This word is a big topic. All of the words in this series are -- they describe the entire cosmos after all. They explore: What is life? Who am I? That's everything. They answer the biggest existential question of them all: "What is this world, and who am I in it?"
These are the questions that yoga answers... but there's a catch. The "answer" can't be understood at the level of words... words can only point. The answer is your personal and direct experience of what these words point to. That's what we're after: the experience.
The experience of what? Freedom. The freedom that naturally arises when we live more deeply from the heart. Go experience it for yourself.
If you have ANY interest in the human experience (And I'm assuming you do because you're literally having one), it can be very helpful to learn about what the human experience actually is in order to navigate it more effectively.
Whether you want to unlock the secrets of the universe, or a six pack, or find your soul mate, or change careers or find relief from anxiety or depression or any kind of suffering or make more money, or travel the world or just travel to the next town over, or learn piano or whatever... literally do your laundry... these are ALL aspects of the human experience, which we interpret through the mind.
If EVERYthing you could ever experience is filtered through the mind, we could deduce that learning the maps of the mind and its experiences could be very helpful in benefitting how we move through the world. Yoga is the science of the mind. Contrary to what the western model of "yoga" might advertise (tight clothes and sweaty contortions)... the asanas (the postures) are just one sliver of the pie.
So... what's dharma? There are many definitions: that which supports, maintains, upholds... to make firm, stabilize... to hold, to keep, to preserve... the law, purpose, that which is established, the way, duty, destiny.
You could read up for lifetimes on the topic of dharma. But I'll try to keep it simple and digestible in a way that speaks true to me and my lineage... and hopefully the general population. Because what I'm after are explanations that are TRUE and also communicated in a language that works for and relates to the modern, common dude living in the world... or what is traditionally referred to as yoga for the "householder".
The yoga's not any different. It's all the same principles... but there's just a focus on the paths of yoga (and all paths lead to the same place - love) that actually produce results for the person living in the world. We are not all leaving our families and jobs and societies to go live in a cave or ashram... probably.
Dharma is HOW we live to get free, while still living in the world. A fellow named Jesus once said the goal is to "be in the world but not of it". We don't aim to escape the world. We aim to live in it better by rooting our identifications in something that does not change. And as a natural byproduct of that rooting, our perceptions, actions, and conditions evolve.
Anyways. To break it down, there is a "universal dharma" a ONE GREAT way of things, a BIG destiny, the great cosmic unfolding dharma. And there are also our "individual" dharmas unfolding within and part of the great unfolding.
Just like if it's a certain tree's dharma to turn from green to orange in autumn, each individual leaf has a dharma to turn from green to orange. Or as a more complex example, if there is a dharma of a baby being born... within that big dharma is it is the dharma the sperm, the egg, the cells dividing and specifying, the nutrients from the mother... you might begin to see here how everything and everyone's dharma's can't help but be connected.
One definition of dharma that I like is "the way of things"... describing the laws and principles of the universe and consciousness, which we can easily examine in nature. But, to make it sound more adventurous and less like a nature documentary, I like to define dharma as PURPOSE or DUTY or DESTINY. It can be a little trickier to examine "the way of things" in our own lives... we're too close to ourselves often to be objective. So I like to view my life as a story. A REALLLLLY INCREDIBLE STORY, like the best you've ever read. Because it's literally about you.
The painting I created for this week's theme is inspired from The Jungle Book. It was one of my favorite stories as a kid. And I have a thing for jungles and cats. It feels so mysterious and magical to me. Literally my art instagram is "jungllkat" haha... But I painted this because it serves as a visualization of me zooming out of my own life and reminding me that this human experience is such a mysterious adventure and every adventure has a hero and a challenge and a victory. And every human life is no different. It's up to us to interpret our story... to decide to be the hero, to decide what challenges we must face, to interpret what victory means.
The invitation here, is to get quiet. Literally shut up haha. Press pause on the constant tidal wave of drama crashing though your mind. The thinking mind will continue its momentum with whatever direction it's going in until the pattern is interrupted. Pause the drama... whether it's perceived good, bad, neutral, whatever. Learn to listen. Learn to periodically pause and genuinely ask "yo what is the dharma rn?" (remember we talked about prayer last week: you can and are in constant communication with life)
The reason for periodically listening for the dharma is so you are in RIGHT ACTION. So that you're making sure that how you're acting is dharmic (aka aligned with the dharma). We can get so attuned sometimes that this listening becomes automatic. We are always listening. We have a certain spaciousness in our consciousness that allows us to feel constantly guided. There can be an earful, seamless flow that arises. But other times aligning to our purpose feels like pushing a boulder up a hill. It can be a bloody battle. And sometimes it just seems pointless. So why do it? Because it is your duty.
