Running is a usual affair. The beauty about running is, I see life happening around me. And every morning I will see an elderly gentlemen picking up flowers fallen under the tree and neatly keep in a basket, meant for temple visits. His activity was making me curious.
One fine morning I saw him again, and decided to quench my curiosity, “why does he pick up fallen flowers, while I see a whole other elderly crowd, plucking fresh flowers”.
I asked him, Uncle, I always see you picking up these freshly fallen flowers from the ground. What do you do with them?
I use it to worship deities and gods in my house, he replied calmly.
Now this was new. Haven’t heard anything like this before. So, I asked him again, “Why will you put fallen flowers, when there are plenty on the plant itself?”.
I am helping the flowers fulfil their purpose, to be with the God in their last days. They also have life, they also want to be with God like you and me in our last days, isn’t it, he asked me. I just nodded and he continued.
People pluck the buds which have not even bloomed, and some only pluck the one’s which has just bloomed, not even letting them release their fragrance. Everyone takes what’s beautiful and leaves the plant stripped off its beauty. See, how these plants look like, stripped and deserted.
He continued, every flower has a purpose, to be with the God. While everyone takes away what’s there on the plant, I choose to pick them up. It’s not their fault that they fell down. They also deserve to be with God.
You also try it, you will find peace and happiness in doing it. I find it, that’s why I did it. I am too old support anyone, but I can help these flowers meet their destiny.
I could just nod, smile, wished him luck and continued my run.
While I was running, my head was also running. With this new inspiration and thought, I decided that let me also try picking up fallen flowers for worshipping.
I crossed a hibiscus tree and saw few flowers fallen under the tree. As I bent down to pick up, I heard a voice.
“You don’t put fallen flowers to God”, it was my Mom speaking to in my head, and then I stopped for a second.
“God is only looking for your emotion & devotion towards him, so go ahead and pick up”, it was again my Mom speaking to me in my head.
After much deliberation and looking at both sides, I picked the flowers and put it in my palms. I could feel goose bumps and my heart started racing. It was a very different kind of love I was feeling inside my body for these flowers.
I got them home, washed them and placed them where they deserved, at the feet of God.
This entire experience was overwhelming. I felt good and nice about myself. I felt as if I have saved someone’s life or helped someone come out of misery. I had never felt this level of contentment before with flowers atleast. And I feel, I will continue to do this. Pick up who has fallen down.
In life, we always want to be around nice and beautiful people. We want to see ourselves with people who belong to our stature, and look down on people below our stature.
But, the real satisfaction comes when we help someone and make their life better. Be it a human, animal, bird or any other form of life.
So, why not flowers, THE FALLEN FLOWERS ๐ธ๐ท
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