svabhāvo yādṛśo yasya na jahāti kadācana |
aṅgāraḥ śata-dhautena malinatvaṁ na muñcati ||
(Unknown source; cited in Śabda-kalpa-druma)
“Whatever one’s svabhāva [may be], one can never give it up. Charcoal does not give up its blackness [even] by washing it a hundred times.”
na dharma-śāstraṁ paṭhatīti kāraṇaṁ
na cāpi vedādhyayanaṁ durātmanaḥ |
svabhāva evātra tathātiricyate
yathā prakṛtyā madhuraṁ gavāṁ payaḥ ||
(Hitopadeśa: Mitra-lābha, 17)
“Neither reciting dharma-śāstras nor studying the Veda are means for [reforming] a wicked person. The svabhāva [i.e., one’s conditioned nature] alone prevails herein, just as cows milk is naturally sweet.”
sattvānurūpā sarvasya śraddhā bhavati bhārata |
śraddhāmayo’yaṁ puruṣo yo yac-chraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 17.3)
“The śraddhā of all beings corresponds to their disposition (sattva), O descendant of Bhārata. A person is made of śraddhā. One verily is the śraddhā one has.”
