My Dharma — Doing the Right Thing

 

There are many meanings of the word Dharma. Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism have their own interpretations. For me, Dharma means fulfilling the purpose for which I have entered this reality. For which I have been born to this world.

Some people may have a single purpose: to be a good mother, a father-provider, a physician, architect, musician… Yes, even politician. In each incarnation a different one. After all, we’re all immortal. It is not really a question of what we do, only how we do it.

The answer is twofold.

First, we must discover what our dharma is. We might be struggling for years fighting our destiny. Until we find it, we shall not be happy. My cousin said that you can’t always do what you like, but you can always learn to like what you do.

Perhaps. I prefer to have it both ways.

One thing, however, is certain. Until we begin to really enjoy what we are doing, we are not discharging our dharma. I am a born hedonist and I intend to remain one. I do not believe one can do one’s best unless one enjoys what one’s doing. It is of absolutely no consequence if others approve of our endeavours. Our job it to do what we like. After all, perhaps we’re paving the way for the future generations to benefit from our efforts.

Hence, never worry about results or appreciation. Appreciate yourself; the rest will come in its own good time—if you’re lucky, before you leave your present body. If not, who cares. You’ve done your job.

BTW, I am NOT preaching. I am sharing with you my philosophy of life. If you’d rather be miserable, that is your privilege. Good luck with that. I know people who keep making the same mistake expecting different results. Einstein called them insane. You be the judge.

So why do I write? Because it gives me pleasure. Hopefully I can share my joy with others, but it is not fundamental to my dharma. I love writing, period.

That is not to say that I do not derive pleasure from other things—like being read, receiving nice reviews, being flattered (my ego loves that, but, I repeat, it is not fundamental to my pleasure).

And then I wrote a blog: “The Third Party”. Not just “Peter and Paul”, but the overwhelming rest.  I realized that my audience is extremely limited. And then it finally dawned on me. There must be a few men and women, out there, who feel lost for not finding kindred souls. I knew immediately that I found my audience.

I know that my new job, my new dharma, is to let them know that they are not alone. I am in this phase now. I still love writing. I also love knowing that there are people out there, amongst the 7 billion of us, who will no longer feel alone. Not many, but some. Yet my pleasure is multiplied manyfold.

Hello there!

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