A great South Indian Poet ‘Karunasree’ Jandhyala Pappayya Sastry esq., one fine day morning went to garden to get flowers to offer them to God. When he tried to cut some flowers – the flowers started weeping and questioned in misarable voice ‘do you cut our throats’. Then the Poet’s heart got watered down and his mind disturbed on looking at the weeping flowers. At those moments great poetry ‘Pushpa Vilapam’ (Agony of weeping Flowers) begotten from the pen of ‘Karunasree’ in Telugu language.
The flowers questioned the Poet:-
Poem I: “Talli odilona taliraku talpamandu; aadukonu mammulanu buttalandu chidimi; ammukonduvay mokshavittamula koraku; hrudayamay layni nee puja layndukoyi”.
Meaning: ‘When we the children of our mother plants playing on our mother’s head, you cut our throats and fill in baskets and press us with your cruel palms and sell us for money and take away our heads to offer to God to get boons from the God. Why your prayers to God and what is the worth of your prayers, when you have no mercy in your heart’
Poem II: “Jadamatulamaymu, Gnanavantudavu neevu; buddhi vunnadi, bhava samrudhi kaladu; Bandabaray noyi nee gunday kaya; Sivunkayi puyaday nalgu china poolu”
Meaning: “we have no proper brains, whereas you have sense of proportion, you have wisdom and various other talents; but why your heart has become like a stone, while cutting us, do not a few small flowers blossom in your own heart for offering God Shiva.
Poem III: Aayuvu kalgu nalgu gadiyal, kanipaynchina teeva talli, Jateeyata diddi teertumu tadeeya karmamulona swechayai vooyalalooguchun muriyuchundumu – aayuvu teerinantanay hayiga kannumusaydamu – aayama challani kaali vrayllapayi.
Meaning: Longevity to us is for only a few hours on our mother plant and creepers and we freely swing as if in cradle on our mother plant and enjoy – and after the end of our longevity we happily die and fall down on the feet of our mother plants.
Poem IV: Galini gowravintumu sugandhammu pusi, smasrayinchu bhrungalaku vindusaysaydamu kammani tayniyala, mimmumumbontla naytralaku hayi goortumu, swatantrulamu mammula swardha bhudditho takakumu – trumchabokumu, talliki biddaku vayru saytuvay?
Meaning: We offer respects to the Air by spreading our fragrance, we offer sweet honey feast to the bees who land on us and to you human beings, and we give pleasure to your eyes with our colorful beauty and shapes. Hay humans do not touch us and cut us with selfishness, why do you separate the children from the mother.
Poem V: Aatma sukhammu kosamayi anyula gontulu kosi taychu oyi punyatmudaa neeku mokshamayytulabbunu, Netturu chayti pooja viswatmudu sweekarinchunay characharavarthi, prabhundu, ma pavitratmala nandukoday, nadamantrapu dagulata maytikin?
Meaning: Hay great virtuous man for your selfishness you cut our throats to offer to God. Will you ever get salvation from your sins? Will the all pervaded God ever accept the prayers of your blood-ridden hands? Will almighty God accept the flowers offered by you? Why these never lasting selfish deeds by you?
Poem VI: Voolu daaralatho gontuki vuri biginchi, gundaylonundi soodulu gruchi kurchi muduchukonduru muchatta muchatta mudula mammu, akata, dayalayni varu me aduvaru.
Meaning: You tie up our throats with threads as if giving capital punishment and you pierce needles into our throats and prepare garlands to keep in the hair of women – you female humans never have mercy and kindful hearts.
Poem VII: Gunday tadi layka nunaylo vaindi pindi, attarulu chaysi maa payda netturulunu, mee kampu dayhalapayi gumayimupu koraku pulumukonduru hanta, mee kolunuvaru.
Meaning: You human beings boil us in bowls and squeeze our blood to extract our fragrance (scents) to apply to your stinking bodies for your pleasure – are you not the murderers?
Poem VIII: ‘Akkada hayi mayi Mahishasurulayndaro nalgu pakkalan prakkala meeda challukoni, Maa pasi maynulu padu kaallatho trokkuchu, dorli dorli- maru roju vudayananay vadi vattalayi raykkalu jaripovan, pariharinturu mammula payntadibbalapayi’
Meaning: You human beings like Mahishasura (Buffellow headed demon) demons sprinkle and spread us all over your sleeping Cots (usually on first day marriage night and during romances times) and trample our delicate bodies under your feet, and squeeze our bodies by rolling on beds, and after our petals are fallen down the next day you remove us and throw away us in the garbage bins.
Poem IX: Maa vayla loni mugdha sukumara sugandha maranda madhuree jeevita maylla mee kayi tyajinchi krucinchi nasinchi poyey. Maa yavvana maylla kollagoni aa payi cheepuru thoda chimmi, mammu avala paraboturu kadaa, mee nara Jaatiki neeti vunnadaa?
Meaning: The entire fragrance, delicacy and beauty of our bodies and our entire life has been sacrificed for the sake of you before getting destroyed, and you human beings plunder our youthfulness and later sweep us away with brooms; You Human beings do you have any ethics, morality and virtue?
Poem X: Buddha devuni pudamilo puttinavu sahajamagu preyma neelona chhaynaymi? Andamunu hatya chaysaydi hantakudavu, myilapadi poyanoyi nee manuja janma.
Meaning: You human beings have taken birth in the land where Lord Gautama Buddha born, why the natural love and tenderness had died in you? You the murderer of the Beauty, your human life has become defiled by your cruel deeds.
Poem XI: Pooja laykunna babu nee punnay maayae, koya bokumu maa payda kuttukalanu, Akata, mammula hatya chaysi bapukonabovu aa maha bhagyamaymi?
Meaning: Oh human being, I’m seeking your mercy, Even if there are no prayers by you to God, there is no lose for you, but never cut our throats. Alas, by killing us what virtue and wealth you are going to earn?
On watching the Weeping Flowers, Karunasree Jandhala Pappaya Sastry, without cutting flowers went to Temple with bare hands and offered prayers by saying, “what can I do Lord, I have come here to pray you with bare hands after being admonished by flowers”.
The cruelty of man has not changed then and now towards the flowers. Humans pray God by offereing billions of flowers by separating them from their mother plants. Human beings show utmost cruelty towards the flowers by snatching away their short spanned-lives and freedom. What punishments the humans deserve for killing flowers? Do not the flowers have Right to Life given by the God? If at all humans want to pray the God with flowers, can not they do so, by growing the flower plants around Statues of God inside the temples or all around the Temple premisis? Then, flowers blossom around the Temples and around the statues of the God and they themselves fall naturally at the feet of the God. Does God not consider it as natural prayer of humans without hurting and cutting the throats of innocent flowers. By dchaitanya