In plain words
Ahiṃsā is the first flower; the flower of mastery of the senses; the flower of compassion for all beings; the flower of forbearance above all; the flower of Śānti, the flower of tapas, and the flower of dhyāna too; and Satya: these eight kinds of flowers are dear to Viṣṇu.
Embodiments of Prema! What God looks for from you is not the sixteen offerings of worship, nor a reading of the eighteen Purāṇas; what He Himself looks for from you is only the eight kinds of sacred flowers. What are these eight kinds of flowers like?
The first is the flower of Ahiṃsā. Ahiṃsā is precisely this: not harming any living being in mind, word or body. Some ask, “Is cutting vegetables not violence?” It is not violence. Because they do not feel pain. In some plants, water drips from the spot where a fruit has been cut. Seeing it, some think, “Oh, the poor thing, the plant is weeping because its fruit was cut,” but that is only a natural process, not tears of grief. Only human beings have the five sheaths: the annamaya kośa, the prāṇamaya kośa, the manomaya kośa, the vijñānamaya kośa and the ānandamaya kośa. Only those who have a mind have joys and sorrows. Only man, cattle, birds, wild beasts and the like, and worms, insects and the like have a mind. Vegetables and trees have life, but they have no mind. So they do not feel pain.
The second flower is mastery of the senses. Without mastery of the senses, however many sādhanas you do, they become useless. Among the senses, you must first of all rein in the tongue, which has grown used to many tastes. “O tongue! Since you were born, how many sacks of wheat you have eaten, how many foods made of flour you have relished, how many vegetables you have consumed! Are you still not satisfied?” you must scold it. You must teach it to utter the sweet syllables Govinda, Dāmodara, Mādhava.