One day, the guru and his young disciples were seated on the bank of the river, talking and praying together. An uprooted tree came floating down the river and caught in the bank just in front of them. Caught in the branches of the tree was a scorpion which must have been trapped on the tree when it was uprooted by the floodwater upstream. The guru knew that, inevitably, the scorpion would fall from the tree and be drowned in the river. So he reached his hand out to take the scorpion from the tree and to put it safely on land. But as he reached out to rescue the scorpion, it stung his hand, and the guru had to take his hand away in pain.

After a moment, the guru reached out to rescue the scorpion again, and the scorpion stung him again. The guru kept trying to save the scorpion and the scorpion kept stinging him until his hand was red and swollen in pain.

Finally, one of the young disciples could control himself no longer and he burst out: “Master, why do you keep trying to rescue that foolish scorpion that doesn’t even want to be saved?” The guru looked very patiently at the impetuous young disciple and said: “Should I be untrue to my nature which is to be compassionate just because this scorpion is being true to its nature to sting?”

What does the statement, “Should I be untrue to my nature which is to be compassionate just because this scorpion is being true to its nature to sting?” mean?