swadharma

In the Indian spiritual tradition, dharma means the way, literally law or duty. Everything and everyone in existence has its own dharma — its essential way of being in the world — that is in harmony with the overriding dharma of nonviolence that applies to all life (ahimsa paramo dharma). Thus a person’s swadharma (swa, own, and dharma, duty) is their own unique role in life or way of being in the world, which it is their duty to realize and fulfill. Swadharma is not destiny, which would deny the reality of human choice, but rather a set of capacities that when fully developed allow us to take our place in the world. The Gita warns strongly against attempting to live out the dharma of another, but discovering our own capacities and using them in selfless service is described as the goal of human life.