Do Your Dharma

The Bhagavad Gita is one of the classic Hindu sacred texts, describing a conversation between a prince named Arjuna (who is faced with civil war against many of his closest friends and relatives) and his chariot driver Krishna (who, unbeknownst to Arjuna, happens to be an incarnation of the god Vishnu). Arjuna is despairing at the prospect of either defeat and loss of his own life and those of his allies, or victory that is empty due to the deaths of his loved ones on the other side. Arjuna has thrown his bow onto the ground and sat down on the back of his chariot when Krishna comes to offer him counsel on his dilemma. In the course of this conversation, Krishna reveals his true identity and gives Arjuna guidance not only on his current situation, but also on the way to live for his spiritual health and for the good of the world.

One of the central questions of the Bhagavad Gita may be stated as: since we can never be sure of the consequences of our actions, how can we make choices without being paralyzed by fear over the results of our decisions? This is of central importance to Arjuna as he struggles with his decision over whether to  fight or surrender. The answer, according to the Gita, is to diligently do those things that are your “dharma”  (which may be interpreted as duty or responsibility) simply because they are your dharma, and without expectation or concern for whether the result will be successful or not. Letting concern over the success or failure of the action leads to confusion and error in the world of chance and illusion. Doing your dharma because it is your dharma is the only way to be free from this entanglement.

And what is your dharma? The particulars of your dharma change from person to person, and at different times of your life. But the common thread is selfless service.

What’s so special about selfless service?

In order to understand that, you have to understand samsara: the idea that a person has been born countless time before and will be born countless times again, and karma: the idea that the consequences of your actions will influence how you are reborn into a new life. In the Gita, this is a literal rebirth of your soul into a new body, though without any memory of your past lives. This rebirth may allow you to move closer to (if your actions in life were selfless) or further from (it your actions were selfish) the ultimate goal  of reaching a state of oneness with Krishna, with the universal soul, and with the universe.

What’s interesting is that karma is demonstrably true, even without belief in reincarnation. Every choice you make is only possible due to the choices made by other people in the past, and every future life is impacted by your choices. The future lives affected by your actions aren't necessarily your soul in a new body, but rather every person who lives in the world that has been created by your actions. And, though every person is unique, we are all deeply connected, so that you can read ancient texts and see ancient art and observe ancient homes, and see that the passage of time has not made people noticeably different in their hopes, fears, obsessions, and needs. And you can look around you, in other countries and in your own neighborhood, to see that language, skin color, religion, and nation do not make people really different in these ways, either.

But the insight of karma goes deeper than this. A forest exists only through the life of the trees in it. But the trees would not be there, and certainly not growing in the same way, without the rest of the forest around them. Every seed that sprouts, every tree that grows, brings new life to the forest. Likewise, humanity exists only through the lives of individual humans, human joy exists only through the joy of individual humans, human suffering exists only through the suffering of individual humans. And individual humans can only survive, can only achieve happiness, and can only alleviate suffering as part of the whole of humanity.  Karma means that your decisions in this life affect all people, from now until forever. Some future “you” (who may or may not be you reincarnated) is going to have a better or worse life based on the decisions you make today, because your actions affect the forest of humanity. 

And one of the people affected by your choices today is the future you, in your present incarnation, days, months, or years down the line. This is similar to the colloquial interpretation of “karma”, essentially that “what goes around, comes around”, that your actions will be rewarded or punished in kind in this life. 

So what is my dharma?

That's a question for each person on Earth. Each of us has different insights into the suffering of our neighbors, different skills we may use to assist them, and different balances of responsibilities to others that we have taken on, but none of us has the power and skills to help every suffering individual. No person knows the full extent of all human suffering, and, at any given moment, any one of us may be suffering. 

Ask yourself what kind of world you want to want to be reborn in (or if you’re not inclined to believe in reincarnation, what kind of world you want for someone whose hopes and dreams and feelings are like yours). Do you want this future you to be able to escape the pain that you’ve experienced, to have the wisdom to avoid making the mistakes you've made? Or do you want to pile additional suffering onto the future you? Reincarnation, whether of self or of not, knows no distinctions of race, gender, occupation, nation, or political party. All you can know about the future you is that they experience all of life’s joy and pain just like you, and that they are trying to find a way to be happy, or at least escape misery. What can you, a person who is just as much in pursuit of happiness and pursued by misery, do to help all these future yous?

The answer to this question is your dharma.

At the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Prince Arjuna is persuaded by Krishna’s teaching, and he resolves to take action, to do his dharma. Though the battle seems hopeless and its end unknowable, Arjuna will fight.