron point. Krishnaswami remarked that it was only an iron
sickle.
Bhagavan asked, ‘Will not the trees be hurt by the sharp iron? Would not a rod with a bamboo bit at the end serve the purpose?’
But he did not wait for a reply. Krishnaswami went on with his work
without changing his implement. He continued to use the same iron sickle
every morning.
A week later, at the same time as on the
previous occasion, while Krishnaswami was cutting down the coconuts from
the trees, one fell on his forehead, striking his nose very painfully.
This news was reported to Bhagavan. While expressing pity for the man,
Bhagavan also remarked, ‘Now he will know what it is to be hurt, and
also how much his iron sickle must have hurt the uncomplaining trees.’
This is how Bhagavan finds all nature pulsating with life and light!
A week later, at the same time as on the previous occasion, while Krishnaswami was cutting down the coconuts from the trees, one fell on his forehead, striking his nose very painfully. This news was reported to Bhagavan. While expressing pity for the man, Bhagavan also remarked, ‘Now he will know what it is to be hurt, and also how much his iron sickle must have hurt the uncomplaining trees.’
This is how Bhagavan finds all nature pulsating with life and light!
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