This question has consumed me, what is really dharma? Is it really just the profession that we follow and train for? I think I am now realizing the answer: it is something you need to give to the world, or just do, for your own peace of mind. It may be paid or unpaid, or it may give you happiness or a path of pain and suffering. But one thing it does do, is it completes you. And gives a feeling of having arrived…..home. It is a silent, incessant searching from within, until you reach the feeling: “this is it!” I’m complete, I have nothing more to seek.
You can be fairly happy in your profession, very skilled, very well paid. A head-hunter’s dream. And have a feeling of great satisfaction of accomplishment, but you may not feel complete. That something is till missing, that feeling does not go away in a regular profession. But when you do the thing aligned with your dharma, it is like you are mentally restful, no longer looking to be somewhere better or higher.
???????????????? ?????: ?????????????????????? | ???????? ????? ?????: ??????? ?????: || 35|| ?hrey?n swa-dharmo vigu?a? para-dharm?t sv-anu?h?hit?t swa-dharme nidhana? ?hreya? para-dharmo bhay?vaha?
BG 3.35: 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.
Krishna, Bhagvata Gita
Since Vedic astrology is greatly skilled in answering many complex questions, I’ve studied this question from many angles- from the regular tenth house of profession, from the Amtyakarka (soul minister planet) and Atmakarka (soul planet) position, from the position of the moon (mind) placement and any possible links that may have been overlooked. Queried many astrologers and other holistic therapists that can access the psyche. Frustratingly, there is no assigned house for life purpose in the Vedic horoscope.
Once, in a discussion with the astrologer Bhabhajeet, whose youtube channel ‘Exotic Astrology’ I ardently follow, I again asked this burning question. And he said, “there is no one thing, your whole kundalini (horoscope) is your life purpose…” I understood the truth of his words, but my heart refused to accept his statement. Because deep down I have been searching, and it was so nebulous, that I was always lying under this layer of frustration. Even in my search for healing modalities, nothing was proving to be the final fit. I took that as a sign of my restless and versatile nature. After all, are we humans ever satisfied? Are we ever going to be complete? So much social conditioning further messes our head, on what is the right or the ideal way. And when you reach the so-called socially-prescribed destination point and end up with a feeling of anticlimax, again we put it down to your own inability to ever be complete.
I am also a great fan of Richard Rawenhawk. I have found his psychic abilities exceptionally perceptive. In 2012, he could answer my question that I should be following the healing path. But which modalities I should imbibe?, frustratingly he could not sense. He said follow your heart. “My heart believes in everything!’, I said a bit frustrated. Actually it was not the heart speaking. The heart speaks seldom and only in whispers. And you can only hear it with great patience and in stillness. And when when it does speak, the doubting mind cannot comprehend it. It was just my outer, inquisitive mind grasping at all possibilities.
The other thing your dharma does, is however weak, sick, poor, broken, feeble or disabled you are, it starts supplying you with some intrinsic strength. It supports you in surprising ways. It just flows like a fountain from some hidden well within.
So when I joined the Ayurveda course, and felt like a fish swimming in water, I was taken by surprise. I have this feeling of completeness that I never knew existed. When you reach your life purpose or dharma, you just KNOW it. It feels complete and right in your heart. And you cannot argue with the heart.