Gleanings from the Geeta - I

Chapter 2 Verse 40 of the Bhagavad gita has an interesting sentence:
SWALPAMASYA DHARMASYA TRAYATE MAHATO BHAYAAT:
Freely translated , I means : " Even a little effort towards inward alignment and integration with ones vocation in life - leads to immense peace, harmony and relief from fear"
Now this word Dharma is a very rich, yet a very simple term in religious literature. The Egyptians called it "Maat" , or order, Chinese "Tao", Greek "Logos" - almost every seminal civilizations developed a term that spoke of one's inner disposition or nature. All of them point to an inner harmony of parts within the whole. Modern Psychology also emphasizes the need to accept one's role and position in society, and the less we strive to become somebody else other then what we are; happier and peaceful would we be. Curiously the division into castes or any other hierarchy was not originally based on inequalities, but merely recognizing the natural trait of a human being. It wasn't a matter of birth, but of inner disposition. Plato's "republic" was based on this principle of eugenics as well.
So the stress in this beautiful verse; early in the discourse of the Gita is the need to accept ones inner nature and live up to it as much as possible. If one is in the army, then you got to fight. There cannot be any moral compunctions to it. If there is, then Army wasn't the right vocation in the first place- the typical Orwellian Dilemma. This analogy extends to a every role in our professional lives as well. The surest way to insecurity and fear is to do something that we are not competent doing. Modern age places many of us in such a position, because all that we work for is money ; and we end up performing roles and duties that has no relevance to our inner potential or nature. This is the existential problem that 20th Twentieth century has thrown up - the moral and structural displacement of Human beings, and their search for harmony in a society where they don't live by their Dharma. If educational systems ever need a goal - it should be "assisting an individual finding his or her's inner vocation" and not assembly-line end products that we tend to churn out.
Let me now get back to my Dharma, which I enjoy - Learning and be able to teach what I learn...
God bless..

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