| Discourses On Gita By Acharya Vinoba Bhave |
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| Discourses On Gita |
| THE TEACHING IN BRIEF : SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND EQUANIMITY |
The purpose of life: using the body for Svadharma4. In the Second Chapter, three great truths are declared. First, that the spirit is deathless and indivisible. Secondly, that the body is transient. Thirdly, that svadharma cannot be thrust aside. Of these, svadharma is in the nature of a duty to be performed; the other two have to be known and realized. In the First Chapter, I have already said something about svadharma. This svadharma comes to one naturally. One does not have to go out in search of one's own dharma. It is not as if we have dropped down from the sky and started walking on the earth.Before we were born, our society existed, our parents existed, our neighbors existed. We are born into this stream of existence. To serve the parents who gave me life becomes my duty from birth; so too, the duty of serving the society into which I am born. The truth is that, as we are born our svadharma is also born with us. But we can also say that it is there waiting for us even before we are born; for it is the purpose of our being born. We are born to fulfill it. Some people say that svadharma is like one's wife; just as the marriage-bond is considered indissoluble, the bond of svadharma also cannot be broken. But even this comparison does not
seem to me to go to the heart of the matter; it is only the second
best. I would compare svadharma to one's mother. It was not
left to me to choose my mother in this birth. It had already been
determined for me. No matter what sort of person she is, there is no
pushing her away. That is precisely the case with svadharma -
it is inescapable. Besides svadharma, we have nothing else in
all this world to rely on, to rest in. To disown one's svadharma
is to disown oneself, to commit suicide. Only with its help can we
move forward. That is why no one should ever let go his hold on svadharma.
The basic truth has been firmly established. |
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