Svadharma (Sanskrit: स्वधर्म) is a term (from sva: proper, and dharma: law, duty)[1] which, in Hinduism, designates the duties of an individual, according to his social class, caste or natural disposition, which he must follow.[2]

Bhagavad-Gita

The term is used in the Bhagavad Gita:[3] 3:35 "Better is one's own law of works, swadharma, though in itself faulty than an alien law well-wrought out; death in one's own law of being is better, perilous is it to follow an alien law."[4] and 18:47 "Better is one's own law of works, though in itself faulty, than an alien law well-wrought out. One does not incur sin when one acts in agreement with the law of one's own nature [svabhāva]."[5]

According to Sri Aurobindo, "in Nature each of us has a principle and will of our own becoming; each soul is a force of self-consciousness that formulates an idea of the Divine in it and guides by that its action and evolution, its progressive self-finding, its constant varying self-expression, its apparently uncertain but secretly inevitable growth to fullness. That is our Swabhava, our own real nature; that is our truth of being which is finding now only a constant partial expression in our various becoming in the world. The law of action determined by this Swabhava is our right law of self-shaping, function, working, our Swadharma."[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Sanskritdictionary.com: Definition of svadharma". sanskritdictionary.com. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  2. ↑ Jean Filliozat, «Dharma», Encyclopædia Universalis, French: https://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/dharma/
  3. ↑ Universalis, Encyclopædia. "BRAHMANISME". Encyclopædia Universalis (in French). Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  4. ↑ The Bhagavad Gita as translated by Sri Aurobindo, Chapter III Karmayoga, 35
  5. ↑ The Bhagavad Gita as translated by Sri Aurobindo Chapter XVIII Renunciation and Moksha, 47
  6. ↑ Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, Second Series, Part II, Chapter 20, Swabhava and Swadharma, pg. 502,
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