Most people will fight if they believe what they're fighting for. The human experience can be fucking brutal. But I'm personally willing to fight if it's my dharma. And I have.
An incredible resource on learning about dharma is from the Bhagavad Gita. If diving headfirst into an Indian sacred text seems like too big a shift, I'd recommend Paths to God by Ram Dass. I'd recommend it regardless. Maybe even read/listen to Ram Dass first. This book is all about dharma. This book is actually a commentary on the Gita, but he breaks it down and makes it really digestible for us westerners... I pay Ram Dass countless thanks for everything I've learned. As well as my other teachers Robin and Hanna. I have my own way of conveying information, but a good 80-90% of what I know of yoga is because of them. And they pay all tribute of what they know from their lineages... so. I'm really just regurgitating here. But that's how these teachings stay alive. Gotta pass them down -- pass down not only the words but the experience.
I love a tangent. Okay so the reason I brought up The Bhagavad Gita is because in it, there is this guy Arjuna, who is a very noble warrior, and he's talking to Krishna, who is Arjuna's longtime friend and secretly a direct manifestation of God. Arjuna doesn't want to fight in this war and his mind's just crumbling over this big decision he has to make and Krishna's consoling him. The way Arjuna's able to finally understand Dharma is because he's a warrior and he understands "duty". When something is your duty, you simply do it. You have to leave your rational thinking mind behind and just do your duty. As Ram Dass says, "just do your dharma." And why does a warrior ideally have this sense of duty? Because of DEVOTION because of LOVE (remember the week on the path of devotion?). DEVOTION. LOVE. That's why Arjuna fights. Because he fights for freedom, he fight for love. He fights because it is "the way". He answers to his commanding officer because he answers to his country. He answers to his people. He defends what he LOVES.
And you do that too. You have a purpose. You have a duty to fulfill. You have a destiny calling you.
And within that greater destiny, there are micro destinies, micro purposes to fulfill. So we listen. And we act as best as we can. And we learn to listen more accurately, then we act as best we can.
Everyone has a unique dharma -- a unique purpose. To accept your dharma, is to honor that it's unique and specific to you. I often say: "There's not a right or wrong, but there's a right or wrong for you... right now."
An example given in many traditions is of a street sweeper. Say you're walking to the store and there's a man sweeping the street. Where I live, we have trucks that come sweep the street. In many places where there's more rain, or its more rural, street sweeping isn't a thing. But IMAGINE, you live in a time and place where that's a job. And you're walking to the store and there's a guy sweeping. That's a pretty low and humble job to have. The whole day, he's just sweeping the street. But the funny thing is, he could be completely enlightened. He could be fully living in love and freedom and you might not know just looking at him... maybe judging him through a hierarchal societal lens. But that guy, he could have won the game. Because living your dharma or being a great being doesn't look a specific way. It just means that you are tuned into your way. If that street sweeper is living his dharma, he it totally content to sweep. He is in samadhi, just sweeping. He is running out his karma, just tidying the road. Because he's not busy wishing he was a window washer, not busy wishing he was the king, just totally happy to be sweeping, because he's been listening, and this is what he's supposed to be doing. And maybe he's supposed to be a sweeper forever, maybe as he's listening the dharma will change, but for now, he's just sweeping. He's not even busy thinking "wow I'm such a good sweeper", he's just BEING as perfect of a sweeper as he can.
Now, if the king were to abandon all his duties to sweep the street, potentially, that wouldn't be very dharmic of him. The king's dharma is to be the king. The sweeper's dharma is to sweep. Your dharma is to do your thing.
And yeah it's not as cut and dry as "be a sweeper" "be a king"... your dharma is more than just your job. But it's part of it. Your dharma's everything you do.
Another good definition of dharma is: duty to a higher law. We have laws in society. There are hard laws, but also subtle social laws. In terms of dharma, the social and societal laws play a role. But when you answer to a higher dharmic law, sometimes it isn’t in alignment with societal norms. Say, you take a nontraditional career path or decide to be sober when your social circle is a bunch of functioning alcoholics. Or maybe even your dharma calls you to act against the written law. If it's the dharma, you gotta act. I’m NOT PROMOTING illegal activity. I'm just saying, if you're listening correctly, the dharma is the dharma. The way is the way. Your duty is your duty. NOT being delusional (remember we are listening beyond the mind's drama). The voice of the dharma promotes level, conscious action. We can't be perfect, but consciousness aims to move towards greater and greater perfection. Because we are moving towards perfect love. This is divinity. We are answering to divine law. This is the higher law.
