swa-dharma

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This is in response to question on sva-dharma and para-dharma.

 

Not to retreat from a war already declared is the svadharma of the

kshatriya that Arjuna is. If he thinks that retreating to solitude,

renouncing the world, would give him peace, he is mistaken - for,

the attitude with which he renounces is the deciding factor. If the

attitude is not that of enlightenment, but is that of an emotionally

charged warrior whose compassion for his kith and kin has got the

better of him, then such a meolodramatic withdrawal from the world

would not bring peace; for the mind would continue to be in turmoil

in the vortex of its worldly attachments. It does not have the

maturity of dispassion that should precede renunciation. Doing

what is assigned to one as one's duty is far more honourable than

running away from action in dislike of that action. If one does one's

duty in the spirit of yajna, the actions do not bind one.

This much can be taken as a brief summary of the reference to

svadharma and paradharma in chapter 4. But the Lord comes back

to this topic, in more detail, almost at the very end of his

discourse. In the 18th chapter, beginning from verse No.41

(brAhmaNa-kshatriya viSAm … ) to No.48 (sahajam karma

kaunteya …), he elaborates on this topic. There he brings in also

the concept of svabhAva (one's own nature), which he has

elaborated upon earlier in that chapter.

SvabhAva is something that one brings along with one's

birth. It is the aggregate complex of 1. The colour or character of

one's knowledge (Verse; 20-22); the type of one's action/s (Verse

nos.23-25); 3. the quality or attitude of one as a doer (Verse

nos.26-28); 4. the texture of one's intellect (Verses nos.30-32); 5.

the temper or tone of one's will (Verse nos.33-35); and 6. The

brilliance of one's reaction or reception to pleasure or happiness

(Verse nos.37-39). These six entities are six major constituents

of what makes one's svabhAva (own nature). Krishna implies, in

keeping with Hindu tradition, that these six are carried from

one's vAsanAs. SvabhAva does not change, though the

upbringing and environment may impinge upon it. The effect of

this external impact on one's svabhAva usually shows up only in

the long run, not immediately. In fact, this impact and a

consequent change in the svabhAva may happen only in the next

life.

On the other hand, svadharma (one's duty, obligation)

depends on three things: 1. VarNa; 2. Time and 3. Space. The

svadharma that is reflected by one's varNa never changes. The

svadharma that is dependent on Time and Space changes with

time and changes with a change of place. The dharma that one

is obliged to do as a duty while at one's own home may be a

more stringent requirement than that of the obligations in an

analogous situation while away from home, town or country.

The svadharma in kali-yuga is different from what it was in a

previous yuga. In kali-yuga, because the varNa-dharma is so

unclear, it is the one for which one is trained. A teacher's

svadharma is to teach and a doctor's svadharma is to heal. A

student's svadharma is to learn. But if a teacher or a student

behaves like a street goondah, then it is para-dharma for them.

It is dangerous to work beyond the level of one's nature. Indeed

this is Krishna's categorical answer to Arjuna's dilemma

presented and dramatically vocalised in the words Sreyo-

bhoktum baiksham api iha loke … (Ch.2. Verse 5).

Aurobindo interprets svadharma as svabhAva-niyatam

karma, taking his cue from Verse 47 of 18th chapter. In this

verse Krishna repeats the same idea (svadharma is the right

thing; para-dharma is dangerous) that he mentions in the 4th

chapter. SvabhAva-niyatam means that which is determined by

or is concordant with one's own nature. He equates this with

sva-karma (one's duty) mentioned in 'sva-karma nirataH

siddhim' in Verse 45 of 18th chapter. By doing one's natural

actions one attains perfection, says the second half of this verse.

The dharma foreign to one's calling and nature is the para-

dharma. If you put somebody in a situation not concordant with

one's svabhAva, he would not blossom. And those whose natural

instinct, born of his varNa, is very strong, they will even

transcend their immediate man-made limitations and will

themselves, drawn by their prakriti, seek the environment and

the work which suit their own nature.

A Ramanujan, though compelled to workj as a quill-

driving clerk in the Port Trust Office in Madras, could not resist

his brAhmaNa urge to know and inquire, which was

predominant in him, and he finally ended up in Cambridge to

become the 20th century's most famous self-made genius of a

mathematician. A shepherd boy of twelve could not be restricted

to tend sheep and cattle in the native land of Corsica, for his

kshatriya genius would urge him to run away and seek a

position in the French army in which he quickly rose to become

the world's most well-known general for all time, Napolean. A

lad of age sixteen, was sweating it out in the staircases of a

multi-floor building in Calcutta carrying the share documents

up and down , to the brokers and owners, and was not allowed ,

by the English overlords, even to use the lifts, because he was a

'native' - but nothing could restrain his vaisya genius to become

within the next decade so dynamic as to start his own business

which in due time made him one of the two tallest industrial

giants of India of that time, Ghanshyamdas Birla. All these

three started their lives with a profession of servitude, which

was not in their inborn nature, but finally rose to shine

superlatively in the work and calling that was theirs by their

svabhAva, which they pursued diligently to perfection.

There are also instances where the svabhAva, as

indicated by birth environment and calling, was not the real

svabhAva; there was actually a hidden svabhAva which unfolds

by almost a miraculous touch of the Supreme. The brahma-tejas

(the spark of spiritual splendour) hiding in the svabhAva of

Gautama the kshatriya was lit up by his own penance to which

he was led as an Arta (afflicted, - in the sense that he could not

bear to see the suffering in others), and he became the Buddha.

The brahma-tejas hiding in the svabhAva of Narendra the

vysya, led him as a jignAsu (seeker of knowledge) to a proper

guru and the latter brought forth the Vivekananda in him.

A Dhanurdasa, of low birth, a wrestler by profession,

was spotted by Sri Ramanujacharya in a most lustful act of

meanness, but was converted by him overnight into the most

noble devotee of the Lord and disciple of his Guru - that the

brAhmaNa disciples of the Guru felt jealous; and the teacher

taught them by putting Dhanurdasa and his wife, of equally

condemnable antecedents, to the most severe test out of which

the couple came out not only as the winners but became the

model of brAhmaNa devotees to the rest of the disciples of their

teacher. The brahma-tejas hiding in the svabhAva of

Dhanurdasa was of such kind and it was the arthArthi (seeker

after pleasure and prosperity) in him that was consumed by the

spiritual touch of Sri Ramanuja.

PraNAms to all advaitins.

Profvk

Prof.V. Krishnamurthy

My two books, one on Science and Spirituality

and the other on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought, Vision and Practice,

can both be accessed at the address:

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

 

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