What is Dharma?

Dear Courageous Soul,

You write:

I am exploring the meaning of Dharma. Until now I have associated it with my work in the world, with how I wish to serve humanity, with how I am called to express myself “professionally”. […] In the past two years, my interest and desire and passion for my professional work has nearly disappeared; I often feel wearied by it. […] I would welcome hearing from those who may relate to this experience. I would also like to hear more about how one embraces one’s Dharma when it may not be related to directly being of service in some outer expression.

When I introduce the notion of Dharma, I usually start with the idea of a soul’s plan. Maybe you want to follow me on this Gedankenexperiment: What if the soul makes something like a plan, an intention, a sankalpa for the incarnation to come? This intention, this sankalpa is something like the title of the book of your life. It’s the heading of your life story. This intention, this sankalpa is not only manifested in your professional life – but in every single second of your life.

As far as I experience it, the soul’s plan manifests differently in different life situations or phases. As children we express our soul’s intention differently than as a teenager, as an adult, as an elderly person… but always we have this red thread of our soul’s sankalpa running through our life. And there are phases of our lives when we are students of our Dharma, before we can re-enter the stage of giving our gifts to the world…

So when trying to get hold of this soul’s sankalpa I often ask for flow experiences, as I believe that flow states are experiences when our being is fully aligned with our soul’s intention.

Until my teacher Chameli introduced the notion of Dharma to me, I usually spoke of vocation or one’s soul’s plan. Dharma for me captures this amazing interwovenness of everything, whereas the soul’s sankalpa still feels quite “individualized” to me. Dharma for me points to the fact that no-one and no-thing is separated from anything else. So our soul’s sankalpa is so much connected to all the circumstances of our incarnation. It is no pure coincidence that we live where we live and at that certain time – for me Dharma is an expression of the Divine Choreography of Life. Chameli uses this beautiful metaphor of the tapestry of life where all beautiful Dharma threads are intervowen to the magnificent universe that we live in.

And I am convinced that we can never ever “loose” our Dharma, we can never ever be “off” our Dharma. What we can choose (in my view) is how consciously, how committed, how aligned we want to live our Dharma. But we cannot ever loose it. How should we manage to “fall out” of the Divine Choreography of Life?

So when we are in inbetween-states (this is what I feel when I read your lines) it might be that the expression of our Dharma is changing, is deepening, is becoming even more focussed. I love to bring the metaphor of an onion: All layers belong to the same onion. But whenever we peel off one layer, we come closer to the core of the onion. So maybe you are currently peeling off one layer of your Dharma’s onion…

May your roots grow even deeper into your Dharma. _/|\_
May you blossom even more beautifully into your Dharma! _/|\_

So much love to you, dear Courageous Soul. ❤
Uli, your Soul Sister

More inspirations directly into your inbox:

Advertisement

This is where you are

Once we commit to consciously and fully live our dharma, life changes. We feel full of energy, motivation, enthusiasm, love, esprit, joy, freedom, … But still it is a human life. “After expansion contraction will come.” (Chameli Ardagh) I promise you: There will be days where you might feel stressed, overwhelmed, unmotivated, tired, full of doubt, fearful, sad, …

Whatever you feel: This is where you are RIGHT NOW. This is where you are to live your dharma RIGHT NOW. This is the place from where you’ll take the next step RIGHT NOW. Yes, we prefer to feel good and expanded instead of stuck and shrunk. But this is our decision. Every situation, every thought, every feeling is holy in the Divine Eyes.

On days when you feel expanded, you probably won’t read these lines, because you are in the flow anyway! 🙂

On days when you feel contracted: What if you’d lean back for a moment, let go of all concepts of how-it-should-be and adore the mystery that you are alive? Let yourself be taken away by the miracle that the sun shines (even tough it might be hidden behind clouds). Find a way to acknowledge the miracle of how your body works. Isn’t it amazing that those fingers can move, that you can feel the breeze on your skin, that your eyes read these words, that your heart beats? Isn’t it amazing that the Earth moves? Isn’t it astounding and mind-blowing that the Universe exists?

“After contraction expansion will come.” (Chameli Ardagh) I promise you: There will be days where you are in the flow again, where you feel deeply aligned with the Divine Choreography of Life, where you feel like flying.

It is up to us to let go of the resistance and align ourselves with the Flow of Life.