Not everything wholesome is awesome, and not everything awesome is wholesome. We are often attracted to things that feel good, even if they’re not actually good for us. We love tasty food, even if it is not healthy. The Bhagavad-Gita points to this phenomenon in 18.38 as ‘nectar in the beginning, poison in the end,’ so things which feel awesome to us are not wholesome or good for us.
Conversely, there are many things which are wholesome; they are beneficial, and they are not just in the long run but even in the short run; they can be good for us once we develop a taste for them, just like healthy food doesn’t always have to be tasteless. It is the acquired or cultivated taste. So just because something is not awesome initially does not mean it can’t be wholesome if we just persevere. That which tastes like poison in the beginning will taste like nectar in the end, as the Bhagavad-Gita 18.37 states.
(Inspired by Bhagavad-Gita 18.37-38)
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