In the past few decades, the word “career” has assumed a lot of importance. On the other hand focus of our शास्त्र is on स्वधर्म . This blog takes up these two words and explores the right course of action that we may adopt for our own life.

What does “career” mean?

The Cambridge English dictionary defines career as “the job or series of jobs that you do during your working life, especially if you continue to get better jobs an earn more money”.

Merriam Webster defines career in the following manner:

1. a profession for which one trains and which is undertaken as a permanent calling 
2. a field for or pursuit of consecutive progressive achievement especially in public, professional, or business life

In both the above definitions, career is linked to a vocation one engages in and one is attaining continuous growth in pursuit of this vocation. The growth may be in the form of money, power, position, etc but certainly one has to witness growth in pursuit of such a vocation. Choosing the right vocation thus becomes critical for a great career. Equally, one needs to have clear measurement criteria to measure attainment of growth via pursuit of the chosen vocation. To put this another way, the idea of a career is limited to attainment of growth in the vocation or engagement that one purses in public, professional or business life. Therefore, if a person choses to stay at home, such a person is seen as one who is not pursuing any career. 

स्वधर्म 

We do various कर्म or actions on a continuous basis throughout life. These actions may be referred to as स्वकर्म. Our शास्त्र state that that our स्वकर्म must be driven by स्वधर्म. We must perform actions that are in tune with our धर्म. What is our स्वधर्म? Typically, we take up any कर्म or action in tune with our स्वभाव viz aptitude or orientation. A typical way to describe our choice of any स्वकर्म may follow the following representation:

लौकिक ज्ञान includes what we inherit from our exposure to parents, schooling, neighbourhood, relatives, friends, etc. This exposure influences our own thinking which in turn shapes us to choose a certain career. Such लौकिक ज्ञान may bring various perspectives into the स्वभाव of a person:

1. He or she may view attainment of financial prosperity or fame or power or personal health as the most significant goal of life and this स्वभाव will drive the person to perceive career as the most significant स्वधर्म
2. He or she may view balance in family life and career as the most significant goal of life and this स्वभाव will drive the person to choose such स्वधर्म that bring balance in his or her life.
3. He or she may be influenced by service to others and this स्वभाव cultivated may make this person pursue working in a social service vocation as his or her स्वधर्म.

Essentially, लौकिक ज्ञान gives sensible insights to a person about the लोक and such an insight enables cultivation of a certain स्वभाव which in turn influences perceptions of what is perceived as स्वधर्म by such a person. One must understand that लौकिक ज्ञान also helps in knowing oneself and one’s own orientation and attributes better. Knowing one’s own orientation better may make the person better at decision making. Let us take a person who has joined a large FMCG company – if the person is inclined towards communication, he or she may take up Sales or Marketing or a Customer Service role, if inclined towards statistical analysis, may take up an Analyst or Strategic Planner role, if inclined towards creativity, may take up a Product Design role or if inclined towards discipline and rules, may take up Quality Control or a Risk role. Most significant point to note is that any कर्म that measures its outcome in terms of the benefit that one attains externally – say, wealth, power, fame, position, etc or internally viewed as healthy body and a calm mind is a लौकिक कर्म

Career vs स्वधर्म

स्वधर्म is a wider concept than career and applies to all aspects of life unlike a career. Inter-relationship between the two terms is given below:

1. Idea of a career is usually limited to a specific vocation in public life. So a person not pursuing a vocation, say a person post retirement, a child or a house-wife is seen as not pursuing a career. However, स्वधर्म applies to any situation we do, career or non-career, since स्वधर्म applies to every event one faces in life.
2. Growth in career can be measured clearly as parameters of success tend to be concrete. One may also measure growth – say in income, area of responsibility, seniority of position, etc. Measurement of success in pursuit of स्वधर्म outside career may not have a clear measurement criteria. For example, a woman may pursue the role of a house-wife as a स्वधर्म or a man may choose to leave a high-paying career to take care of old parents who may be unwell – for such cases, we cannot associate the idea of growth and success in the manner that we can assign to pursuit of a career. 
3. Career pursued with clarity of one’s own स्वभाव can bring benefit of focus into the activity. This clarity of focus thus gives a higher chance of success in attainment of career goals. Simply put, pursuit of career as a स्वधर्म brings much more conviction in conduct of the role enhancing chances of success. 

Is a pursuit of career essential or should the focus be on स्वधर्म? One may pursue a good career, attain growth throughout the pursuit of career and thus gain happiness from such a pursuit. Equally, one may attain the goal of career but may still be unhappy for having missed out aspects of life outside career. If one chooses स्वधर्म as a prime driver for life, here too, one may live life with satisfaction or may not (for having missed out aspects of life that some others may have gained which this person may have lost out). 

Key point to note that is that if success in pursuit of स्वधर्म including career is determined using लौकिक lens, such a measurement seeks attainment of wealth, power, fame, peace in family life, good and long physical and mental health, etc as its end goal. There is no guarantee however that whether one pursues a career or does not pursue a career and whether one pursues स्वधर्म or does not pursue this, one will attain satisfaction towards the end of one’s life. 

Why do शास्त्र urge performance of स्वधर्म?

As we have concluded above, looking from a लौकिक ज्ञान lens, one may attain a tangible benefit during one’s life by pursuit of a career. This brings us to a central question which is the interest of this blog: What is the purpose of pursuit of स्वधर्म? Why must one pursue a career aligned to स्वधर्म?

