Can devotees sell products made by killing flowers?
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Question from Varun Chawla. Prabhupada used to say everything, use everything in Krishna's service. But there are things like we use photo paper, it is made from animals.
Can we sell these photo papers or do business of this for Krishna? There was an earlier another question similar to this about flowers. So in general, I'll answer this in a broad principle because there are many practical details which can come up which will become paralytic if we try to analyze. So there was an earlier question.
I have listened that plucking a flower is sin. But if you offer to Krishna and I want to sell some products like sherbet made from rose and some other products which also contain flowers. Flowers are also used in medicine which we normally eat for simple problem, nothing serious.
Flowers are in many products like soap, toothpaste, preservatives. So yeah, we need toilets etc. Please tell me about flowers from books.
Please tell me whether I can sell these products or not. So in general, with respect to these sort of issues, one shouldn't become too paranoid. Paranoid means having a persecution complex.
Feeling that oh, what about this, what about this, what about this. Just like as devotees, we need to be aware that death can come at any time. But that should make us more conscious of remembering Krishna.
Not that it makes us paranoid about death. Oh, I'm walking on the street, will somebody come and hit me, will I get a heart attack, what will happen, what will happen. We don't want to be death conscious, we want to be Krishna conscious.
Similarly, even while doing our worldly duties, we don't have to be too much karma conscious, we have to be Krishna conscious. Certainly, as a part of being Krishna conscious, we have to be karma conscious. But still, it's a matter of prioritization and proportion.
Our focus should be much more on Krishna than on karma. And we need to take up a worldly profession that enables us to become stable, reasonably stable within our worldly position and focus on devotional service to Krishna. As I quoted in an earlier answer, in the Mahabharata, Lord Krishna tells that nahi sarvatra vidhiyate, there is not a rule for everything.
So regarding photos which are made from animals, it will have to depend on situation to situation. How much is the percentage and how much is the violence involved in it. And whether there are alternatives available to it.
Naturally, if alternatives are available, devotees will prefer those alternatives. But if they are not available, then if one is about to launch a business, then one may not choose such a business. But if one already has a business directly in that direction, and it is not primarily centered on meat.
But it is selling a product which involves meat in it. Then one doesn't necessarily think that one has to give it up entirely just so that one can practice devotional service. No, one can practice devotional service in any way.
And over a period of time, gradually, depending on the guidance of senior devotees, especially for these sort of questions, one should consult senior devotees who are in the business field and are also strongly rooted in Krishna consciousness. And through them, we will learn proper guidance about how we can streamline and straighten these sort of things. Otherwise, we will stay in a persecution complex.
As far as flowers are concerned, jivo jivasya jivanam Darshan with Bhagavatam says that we cannot live without killing. One jiva is the life for another jiva. jivo jivasya jivanam At the same time, we want to minimize violence.
So, wherever it is possible, we try to avoid it. But ultimately, everything has to come from somewhere. So, we want to avoid animal flesh because that is a pillar of sinful life.
That is breaking a regulative principle. But then, as we know, we can't avoid killing because there will be some amount of violence involved in killing plants also. So, wherever it is possible, avoid it.
But don't be paranoid about it. Focus on practicing devotional service. And regarding specifics, one can seek guidance from a senior devotee, who is fixed in devotional service as well as experienced in business.
Thank you.