Bhagavad Gita 3.33

sadṛśaṁ ceṣṭate svasyāḥ

prakṛter jñānavān api

prakṛtiṁ yānti bhūtāni

nigrahaḥ kiṁ kariṣyati

 

“All act according to their own nature’s call,

Even the wise are bound by its thrall.

Beings follow the path they are made to tread,

What can mere restraint do instead?”

 

Help me, O Lord, to see that my nature is something to be discovered so that it can be tapped. Otherwise, I will be trapped within it.The more I connect with you prayerfully, the more I gain the inner clarity to observe myself. Only then can I understand what I am most comfortable doing and what I am most competent at doing—both of which indicate my nature. I cannot repress my nature just as much as I cannot repress my consciousness. I will always be conscious of something, even when I am not conscious of what I am conscious of.

Similarly, I will inevitably revert back to my nature, even if I don’t consciously know that I have reverted back to it.That I should not repress my nature does not mean that I can do anything in the name of my nature and justify it. Just as you wanted Arjuna to act as a warrior and not as a priest, yet you did not want him to act like the vicious Duryodhana, similarly, let me not use my nature as an excuse for justifying irresponsibility and immorality. Let me see it as an explanation for the default gravitation of my actions.Bless me, my Lord, so that I do not over-identify with my nature, but instead use it to maximize my service to you.

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03.33 Even a man of knowledge acts according to his own nature, for everyone follows the nature he has acquired from the three modes. What can repression accomplish?