श्रीकृष्ण makes an interesting line in the श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता:

श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात्। स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः॥3:35॥

श्रेयान् स्वधर्मो विगुण: (better to follow ones धर्म even poorly) परधर्मात् स्व नुष्ठ+इ तात् (than to follow the धर्म of another well) स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेय: (dying while following ones धर्म is better) परधर्मो भया वह: (following others’ धर्म invites danger)

Some interesting ideas come up here:

1. It is best to do स्वधर्म
2. One must avoid स्वधर्म of another.
3. Pursuing स्वधर्म has beneficial consequences for us but pursuing स्वधर्म of another has fearful consequences.

What consequences is श्रीकृष्ण referring to here? Why should pursuit of धर्म of another person cause fearful consequences? The following representation may help us unravel this श्लोक:

शास्त्र convey their ideas only with one goal in mind viz मोक्ष or the attainment of our स्वरूप viz सत् – चित् – आनन्द स्वरूप. Our truth or reality is eternal – we are always there and will always be. And this eternal aspect of mine is experiencing life. And every experience of life is meant to be an expression of our आनन्द. On the other hand, our idea of ourselves using लौकिक lens is that of a limited person separate from others and cut-off from the Universe. And goal of life is to regain connection with our own eternal and real स्वरूप, our own Universal Self which may also be described as the state of complete freedom. Various types of कर्म including योग and other उपासना कर्म are prescribed by the शास्त्र as a path to regain the state of full freedom.

Next is the idea of स्वभाव. What is my own भाव – my स्वभाव? If I am naturally inclined to laziness, can I say that my स्वधर्म aligned to my innate lazy orientation is the right कर्म? Or if I inclined to violence, can a violent कर्म be taken as my स्वधर्म since my स्वभाव is of a violent kind? Similarly, should my स्वभाव of compassion drive me to pursue a स्वधर्म of allowing a murderer to get away? Obviously, there is something more to स्वधर्म than just following an emotional inclination of ours. Here, we may turn to सांख्यकारिका. The सांख्यकारिका refers eight भाव – four of these are referred to as सीत्विक भाव and four as तामसिक भाव

The attributes/quality of बुद्धि is known as भाव in सांख्यदर्शन. भाव or also known as emotions or feelings. Philosophically it means the inherent or intrinsic nature of a thing or entity, it’s potentiality and predisposition. For instance, the predisposition (भाव) of a glass is to break whereas that of a metal is strength. Likewise, people can be inherently predisposed to अधर्म and अज्ञान which will lead them to express anger, love and incompetence. Similarly a person with राग disposition will make him or her take to obsession or greed with chosen objects and pursue such a vocation that deepens such an orientation .

शास्त्र thus states that while स्वभाव may mean an innate disposition, it is essential to move out of our natural disposition and cultivate सात्विक  भाव. And why must सात्विक  भाव be cultivated? Since the only way to मोक्ष is by perform स्वधर्म that in turn is defined by the स्वभाव that we take on to. There are five types of कर्म viz – नित्य कर्म (rules of conduct as per शास्त्र that must be followed daily), नैमित्तिक कर्म (rules of conduct that must be followed on special occasions like festivals), काम्य कर्म (कर्म geared towards attainment of pleasure), निषेध कर्म (कर्म that is disallowed by the शास्त्र like alcohol, violence, etc) and प्रायश्चित्त कर्म (कर्म to be undertaken as a penance for an inappropriate कर्म done earlier). स्वधर्म thus means following the most appropriate kind of कर्म at the proper time, place and situation that is conducive to attainment of our own स्वरूप. This is where श्रीकृष्ण’s line becomes critical – do your own स्वधर्म that is appropriate to you viz one of the five types of कर्म that you need to undertake. If you undertake a कर्म based on स्वधर्म of another, even though you may do this well, you will deviate from your own journey towards मोक्ष. 

But what exactly happens if we perform स्वधर्म of another? We get caught in the पाप – पुण्य cycle, we get caught in the कर्म बन्धन cycle of action and reaction and will not be able to attain the freedom that the शास्त्र describes as the goal. The following representation summarizes the वासना – धर्म – कर्म – कर्मफल cycle showing both how we can get deeper into it and how we can get out of it – 

Conclusion

Key points presented till now are summarized below:

1. शास्त्र views life from the lens of परमार्थिक lens and not लौकिक lens.
2. Whether one pursues career or any other कर्म, the measurement of benefit from a लौकिक lens will lead to sub-optimal conclusions and thereby create distractions in our life.
3. Our reaction to gains or losses via pursuit of a career from a लौकिक lens can, at best, be a useful input to measure our adherence to स्वधर्म
4. Growth in life (whether one pursues a career or not) is essential in हिन्दूधर्म too – but growth needs to be measured by the extent to which one is adhering to सत्वगुण at all times rather than getting distracted by तमस्.
5. Pursuit of स्वधर्म leads to ज्ञान which is an essential aid for attainment of मोक्ष.

 To know what is our स्वधर्म requires शास्त्रज्ञान or an expert in शास्त्रज्ञान who can guide us to learn and stick to स्वधर्म at all times. May we attain the necessary ज्ञान on स्वधर्म 

ॐ तत् सत्