सदृशं चेष्टते स्वस्याः प्रकृतेर्ज्ञानवानपि।
प्रकृतिं यान्ति भूतानि निग्रहः किं करिष्यति।।3.33।।
Even a man of wisdom behaves according to his own nature. They follow their nature. What can restraint do?
Osho’s Commentary
A very radical statement. Even the man of knowledge, the jnanavan, acts according to his own prakriti, his own intrinsic nature. All beings follow their nature. What can suppression, nigrahah, achieve? This is a direct blow to all moralities that are based on repression. You cannot force a rosebush to produce marigolds. You cannot force a river to flow uphill. Each being has its own nature, its swabhava. The path to fulfillment is not in fighting this nature, but in understanding it and allowing it to flower to its fullest potential. Suppression creates conflict, division, neurosis. You become a house divided against itself. And in this inner civil war, all your energy is wasted. Krishna is not saying that one should indulge in one’s nature without any awareness. He is saying that first, one must accept one’s nature. This acceptance is the first step. Then, with awareness, one can begin to transform it. But transformation is not suppression. Suppression is violence. Transformation is a skillful art. It is like a gardener who does not fight with the tree but gives it the right nourishment, the right soil, the right sunshine, so that it can grow to its full glory. The wise man does not suppress his nature; he transcends it. And transcendence is possible only through total acceptance.