Dharma: The Lost Practice of Aligning With Your Deepest Desires

It has become a common goal to turn passions into profit. This is an admirable thing and it’s about time we live in a world where someone can monetize something they love to do rather than suffer in a job that quite literally sucks the life out of them. And although everyone doesn’t have the luxury to up and quit their 9-to-5 jobs due to family obligations or other anchoring responsibilities, at least the option is there, whereas a few years ago the opportunity was a needle in a haystack. 

Recently, I quit my job. It was my first ever gig post-grad and I was ecstatic to practice what I paid half a million dollars learning how to cultivate — writing. I took to the internet to search for jobs. I sent out my resume to every job title that read “remote writer” — preferably in lifestyle, but I would settle for entertainment if need be. The latter was something I vaguely had an interest in and felt that, if money were involved, I wouldn’t mind spending hours on it; the former was my forte. But pickiness is not a good trait to have when you’re trying to secure your first ever big-girl job. Eventually, after many rejections and a bruised ego, I landed a gig at a celebrity entertainment publication.

I didn’t last more than three months. 

One reason for leaving was due to the fact that I was being paid pennies on the dollar for work worth more than what I was seeing hit my bank account, but the ultimate reason that couldn’t be acknowledged in the email that contained my resignation letter was that celebrity gossip wasn’t for me. It felt liberating to quit. What happened after this was the realization that, though I was making money, I still didn’t feel fulfilled, something was lacking. Money wasn’t what motivated me to show up and sit in front of my computer everyday; it was the enjoyment of writing that did that. So why wasn’t I content working this job where I got to do what I liked? The answer is simple: it wasn’t aligned with my dharma. 

Depending on what sector of the internet you frequent, the word dharma can either be a familiar concept or a foreign one. It has its roots in Sanskrit, the predominate language of ancient India, and it hosts a myriad of meanings and translations. One such translation is simply “to uphold or support.” When dharma infiltrated the West, the closest comparison we had to explain dharma was to liken it to one’s purpose or calling. 

Oftentimes when we think of purposes, we imagine some eureka moment where all the pieces finally fall together to reveal what we were put on this earth to do, and this revelation is almost always associated with a fixed occupation. For example, someone may feel that they were put on earth to become a doctor while another may feel that they are here to be a musician. It’s a fixed aspiration that sometimes takes strenuous effort and time to uncover or stumble upon, so much so that people spend energy stressing over what it is they are ultimately here to do. But it doesn’t have to be this way when it comes to one’s dharma, because dharma can be lived right now, evolving as you evolve.

One’s dharma is innate. It’s been dwelling in you ever since you were born, showing you clues as to what it is through inclinations, passions, natural talents, and interests. To live one’s dharma is to infuse one’s life with unequivocal action that warrant unique results. In other words, one’s dharma is inherent, equipping you with skills and passions whose expressions are distinct like an innate patent. The ubiquitous obstacle to expressing your dharma comes from the practice of conformity along with the conditioning that says living one’s dharma is futile and insecure. Because of this, we’ve lost the practice of connecting with our true selves and allowing it to guide us to fulfilling our deepest desires. 

It’s been normalized to believe that everyone should be and desire the same things in life. We should all desire to be billionaires, says culture. We should all desire to be famous, says culture. We should all want to have a Lamborghini, says culture. We should all want to be entrepreneurs, says culture. When we fall victim to this mentality, we fail to recognize how irrational it really is. If only we stopped for a second and asked ourselves what we wanted,  making sure to look beneath the layers of conditioned responses we are bound to have, the answers would probably be surprising. Maybe it will still resemble what society advertises, but if it doesn’t, you now have the chance to align with what you genuinely want. 

Dharma is characterized by a sense of flow. When you’re aligned with your dharma, your desires spontaneously and effortlessly manifest because dharma rewards and supports those who trust and cultivate it. We’re all keen on the notion that when you do what you love, money will follow; this is the essence of dharma except, not only will money follow, but a sense of fulfillment will follow as well. This fulfillment doesn’t come from monetary gain, it comes from using one’s unique set of skills and talents to fulfill a need the world, even if it’s on a small scale within one’s own community. To fully activate dharma, you have to offer up what you do best to make an impact. This is why some people seem to have it all — the money, the accolades, the external markers of success — but aren’t content. “I wish everyone could experience being rich and famous, so they’d see it wasn’t the answer to anything,” Jim Carrey said, a statement that warns us that fulfillment is not where we assume it is.

The ease, joy, and influence of living in one’s dharma can appear fanciful and an idealistic pursuit. That to trust in yourself, even if that means abandoning the status quo, is ludicrous and only results in failure. But that way of thinking is simply a product of a culture built on suppressing individuality despite the cliche messages that encourage the sentiments “follow your dreams” or “be yourself.” Our society isn’t structured to support such encouragements, so we easily write them off as impossible. But as dharma promises: if you protect it, it protects you.