It is for this reason that the way of Shiva was always to work against his weaknesses. He counted these tendencies as weaknesses, he did not count them as his nature. What is nature? All is in our nature. But what we cannot stand we make foreign to our nature when we separate it, and a time may come when we become so weak that we cannot help becoming subjected to our weaknesses. There are snake charmers who, by making snakes bite them a little at a time, have gradually become inured to the poison. They catch the snake in their hand, and if it bites it does not hurt them. It was the same with Shiva who is pictured with a cobra around his neck. Out of death he had made a necklace. There was no more death for him.