Swadharma: Living life like Krishna

We have been discussing the 5S to live life freely. We discussed the first S: Swadhyay, whereby, we try to realign the center of the rational mind from rights and wrongs to the universal consciousness. Then we discussed the second S: Shraddha whereby we try to reset the center of the emotional mind from likes and dislikes to the universal consciousness. Then we discussed the third S: Samvedana; we try to realign the center of the unconscious mind from craving for pleasant sensations and aversion to unpleasant sensations to the universal consciousness by observing the sensations with equanimity.

Coming to the fourth S: Swadharma, we generally take decisions in our day-to-day life centered around the rights and wrongs of the rational mind, the likes and dislikes of the emotional mind, and craving for the pleasant sensations and aversion for the unpleasant sensations, as stored in the unconscious mind.  Due to these fixations, we hardly take any decision as per our Swadharma. Swadharma is our real nature. All of us are good at doing one or the other thing. Some of us are good at management like organizing a function. Some of us are good at fine works of art such as painting, singing, or dancing. Some of us are good at physical activities such as sports. Some of us are good at intellectual analysis such as auditing and programming. Some are good at exploring new areas of knowledge and teaching the students. All these are our Swadharma.

Swadharma has nothing to do with religion. It’s just doing what we are good at. We are not able to live life in Swadharma because we are caught in the loop of fixations. Our rights and wrongs drive our life. For example, in certain orthodox societies, the female members of the family are not able to live a life of Swadharma because the female going for the job is considered to be wrong. Sometimes our likes and dislikes decide the type of life rather than the Swadharma. For example, somebody is good at a particular subject but takes the other subject during graduation due to peer pressure. We like to move along the peers for the sake of social approval and that’s a very strong like of the emotional mind. Sometimes, our craving for pleasant sensations and aversion to unpleasant sensations drive our life rather than Swadharma.  For example, sometimes our job assignments demand heavy-duty work and we become cynical and critical of these opportunities because they are not so pleasant for the body. In my job, there is one such example. Going on search duties (called raids) requires work in difficult conditions day and night. At times, we have to be awake for nights together with very little rest. That is why it is disliked by many. The unconscious mind has a natural aversion to such sensations. However, that assignment gives us a lot of insights into the world of tax evasion.

As we start realigning the center of our rational, emotional, and unconscious mind to the universal consciousness, away from the rights and wrongs, likes and dislikes, and the pleasant or unpleasant sensations, more and more of our decisions start getting guided by Swadharma.

We may look at the life of Krishna. His decisions were always guided by Swadharma. He did not, for a moment, think that it would be wrong to leave his parents and friends when he was moving from Brij to Mathura guided by his Swadharma to fight with Kansa. He was not concerned about the rights and wrongs when he ran away from the battlefield while fighting with Jarasandha. The rights and wrongs did not decide his guiding Bhima while he was fighting the battle with Duryodhana.

Krishna’s life was also not driven by likes and dislikes. He liked Radha so much but that like did not stop him from going to Mathura. His liking for Pandavas did not stop him from giving the support of his army to Kauravas. Krishna’s life was also not driven by the craving for pleasant sensations or aversion to unpleasant sensations. He joined the battle of Kurukshetra despite being so comfortable in Dwarka. All his life decisions were driven by Swadharma and that is what he told Arjuna while giving the preachings of Bhagwad Geeta to him.

Life of fixations around rights and wrongs, likes and dislikes, and pleasant and unpleasant sensations is very limited and shallow. It’s like surfing on the waves all our lives. On the other hand, the life of Swadharma is rich like diving deep into the ocean. We can not live the life of Swadharma unless we become free of the fixations. However, the opposite is also true. If we live a life of Swadharma, we do not get fixated on rights and wrongs, likes and dislikes, pleasant and unpleasant sensations, and live a life full of freedom.