Read a story and wanted to share its essence with everyone. Hope you like it. Sai Ram.

Long long ago, there was a merchant and he was travelling with his caravan through a dense forest. Merchant had cautioned all his fellow travelers to not do anything without asking him first. That included going off the track or touching something or eating fruits of any tree.

The caravan reached near a village and just at the entrance of the village; there was a tree whose fruits looked very ripe and attractive. The people of the caravan were very hungry and tired. The journey was very strenuous. They lacked energy and were sustaining themselves with whatever little amount of food they were left with.

The moment some people got to see the tree laden with enticing fruits; they rushed to eat them. The merchant looked at the tree and at once asked them to not go near the tree. He shouted and asked them not to eat the fruits of the tree. However, some people disregarded merchant’s advice and started plucking the fruits. They ate the fruits.

Rest of the people though were very hungry and even though they desperately wanted to relieve their hunger by eating the fruit; they decided to control their urge and follow merchant’s instruction instead. The initial few people who did not pay heed to merchant’s advice and had eaten the fruits immediately collapsed to the ground and their body turned blue and black.

The merchant told that the fruits were poisonous. The remaining people could not believe what he said and wondered how did the merchant knew this. Merchant told that even though it was the first time he had seen those fruits, he came to the conclusion that the fruits were not fit to be consumed because in spite of being so close to the village; the tree was full of attractive and ripe fruits. If the fruits were fit for consumption, the villagers would have certainly plucked them by this time and hence he advised them to not eat the fruits. All the people became pleasantly surprised by merchant’s revelation. They felt themselves lucky that the merchant was leading their group.

Moral of the story: Apply one’s wisdom and discretion and not let urges of senses tempt you.