(please see the previous 2 posts: „DHARMA – THE NATURE OF THE WHEEL IS TO TURN AND MOVE“ & „DHARMA MINISERIES – VOL. 2“ )

Your varna (the fluid social category) will not be determined by birth. It is entirely up to you and is rooted in your actions which will become true manifestations of your dharma and your gunas (tendencies) are very much dependent on your current state of life. They will change as you move through the phases of life and in each one you’ll have a different focus, different duties and things to offer – from the unbridled energy of the youth to the calmer wisdom you will hopefully have acquired in your old age.

The ashrams (stages of life) of the universal law of nature that dharma is can vary from person to person or you can even skip some and every stage lasts about 20-25 years. Brahmachari should be the first life stage in which you’re a student of life, focused on learning and aligning yourself and your goal in the world properly and in accordance with what is true and where your interests guide you. This stage will also endow you with specialized skills that you’ll use to support your family and yourself in the grihastana (the household stage) in which you’re most likely to form a family of your own, bring new life into the world if you wish so, and become a productive member of society with your own duties and responsibilities. This phase is mostly tied to acquiring a certain amount of artha (material wealth) and kama (worldly pleasure) and also asks of you to exercise moderation and self-control in order to not get too tangled up in the previous two or do so in a way that harms you or others. Vanprastha is the retired life in which you give back to the community all you can using all of the spiritual, intellectual and material means you’ve acquired through the previous stages. The final phase that concludes a life, sannyas or the renounced life, is the one in which you turn fully onto the more immaterial aspects of studying ancient wisdom, meditation, yoga and strive to achieve moksha and liberate yourself from and infinite cycle of death and rebirth by having lived a good fulfilled life and following your dharma.

These phases are not hard unmalleable things but are more templates to be followed for a healthy balanced individual and therefore healthy societies these individuals belong to and create. There is no true fulfillment without following or searching for svadharma (one’s own dharma), the unique path that is right for the individual. You may be rich or poor, highly educated or not, go into the sciences or devote your life to caring for others, live to get businesses of the ground and produce useful things, you may choose to be a farmer or continue on your family’s legacy, be a parent or childless, seek the spiritual or ground yourself in facts and figures… it doesn’t matter if it’s truly yours, if it’s what genuinely creates meaning for you and (preferably) the community. Don’t be shamed into submission by “should haves” if you feel your “musts” inside. Follow that and put your money (and energy) where your mouth is.