The Dharma of the Human Being

As human beings we are in doubt as to our true nature. This is a simple fact that each one of us can observe. We do not know who we really are or our real purpose in life. We do not know what happened to us before we were born or what will happen to us after we die. Individually, we think that it is our purpose in life to achieve various outer goals like pleasure, wealth, fame, or power. Yet none of these achievements brings lasting happiness as we can easily see by examining the lives of the people who have achieved them.

Collectively, we also seek to gain power, territory, or mastery of the external world, which similarly does not lead to any real peace or happiness, or to a harmonious society, as the crime and wars in the world reveals. Unlike the rest of nature, we human beings appear not to know our place in the universe or how we can find happiness, and we are perpetually seeking something we do not have.

There is a reason for this uncertainty about ourselves. The dharma of the human being is to discover the Universal Truth. We have no outer dharma, no instinctual programming like animals which we cannot deviate from, but only an inner dharma, an openness of nature which gives the capacity to evolve a higher consciousness - or if we fail to recognize it, which allows us to follow under lower tendencies that debase us. For human beings our dharma is to bring consciousness into the world, which means to bring an awareness of the inner Self into all our activities. While the nature of other creatures is evident, our human dharma must be created, must be won, and requires a labor to bring forth. This is the work of spiritual practice or sadhana.

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