My days with Baba
by Ac. Sarveshvarananda Avt.

Why Did That Leaf Fall?

Plants and trees feel happiness, dejection and sorrow, only they cannot express it in ways that people can understand. At Lake Gardens, Bábá frequently demonstrated that He knew the language of plants, and would be furious when they were inadvertently neglected by the gardeners.
Bábá used to walk around the garden every day after His field walk. There were thousands of plants and trees growing in that tiny space surrounding the house. Many were rare species brought from different countries. He would look at all the plants carefully and watch over their development. One day He saw that a leaf of a plant had fallen off. He flew into a rage.
“Who is responsible for watering the plants?” He thundered. “Whose job is it to supervise the gardening? Send for them immediately!”
Everyone dashed to the spot. Bábá was in a fury. He scolded, “This plant must not have been watered or nurtured properly. Otherwise why has it shed a leaf?” He charged them with irresponsibility and ineptitude. It was as though somebody had been murdered. Everyone admitted his fault and promised never to let it happen again.
In His room, Bábá let His temper cool.
He said to me, “Look, do you want to know why My heart bleeds at such a small thing? When a man is thirsty, he wants water and when hungry, he wants food. In the same way, a plant suffers from thirst if it doesn’t get water and reels in starvation if it doesn’t get the food it needs. People can express their feelings, but plants cannot. Plants have their own agonies which are invisible to us.”
“I understand their language,” He added, “and so get exasperated. Therefore I take all of you to task.”