eating apples ... boring

night. around 24 minutes before midnight. i was at the rendezvous point waiting for office mates to arrive.  this is where we get a cab for work. cheaper this way.  we chip in for the cab fare. as usual, i was early. arrived ahead of the rest.  well, i've learned to be patient. there are lots of reasons why people do not come early.  anyway, we are a full hour ahead.  shift begins at 1 am.

i sat by the cemented steps of the tile shop near our rendezvous point.  i held up the apple i brought for lunch later.  against the light of the streetlamp its skin is tight and glistened invitingly.  almost reddish all over except for the top and bottom which were still yellowish.  a pang of hunger suddenly welled up in me.  the apple looked so juicy.  i rubbed the palm of my left hand all over it to clean it off.  i examined it all over and decided it's clean enough. near the center of its bottom, though, i noticed a small, pin prick of a hole.

could not resist the apple's invitation any longer.  it's shouting, "EAT ME!" and i bit a chunk off near its top.  sweet juice flowed out of it and caressed my parched lips.  very good indeed!  i'm blessed.  i worked my way around the apple, devouring it bit-by-pleasant bit.  from time to time, i peek at the bottom to see if i'm near the small hole. i reserved that portion of the apple for the last.  gently, near the small hole, i placed a bite mark and broke off that portion with my fingers.  i used my mobile phone's flashlight to see better the separated pieces.

as i suspected, at the apple's core, near the seed, i found it.  the little worm.  faint yellowish as the color of the apple's flesh.  nestled confidently beside the black seed.  delicate.  soft.  a creature, minute, but still, like this red apple and i, bears the amazing handiwork of the One Creative Force.

i realized it is giving me a lesson in obedience as well. it knew instinctively.  although the apple's coat is red and gleaming and spotless it did not stay outside.  it did not succumb to the apple's enticing appearance.  the little one obeyed its nature and bore a pinhole at its bottom. and it kept on boring, boring, boring, going deeper until it reached the apple's inner core.  there it stayed beside the apple seed.  nestled itself.

the apple seed.  in it is Life.  in it is the promise of perpetuation.  inside it is a gamut of possibilities --

an apple seed falling
on fertile mother ground
then, sunlight and air and water and earth
conniving, nurturing;
the seed dies, but,
apple sprout breaks ground
and wins Life' struggles
becomes a robust  Apple Tree
where minute Worm will once again wait
patiently
for Apple Fruit..

the Old Sages and Masters always remind us --  Go Inside the Self, within lies Life and Truth.

be like the worm, keep on boring towards the Inner Core ...

O, little Worm, i bow before you!