Article Title:
How to determine my duty?
Article Author:
By Swami Tejomayananda
Category: Practical Spirituality
Article Text:
Q: How can we know what our duty, or swadharma, is?
A: There are some duties we don’t have to go in search of. They come to us automatically according to our designation. For example, we are human beings, so we must live up to the dignity of a human being.
Our first duty is to take care of those who are below us, or in a lower state. Among brothers, the elder must protect the younger one. We should take care of those who are less fortunate or less evolved, whether they be birds, animals, other creatures, plants or trees. This is our first duty. But today we find strong people destroying those who are weaker, the rich exploiting the poor etc. This is wrong.
When I am born in a family, as the son of my parents, I gain a certain identity automatically. As a son I must obey my parents, serve them. My duty is clear. Then I go to school and college and I am a student. I must study. This is my duty according to my status. Then I get a job and I have a designation. The post, duties and responsibilities are assigned to me clearly. These duties are known to us. Our problem is that we don’t do them. So, when a difficult situation comes, we don’t understand it.
The second category of duty is a little different. This is in accordance with your aptitude. Brahmana dharma, kshatriya dharma etc., refer to this. What is your aptitude? You must choose that field of activity. If a person is an artist by temperament, that is his swadharma. If he pursues it, he will enjoy it, succeed and contribute to the field of art. But where is the money in art? So he is advised to become a doctor, businessman etc. If he switches to some other profession, he is not doing his duty. He may continue to pursue art as a hobby, but he never shines as an artist. You must pursue that field for which you have the aptitude, even if other people dissuade you. That is your swadharma and you will shine there.
Q: How can one work with dedication to the Lord while doing duties one doesn’t like?
A: Once you say ‘duties’, don’t label it as pleasant or unpleasant. In duty the question of like or dislike does not arise. You can’t say, “I like hiring people but not firing them!” If my position is such that I have to do both these jobs, I must do it without any feelings of like or dislike. If you remember your altar of dedication, then these things won’t count.
See what happened to Arjuna. He did not like his duty, so he wanted to go away. It was because of dislike. So Bhagawan said, “If you are going away because of dislike, it is not the right thing to do. You must do it because it is your duty.” The very definition of duty is ‘that which has got to be done’. So we have to remain firm in it whether we like it or not.
Q: Please suggest some methods by which one may remain focussed on the Lord while performing actions.
A: If it is just physical work, a method can be prescribed. If you ask, “How to clean this hall?”, I would say, “Use a broom or a vacuum cleaner or employ somebody.” There are methods because it is a physical thing. But dedication is an attitude; it comes by right understanding. How to gain this attitude?
Suppose I apply for a job in a private company or in a government office, what would they expect from me? Simple, I must work for them. If I get the job and instead of working for that company, I start misusing that power and authority to collect money only for myself or join hands with a rival company and start working against my employers, what would happen? I’d be dismissed. When you are given a job, a designation, a status or money, you are expected to work for them. To that source from which I derive all my powers, I must dedicate everything. This is the principle.
From birth onwards I have got the faculties of the sense organs, the mind, the intellect, the body. How many different kinds of powers and abilities have been given to me! Without these, nobody would even have given me a job.
We can see, hear, taste, smell, talk, think, feel, act – from where did we get all these? Did any government or private company give them to us? Did we buy them in the supermarket? No, we were blessed with these from birth. Just think, a person who merely employs me and gives me a little money expects loyalty from me and that I should work for him. The Lord, in His infinite kindness has given us all these things – isn’t it our duty to dedicate them to Him alone?
Hence we chant the sloka:
Kaayena vacha manasendryier vaa buddhyaatmanaa vaa prakriter svabhaavaat
Karomi yadyat sakalam parasmai naaraayanaayeti samarpayaami.
I dedicate all my karmas, all that I do with my body, mind, senses, intellect, to Narayana. I offer Him these powers and abilities.
Once we become aware thus, dedication is natural. In a democratic set-up, when we vote leaders to power, we expect them to work for us, for the country. Any politician or minister who remembers this will become the beloved of everybody.
We owe our very existence to Paramatma. This awareness, this knowledge is the only method by which we can remain focussed. If we forget this, no other exercise we do can be of any use.
Q: We are often unable to decide what our duty is. For Arjuna, Krishna was available. Some people may have advisers. If a person is totally unaware of all this and no one is there to guide him, what will he do?
A: Life is such that even when such a situation arises, whether you have professional advice or not, you have to take decisions to the best of your ability or understanding. How does a person who is unaware and has no adviser take decisions?
Firstly he fixes his identity. Accordingly he also fixes his duty. A subordinate is asked by the boss to do something. He doesn’t know whether he should do it or not because it may appear that what the boss is asking him to do is not the right thing. How to decide?
He may think, ‘I am only a subordinate, he is my boss. Why should I unnecessarily think too much about it? He has told me to do it; I will.’ That is one way. Or he may think, ‘I am a responsible person also. If I protest and resist, he may give a bad official report about me. I may be demoted or suspended, I have a family …’ If he thinks of himself only as a subordinate or a householder, he will do what he is asked to do.
If he sees himself as an individual, a responsible citizen, a spiritual seeker, he will think, ‘I will not do this even if I have to resign my job.’ What he decides will depend on his understanding or maturity, his identification of himself as a householder, citizen etc. He may even do it without so much philosophical analysis!
Sometimes consequences of the decision may be okay, sometimes it would be painful and cause trouble. He learns from experience. Thus life goes on. Even if we get professional advice, often we do not follow it because it goes against our desire.
God is seated in your heart. Seek Him, sincerely pray to Him and ask Him for His guidance. If you are sincere, He will surely guide you from within.
Pujya Swami Tejomayanandaji
Compiled from a series of Satsangs at Trinidad and Tobago, from June 11-13, 2002.
PPP
