I used to feel a heavy lump of disharmony placed on my heart. But now it has melted and it disappeared, a sense of natural harmony is all I feel now. What was the cure to my disharmonious heart? If you ask then, let me tell you beforehand, this cure will not just melt disharmony out of your heart. It will bring you such mental clarity you will feel like you met yourself for the first time. That's what Arjuna felt when Krishna gave this cure to him in the midst of a battlefield. So, this cure is a sense of swadharma that can be discovered out of self–awareness.
Precisely, swadharma means following the path of your true nature or swabhava. It sounds so simple right that you just need to follow your true nature. The only difficulty that lies in this situation is, our true nature being under the veil of influences and impressions around us. Unless our self–awareness is way stronger than these influences, we will always be under the spell of them. Following the path of influences and impressions around is what Krishna called Paradharma. This is what Krishna has to say about “ Swadharma “ and “ Paradharma”:
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुण: परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् |
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स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेय: परधर्मो भयावह: || 35||
śhreyān swa-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt sv-anuṣhṭhitāt
swa-dharme nidhanaṁ śhreyaḥ para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ
Simply, Krishna meant we are here to nurture our essence or swabhava (true nature), not to force false personalities which will only lead us towards disharmony. Although our unique swabhaba or nature may not be valued in our surroundings, similarly other’s influence may have huge value. In such a scenario too Krishna says it's better to have firm conviction on your own swabhab. It is better to die for your discovered true nature than to follow outer influences.
People like Vincent van Gogh, Friedrich Nietzsche, Charles Bukowski, Albert Einstein, Bruce Lee, may not have been guided by Krishna but their life can be taken as perfect examples of what happens when people follow their true nature. Whatever they did it had profoundness and originality in it. Their life was a discovery of their own.
Self–awareness leads us to the discovery of our unique nature. Knowledge about oneself cannot be taught but can only be discovered. Friedrich Nietzsche describes a beautiful process of self–awareness. He says to look at life letting our lively soul reflect, what have we truly loved up to now, what has elevated our soul, what has mastered it, and at the same time delighted it? Once we discover it then as Charles Bukowski said “ If you're going to try, go all the way”. “ DO IT. DO IT. DO IT. All the way, you will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is.”
There is a powerful speech given by Martin Luther King, Jr to a group of students at Barratt Junior High School. In that speech, he explains how one discovers their true nature should live it. This is what he says “When you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it.
If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.” This is how one should approach their swadharma. This is the path towards immense satisfaction and harmony.
