Shilpa Shah Associate Prof. HKBBA College
We have a saying that “life (PRAN) and nature (prakriti) go together” which means that human nature does not change till death. Man continues to live according to his nature (prakriti) until his life ends. At every moment of his life his nature determines his destiny i.e. he thinks as per his nature, he takes decision according to his nature and his nature determines the happiness and misery of his life. If man knows his nature perfectly or try to understand how nature is formed, I believe that one can definitely change his nature and break the terrible grip of nature as well as free from it. By freeing oneself from the bondage of one’s nature, one can remove many miseries from his life because one’s own nature is the root cause of many miseries and sufferings in life. Also, character or nature is not formed in a day. The process of determining the nature (prakriti) of a human being is very long. The first step of which is desire.
Repeated desire in a particular direction eventually takes the form of lust. When something is constantly thought about, desire becomes intense. When one expects or strives for the fulfillment of a wish, gradually the hold of that wish becomes stronger on human life. Which gradually takes the form of lust. As lust becomes stronger it results in habit. It is especially difficult to break the habit and such a habit of many births is known as sacraments (samskara) in scripture. Such samskaras or habits are transformed into nature over time. That is why it is said that liberation from nature is impossible for almost everyone. Because the rites of many births like desire, lust, habit are responsible for the formation of nature. A human being cannot easily break the grip of nature and free from it. If he wants to transform nature or be freed from the grip of nature, he has to be very careful regarding desires because the formation of nature basically starts with desire. It is possible to let go of any desire until it becomes lust. Therefore, one should be alert that any ordinary desire does not become lust. If desire becomes lust, it is difficult to get rid of it.
When any desire is not fulfilled, instead of constantly pondering over it, one should learn to accept it as God’s will. In the initial stages, if the grip of desire is released and the desire does not become more intense or strong and take the form of lust, then life becomes easier. Once a desire turns into a lust, nothing can stop it from becoming a habit. A strong craving usually takes the form of a habit. For example, when the desire to smoke cigarettes is first felt, if it is not controlled and is constantly thought about or regularly indulged, the desire gradually becomes a craving and gradually becomes a habit, then it becomes impossible to live without it. A person becomes addicted. Even if he realizes that my habit is harmful, he cannot give it up.
Breaking any habit requires hard work as breaking a habit is not easy. Similarly lust, anger, greed if become a habit, eventually become a nature which cannot be abandoned. Over the years, ages or births, man has become accustomed to anger, so getting rid of anger has become difficult. Similarly, a person who is greedy cannot be affected by anyone’s advice or the dictates of religion. It is difficult to let go of the temptation once you get in the habit of valuing money. Over many years or births, one has become accustomed to greed for wealth. At some point he may realize that wealth is not the true happiness of life, but he cannot reduce the love of wealth because the temptation of wealth has become his habit. His rites of greed and anger in birth compel him to remain active because he has practiced the same karmas year after year. He has sacrificed many births for this purpose, so he cannot easily give up anger or greed. In short, when anything becomes a rite or a habit (which is the result of many births of practice) it is impossible to give it up. That is why the scriptures advise not to let desire prevail. If the desire takes the form of lust, it will surely fill the life with suffering. Also, unfortunately, if a desire becomes a lust and the lust becomes a habit or a nature, then it will not be one birth but births and births will make the life of a human being painful and the human being will never be able to escape from its grip.
That is why it is our first moral responsibility to be vigilant that nature should not formed in any case. Every human being should pay attention in life so that desire does not become lust, lust does not become habit and habit does not become nature. Life should be constantly observed or checked.
One should be aware so that improper nature is not formed even inadvertently. Otherwise no one can stop life from becoming painful. If one wants to create a true nature, the desire to develop a moral, selfless, honest, holy and spiritual nature should be constantly nurtured. The lust should be transformed into noble desire. A noble lust should be made a habit or a rite through which a noble nature is finally cultivated. Which helps in achieving all kinds of goals and life becomes meaningful. In short, if it seems impossible to control the desires, it is best to spiritualize the desires, i.e. the direction of the desires should be changed. So that even if that desire turns into lust and becomes a habit and forms a nature (prakriti), it does not prove to be dangerous or harmful. Rather help in making life better. Every human being has two options 1) Control the wrong desires at the initial stage 2) if first option is not possible then change the direction of desires, i.e., instead of selfish greed, unworthy desires, constantly meditate on holy moral and spiritual desires, so that eventually those desires become lust, habit and form excellent character thus four factors are decisive for the formation of good nature or character: desire, lust, habit and rites.
Shilpa Shah Associate Prof. HKBBA College
