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Chapter 14
THE GUNAS: DEVELOPING THEM AND GOING BEYOND THEM
79. How To Determine One’s Swadharma?
19. But, even if the concept of chaturvarnya is set aside, everybody in all the nations of the world has his swadharma accrued to him even where there is no such system. All of us are born in a stream, in a continuum, in a particular situation, and that defines our duties. It is, therefore, imperative that one is not attracted to duties which are out of context from the situation that one is placed in, even though they appear good and attractive. In fact, they should not be called duties at all. Often, a distant thing looks attractive and man is taken in by it. A man surrounded by fog feels that the fog is denser at a distance, although it is equally dense everywhere. Thus, things that are closer often go unnoticed and man feels attracted to what is distant. But this is a delusion that must be shunned. Swadharma may appear to be commonplace, imperfect and uninteresting; still that alone is good and beneficial. When a man is drowning in the sea it is the log floating near him, however rough and gnarled, that will save him. There may be a number of beautiful pieces of polished and carved wood in a carpenter’s workshop; they are of no use to the man who is struggling for life in the sea. It is in his interest to catch hold of the log that happens to be at hand. Likewise, the calling that has come to me as swadharma is beneficial to me even if it appears unattractive and commonplace. I should follow it and be immersed in it. Therein lies my redemption. If I set out to search for another sphere of service, I may end up in losing both of them; and also the very urge for service. One must, therefore, be ever-absorbed in the performance of swadharma. 20. When one is absorbed in swadharma, rajas loses its force because the mind gets concentrated; it then never swerves from swadharma. Fickle rajas then becomes powerless. If a river is deep, it can contain within its banks the onrush of any quantity of water without getting unduly disturbed. The river of swadharma can likewise hold all the force and power of man. Energy spent in the performance of swadharma is never too much. Pour all your energy into it and then the restlessness, which is a distinctive characteristic of rajas, will disappear. The sting of fickleness will be broken. This is the way to conquer rajas.
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