Finding Your Dharma: The Path Written in Your Soul
What is Dharma? The Question Every Tradition Answers Differently
Ask a Hindu scholar about dharma, and they'll speak of sacred duty — the role you're meant to play in the cosmic order. Ask a Buddhist monk, and they'll describe the natural law of reality, the truth that holds everything together. Ask a Balinese priest, and they'll point to the balance between opposing forces, the harmony that sustains life itself.
All different answers. All pointing to the same mystery.
Dharma comes from the Sanskrit root dhr, meaning "to hold or support." It's what holds you together. What supports your existence. What you're uniquely designed to contribute to the world.
In Hinduism, dharma is your sacred obligation—the specific role you play in maintaining cosmic order. It changes based on your stage of life, your natural abilities, your circumstances. A student's dharma differs from a parent's. A teacher's dharma differs from a healer's.
In Buddhism, dharma represents the teachings of the Buddha and the fundamental nature of reality. To live in dharma means to align with truth, to see things as they actually are rather than how we wish them to be.
In Balinese Hinduism, dharma is inseparable from rwa bhineda—the concept that opposing forces must exist in balance. Dharma (righteousness) and adharma (unrighteousness) aren't separate territories but complementary energies that create wholeness.
In Yoga philosophy, your dharma is your svadharma—your own unique truth. Not what your parents wanted for you. Not what society expects. Not what looks impressive on social media. Your actual path, written in the blueprint of your soul.
The Problem: Living Someone Else's Dharma
Here's what most people don't realize until it's almost too late: you can be successful by every external measure and still be completely out of alignment with your dharma.
You can have the prestigious job your family wanted for you and feel spiritually bankrupt. You can achieve every goal on your vision board and still wake up wondering "Is this all there is?"
Why? Because you're living someone else's dharma.
Signs you're out of dharma:
Chronic exhaustion that rest doesn't fix
Success that feels hollow
Constant comparison to others
Achievements that bring temporary relief but no lasting fulfillment
A persistent feeling that you're wearing a costume in your own life
When you're living your true dharma, effort feels different. There's still challenge, still difficulty—but it's the kind that energizes rather than depletes. You feel like you're swimming with a current rather than against it.
How to Recognize Your Dharma
The ancient texts offer clues for recognizing your unique path:
1. What Comes Naturally Your dharma often hides in what feels effortless to you but difficult for others. The Bhagavad Gita teaches¹ that it's better to do your own dharma imperfectly than someone else's perfectly. What do you do that others find remarkable but feels natural to you?
2. What You Can't Not Do Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield² speaks of dharma as "what you're called to do." Not what you should do or what would be smart to do—what you literally cannot avoid doing because it's woven into your nature.
3. Where Service Meets Joy In the Balinese concept of ngayah—selfless service—dharma lives at the intersection of what serves the community and what brings you alive. It's not just about you, and it's not just about others. It's both.
4. What Survives All Your Transformations Your dharma is the thread that runs through all your changes. You might change careers, relationships, locations—but certain core patterns persist. Maybe you're always the one creating beauty. Or holding space. Or asking difficult questions. Or bringing people together. That persistent pattern? That's dharma whispering.
The Four Paths of Dharma in Yoga
Classical yoga philosophy recognizes four main paths to living your dharma, and most people are drawn to one or two:
Karma Yoga - The path of action and service. Your dharma expresses through doing, through creating tangible change in the world.
Bhakti Yoga - The path of devotion and love. Your dharma flows through connection, worship, care for others.
Jnana Yoga - The path of wisdom and knowledge. Your dharma manifests through teaching, understanding, illuminating truth.
Raja Yoga - The path of meditation and inner discipline. Your dharma unfolds through presence, stillness, inner mastery.
Which path calls you? Read more about discovering your unique path in our October newsletter on Teachers Who Change Your Life.
Living Your Dharma Requires Courage
Here's what the spiritual quotes sometimes miss: living your dharma often asks more of you than you think you can give.
It means disappointing people who had other plans for you. It means taking risks that don't make sense on paper. It means trusting an inner knowing over external validation.
In the Bhagavad Gita³, Arjuna stands on the battlefield knowing his dharma is to fight—and he doesn't want to. He tries to negotiate. He lists all the reasons why doing something else would be better. Krishna's response? Your dharma isn't always what you prefer. It's what you're designed for.
The Balinese understand this through their concept of taksu—the divine energy that flows through you when you're in alignment with your purpose. It doesn't always feel easy, but it feels true. It feels like you're finally being honest.
The Practice: Three Questions for Finding Your Dharma
If you're feeling lost or out of alignment, these three questions can serve as a compass:
1. What breaks your heart? Your dharma often lives in what you can't ignore, what moves you to tears or action. The suffering you can't turn away from might be pointing toward your purpose.
2. What did you love before the world told you what to love? Before you learned what was valuable or impressive, what drew you? Your childhood fascinations often contain clues to your essential nature.
3. What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail? Remove the fear of judgment, failure, financial insecurity. What would you do then? That answer is worth listening to.
Your Dharma Is Already Calling
The truth is, you already know your dharma. It's been whispering to you through every moment of deep satisfaction, every time you lost track of time because you were so absorbed in something, every instance when you felt "this is what I'm here for."
The work isn't finding it. The work is having the courage to honor it.
Ready to step fully into your dharma? Our January 3-26 Yoga Teacher Training isn't just about learning to teach poses—it's about discovering and embodying your unique path. Many students arrive unsure if teaching is their dharma and leave certain of their purpose, whether that's teaching or something else entirely.
The training creates space for dharma to reveal itself. Through philosophy, practice, and deep self-inquiry, you'll clarify what you're actually here to do.
Best price of the year ends October 21st—a sign perhaps that now is your dharmic moment to commit.
References
¹ Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3, Verse 35 - "It is better to perform one's own dharma imperfectly than to perform another's dharma perfectly"
² Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life (1993) - On dharma as what you're called to do
³ Bhagavad Gita, Chapters 1-2 - The conversation between Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, exploring duty, dharma, and righteous action