Roles in Life and Swadharma

In our last blog, we examined how our duties determine our goals and how we act in order to satisfy these goals. The real question then becomes how do we know what our duties are? Duties come from the roles we play in life.

The famous poet Avijit Das once said that “We are all actors playing different roles in different phases of life. But we must try to play each role to perfection!”. The message of Gita is no different. But it also guides us on what roles we should play. These roles will change as we go through the different stages of life. As duties come from roles, this means that our duties will keep changing. However, Gita states unequivocally that each of us has a ‘natural duty’ or swadharma (or our own duty) and we are not to stray from this. But how do we know what our Swardharma is?

Let’s start with the famous verse from Bhagavad Gita and delve into discovering our swadharma.

Swadharma - Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 3, Verse 35

श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुण: परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् | स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेय: परधर्मो भयावह: || 3.35||

śhreyān swa-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt sv-anuṣhṭhitāt swa-dharme nidhanaṁ śhreyaḥ para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ

It is far better to perform one’s natural prescribed duty, though tinged with faults, than to perform another’s prescribed duty, though perfectly. In fact, it is preferable to die in the discharge of one’s duty, than to follow the path of another, which is fraught with danger (3.35)

How to determine your Swadharma?

In his lecture on What is Swadharma? Swami Sarvapriyananda talks about swadharma as a combination of four different dharmas:

• Varna Dharma: Your duties in life emanate from the varna or role classification that you belong to. Note that this ‘belonging’ is not prescribed by your birth, as is often mistakenly portrayed, but what you like doing or are good at. The four varnas are - kshatriya (i.e., warrior and administrative role), brahmana (i.e., educator role), vysya (i.e., business role), and shudra (i.e., worker role).

• Ashrama Dharma: We have examined the four ashrama’s in our earlier blog - they include brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasa. These could be referred to as the different stages of life.

• Varnashrama Dharma: When we combine our role in society with the stage of our life we get the varnashrama dharma. In other words, we have sixteen different role-life stage combinations that determine our duties.

• Vishesha Dharma: When we are faced with specific situations in life we are expected to carry out certain duties. These are called Vishesha (i.e., special) dharma (i.e., duties). For example, if you see an elderly person faint and fall down on the road - it is your duty to help him. This is a duty emanating from special circumstances.

• Sadharana Dharma: In addition to the special occasions we also have sadharana (i.e., ordinary) duties in life. For example, brushing your teeth, exercising every day, meditating for few minutes can all be categorized as ordinary duties.

Story of the tree that wanted to be like a cloud

The notion of swadharma can be illustrated with this beautiful story. Once upon a time, there was a tree on a hill and the tree was nourished by the nutrients from the hill. The tree, the hill, and the clouds in the sky were all good friends. Each of them shared how they enjoyed their own life. The tree was content standing in one place and growing with the nourishment of the sun and the hill. The hill felt proud standing majestically and overlooking the beautiful village in the valley below. The cloud was happy moving from one place to the other and observing all the beauty beneath.

One day on hearing all the escapades of the cloud, the tree felt sad. It lamented with its friend the hill, that life was boring rooted in one place. It wished it could roam freely wherever it wanted like the cloud. The hill advised the tree about each one’s natural state (or swadharma) and not to aspire for something that was not its nature.

However, the tree was in no mood to listen. It went to its friend the wind and wanted the wind to uproot it from the hill and make it go wherever it wanted to go. Although, the wind was against the idea, it finally reluctantly agreed to the tree’s request. So, the next day the wind blew and uprooted the tree and brought it down from the hill. Very soon the tree realized its folly. It was unable to receive any nourishment from the hill and was always dependent on the wind to move from one place to the other. It slowly started dying and eventually told the wind to take it near the village so that it can be of use to the villagers.

The story illustrates the key moral of not deviating from one’s true nature or swadharma.

How can we know our Swadharma or the Ikigai framework?

The Japanese concept of ikigai or the “reason for being” is a great framework to understand the concept of swadharma. According to this framework, ikigai is at the intersection of the following four questions:

1. What do you love?

2. What are you good at?

3. What does the world need from you?

4. What can you get paid for?

What we are good at and what we get paid for becomes our profession; what we love and what we are good at becomes our passion; what we love and what the world needs from us becomes our mission; and finally what the world needs and what we get paid for becomes our vocation. The intersection of our profession, passion, mission, and vocation is our ikigai.

It is the rare few who really have an ikigai. For a majority of us, the intersections across these four key questions may not occur. More importantly, how do we even discover the answers to these questions. Moreover, the answers to these questions vary by our life stage and also our role classification - varnashrama dharma - as we saw earlier. As a student, one is advised to get good at what one is likely to get paid for. High school students are urged to do well and get into prestigious universities. They opt for courses that have good job prospects. The love for the subject may develop as they do their courses - but there is no guarantee that they would necessarily love what they are doing.

Also, as we move through the stages of life our focus may shift from one circle to the other. As we have a stable career and family we may focus more on what the world needs and what we love doing. In some cases, our interests also change over time; we may start doing what we love and discover that we may even get paid for it. We may need to explore multiple roles, multiple professions, and multiple passions to truly discover what our swadharma or ikigai is.

Source: Searching for meaning in your life? This Japanese concept can help you find it. Philip Berry, Big Think. Oct 6, 2018.

Key Takeaways

• Roles lead to duties and goals

• Know your Swadharma

• Apply Ikigai to answer these questions: (a) What do you love? (b) What you are good at? (c) What does the world need from you? and (d) What you can you get paid for?

Exercise for the week

• Apply Ikigai framework to understand: What gives you the most satisfaction in life?