You may be familiar with Swami Ramatirtha’s tale. He purchased some apples from a market that were extremely appealing. Nevertheless, he refrained from eating them and set a challenge for himself to resist doing so. He then placed an apple on the diner but never touched it. Every moment he felt tempted to eat it, he used to smile whenever he glanced at it.Finally, he is forced to discard the rotten apples.
As we can see, apples are beneficial to our health. However, Swami was skilled in the art of judgement and was aware that the apples’ true motivation was pure tamas, or passion and desire, rather than health or sattva.
He triumphed over lust’s seductions and the fallacy of temptations.
This means that while something may be excellent, it may not always be the immediate or present thing.
Therefore, whatever you want to accomplish, you must first come to terms with who you really are. Only then will any endeavour be successful. Whatever they may appear to be from the outside.
The conclusion is therefore not to avoid eating apples. But, with the correct intention and focus and in a self-realized way.
“Dive Deep Within the Self” 