Maintaining the body in good condition is paramount, without which it is hard to pursue Truth. Following dictates of one’s conscience without submitting to others’ whims and fancies is svadharm. Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American transcendentalist and philosopher, says, ‘I shun father and mother and wife and brother, when my genius calls me.’ It is preferable to follow one’s svadharm than to follow paradharm, which is fraught with fear, says the Gita, 3.36. It’s not about life not being worth living; we have strayed from our svadharm.
Svadharm makes you feel alone and connected to the rest of creation, allowing you to expand your consciousness through meditation and introspection. It encourages authenticity and living in alignment with one’s true Self. This svadharm is for advancement and welfare of humanity and your development. Pursuing one’s svadharm has nothing to do with religion. One might be a member of a particular religion, but one will become truly religious by following one’s svadharm. Everyone’s svadharm is this, and it is our Sanatan dharm. This svadharm can truly become our svabhav.
