Your Inherent Nature

Do you know your inherent nature? Do you have any idea how you are going to behave every time when you are in similar circumstances? Do you know you can never change your inherent nature?
First when we say inherent nature, what does that term mean? It means the nature you are born with, as if it is an original equipment! A part you have come with from the manufacturing unit itself. Get it straight, you are an original one. There is none other like you ever made. You may have some inherited qualities like your mothers looks or fathers acumen. Or for that matter your fathers bad habits or your mothers nagging nature. Anyway, that is a separate package. Just the way you have for the cars, airbags, ABS or anti braking system, power steering, etc.. Your nature is your own identifying idiosyncrasy. You are known for it.
To give you a broader perspective, let me give you a few examples. The inherent nature of the snake is to slither, hiss and bite. A snake used to bite every passerby and the villagers were tired of him. One day Narada, the celestial sage was passing on that same road and the snake came to bite him. Narada told the snake to desist from doing that and promised to teach him how not to bite. He gave the snake a magic mantra.
One year later, when Narada again passed the same way and inquired of the snake. He found him battered, bruised and half dead. When asked, the snake told him that after he stopped biting people and started acting nice, the villagers became fearless, hurled him around and stoned him. Narada was very sad. He told the snake that He had never asked the snake to leave his inherent nature that of a snake. So that the villagers don’t take advantage of him, he should have hissed at them, he advised. They would then not disturb his peace. Hissing is the inherent nature of the snake so he should have done that scaring the villagers.
This story will tell you that it’s important not to miss that important part of your human nature. Here are some human examples. You are mostly irritable person and every little thing irritates you. This is your inherent nature. Sometimes some people are so curious just like a cat and that’s their nature. Snooping, voyeurism, teasing, dominating, fearful of everything, silent are some examples of inherent nature.
It is also termed as tendencies.
Tendencies are brought forward from past lives and they are more or less permanent in a person. Some are acquired ones, some due to birth, friends, relatives, environment or associations. People living in areas that are highly polluted sometimes tend to fall sick in clean atmosphere, having got acclimatized to dust, etc..
Here one more example is in order. Once a poor fisher woman was caught in a thunderstorm. A rich woman took pity on the fisher woman and called her inside her palatial palace. She gave her fresh clothes to wear after a nice bath. Fed her and then made arrangements to sleep in her royal bed. The whole night she tossed and turned and couldn’t sleep. Finally she searched out her fish basket and slept soundly next to it in the store room. The next morning the rich lady found her along with the fish basket tucked close to her nose.
We too are like this fisher woman with our special tendencies. We cannot live without them. They are always there to keep our company till death.
As long as these tendencies are not harming anyone including your own self you should not be bothered about them. But the moment they turn bad or wrong, we should be cautious and leave them. Tendencies are curable too but just like the viruses they can suddenly show up. So be careful. Mind them well. Let them be a boon to you, not a bane.

Image Courtesy by Blessingsonthenet