Dharma? What's that?

Hey all,

Today, I wanna chitchat about a concept called dharma.

When broken down to its simplest of simple meanings, dharma is living your truth. The full Hindi concept is quite complicated. All things have a place in nature and a job in nature. Dharma is both nature working the way in which it is supposed to work and all things in nature doing what they are supposed to do. It is the universe ensuring that everything is right. (What is Dharma? | Sanskriti - Hinduism and Indian Culture Website)

According to the Buddha, dharma is one of the best cures for suffering as it is following the correct path for you to ensure that you are at one in the universe. (What Is the Dharma? — Study Buddhism)

Have you ever met someone or heard of someone who is just meant to do something? Maybe they are naturally an amazing basketball player, or they can play the oboe like a pro after just a few lessons.

Using the concept of dharma, those people are meant to do those things. That doesn't mean that everything will align this lifetime and allow them to do it. Or it could mean that they have always been destined to do those things but were kept from doing them in a past life.

Once you start to learn about the concept of dharma, you may start to think about yourself or others you know and what they are meant to be doing. I know a person that is an author. They are always writing. Any time they decide that it's just too hard to make it as a writer and that they have had enough and quit, they are absolutely miserable. They eventually make their way back to writing in some form and are immediately pacified. They still struggle with the same things most of us struggle with--anxiety, existential dread, how to pay the bills, the call of the void, etc.--but they aren't also burdened with this hole missing from their identity. Writing is definitely their dharma.

For me, every time I become disillusioned about being involved in yoga and wellness and walk away to find a career that pays well, I am momentarily happy because, money, but within a month or two I feel hollow and like a part of me has died.

As soon as I welcome health, fitness, yoga etc. back into my life, I blossom again and feel whole again. I am fairly certain that my dharma is to help guide people to the best versions of themselves possible. And honestly, I love the feeling of helping people get better.

For me, a non-religious person, I subscribe to following my dharma because if I don't, I don't feel like I'm being honest and fair to myself.

To be fair, not everyone knows their dharma. And as mentioned by the Buddha (see above) this leads to suffering. If a person doesn't know their reason for being, they can't pursue it and will continue to feel empty.

I also think that, especially in modern Western society, a lot of people think they know their reason for being and are nurturing something that doesn't serve them. In modern Western society, many people are encouraged to choose a career and pursue it based not on what will best serve them and the universe but on possible monetary success. I've also noticed a disturbing trend to discourage hobbies and activities outside of work/hanging out with friends.

If you haven't found your dharma yet, it is critical that you spend time trying out different hobbies, reading about things that you haven't done, and trying out new things. So many people in modern Western society are so emotionally exhausted that they don't have the energy to do the deep self-discovery necessary to find their dharma and weren't raised with the concept and therefore don't know that they should search for it.

I strongly suspect that the reason we see people go through major changes in their early- to mid-30s is because that is when they start to notice that they are doing things that don't serve them and nature and they start to search for their truth. I think it is why we see so many go through their self-help, spiritual throw out everything that ever came before phase.

Do you know what your dharma is? Do you believe in the concept? How will you work to serve yourself and the universe fully from now on?

Until next time, happiness is free, share it with everyone,

Kris