So back to the king and the sweeper. In the Gita, Krishna says, "It's better to do your own dharma imperfectly, than to do another's perfectly." Just do YOUR dharma. Be inspired by others... but drop the comparison, that's their dharma not yours. "Santosha" is an aspiration of and a principle of self-training on the yogic path. It translates to being content... acceptance of "what is". This results in true peace. We move deeper into santosha when we become more and more content with our dharma. When you recognize a challenge and accept it as your karma, you can stop struggling with it and start living in alignment with your dharma. We don't waste time, energy, and emotion rejecting what's right in front of us... wishing it weren't ours, or wishing we had someone else's path. We recognize and accept it as a precious part of our own path. It's not all good, but it's all god.
I mentioned the sweeper "running out his karma" but just sweeping. When you’re living in perfect alignment with your dharma — when each action is dharmic, you no longer accrue any more karma… even the Buddha had to stick around after enlightenment to run off his karma. We'll talk about karma next week.
To me, it can sound daunting/exhausting to "make every action dharmic".... that's A LOT of fine tuning... that's A LOT of awareness, a lot of learning how to stop and listen and adjust how you're acting. But hey, sorry, you can't escape doing things. You have to do actions. You're doing them anyways, so might as well bring some consciousness into them. Might as well make them dharmic. And there's NO RUSH. Don't try to make every action "perfect" all at once. It's not gonna work, especially because what your mind thinks "perfect" looks like, most likely isn't the dharma. The process of attuning to your dharma is slow and easeful and natural. You can't escape doing things. That's what the cave babas and monks are doing. But that's their path, and even they can't escape doing things. The only way to escape doing is to “be done”... to fully surrender to your dharma... to answer to the higher law, your higher self, the perfect wisdom of love, rather than the habitual momentum and patterns of your mind and society. The Tao Te Ching says, "By doing nothing, it all gets done." I'll just leave you that to chew on.
Tune out the chatter of the outside world, and tune in to the dharma baby!!! Listen to the whispers that can only be heard by stilling the mind -- getting out of the way.
I like to think of "listening to my dharma" as these perfect guardrails that keep me walking straight… that guide me in the direction of where I actually want to go! We make like 10 billion choices a day… and as we begin to tune in… my intuition, my conscience, and the divine guide me… those are some of the whispers I’m listening to. Some more off the top of my head I could label as gut feelings, morality, ethics, dreams, visions, sense of duty, living righteously, messages, studying and reflecting so I can refine more... the mystical experiences I may have also guide me.
Everything is a message… Everyone is a message… if you know how to listen.
With every dharmic step the mystery unfolds a little more. With every dharmic choice, you get a little bit more free. So whether it’s love, duty, curiosity, or freedom that drives you (or all the above) dharma will take you there.
Don’t get so caught up in the results. Live dharmicly and know all will be provided for. But be real honest... Living dharmicly probably doesn’t mean abandoning all responsibilities (we’re not here to spiritually bypass). Karma yoga (the path of aligning with the dharma) is the yoga of the householder. We choose right action to get more free, so we can live more deeply and more gracefully in this human experience. So maybe don’t quit your job and think you’ll be provided for on a whim — OR really pray and KNOW this is your dharma. and the quit your job. and know you’ll be provided for. To each their own.
Not to sound too dramatic -- but it's a big deal! If you want it to be. You have a destiny. And it's calling. Whether you want to recognize it or not is your choice. It'll be there waiting for you regardless. And if you spend your whole life distracting yourself, chasing your tail, maybe you'll get to it next lifetime. Three's literally no rush. There's no timeline to this sort of thing. It doesn't work like that. You're never "behind." Could you consider that the unfolding of your dharma actually includes all the "failures" and "distractions" too? And also, your dharma doesn't have to be some grandiose thing. It can be very simple. Great wealth and success often don't look like gold and glamour. They look like love. And all paths are paths to the heart. Your dharmic path is recognizing and living your own unique adventure. Say yes to the path, seek the treasure.
Listen and
just do your dharma.
go forth in love ॐ
♡ Kat
p.s. Everything I write is a transmission of my own experience. I am just a finger pointing at the moon. Go to the moon yourself. Experience for yourself what is true.
p.p.s. Please don't hesitate to email me or comment below with any of your own insights or questions! I'd love to hear from you :)
p.p.p.s. here's a song about "the way"
Also, the art prints from each week are for sale!
If you'd like one, you can grab one in person or order below ↓
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