Meditation: Chopra, Creating Abundance: The Law of Dharma Length: 16 minutes Where: Home Office/Guest Room, Los Angeles How It Felt: Beautiful
Day 14 Centering Thought: “There is a way I can fulfill my true purpose in life.”
Back to the abundance series today! This session gave us the seventh spiritual law: Dharma.
What does Dharma mean? I understood from his explanation it meant something close to living one’s purpose and living in service. I wanted to know more, so I went to my old friend Google.
From embodiedphilosophy.com –
“Dharma is an important concept found in many spiritual philosophies from the Indian subcontinent, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. These philosophical traditions that are often referred to as “dharmic traditions,” because they share a commitment to dharma and various forms of spiritual liberation.
The term dharma is derived from the Sanskrit root verb dhr, which means to preserve or support. In the Indic traditions, there is no exact translation for the word “religion” and dharma is often the word used to indicate this idea. Dharma is a common thread in the Indic traditions that expands the conventional term “religion” to include ethics, spiritual path, duty, law, and cosmic order.
In Hinduism, dharma is simultaneously the eternal order that rules the universe and the duty or law that governs one’s life. Fulfilling one’s dharma is more than simply one’s purpose in life – it is considered the very means by which one transcends suffering and the cycle of birth and death, or what is called saṃsāra.”
To be honest, I understand very little of this, except for the basics. I know I’m supposed to find my gifts and use them to be of service to others. I know that is my purpose and passion. Still, it’s clear there is a lot of meaning to this word for a lot of people, so I want to dig deeper. It also seems to mean different things to different religious and spiritual groups, which only serves to confuse more in the short term.
I watched a video on study.com about Hinduism, thinking it may dumb down the definition of Dharma enough that I could grasp the basics. I was right!
The video described “Dharma” as: “A word without direct translation” (this explains some things) “but implies ‘religion,’ ‘duty,’ and ‘righteousness.'” She went on to say “the concept behind Dharma is one that-”
And then I was supposed to sign up for an account to keep going. I am neither a student, nor a teacher, and I really didn’t feel like pretending I was checking this out on behalf of one of my step-kids, so… that was that.
I read a few other articles and essays but I don’t think I have a grasp on it yet, outside of the very basic outline. Still, at the moment, that’s enough.
I feel unbelievably blessed that I’ve always known exactly what I wanted to do with my life. Whenever I get into the flow of my career, I just glow differently. It’s that feeling like you’ve taken that lucky potion from Harry Potter- the felix something?- and you couldn’t be happier. Everything goes your way- you find the parking spot right in front, your skin is flawless that day, someone offers you their last donut. Everyone’s smiling at you and you’re smiling right back.
When I feel that way, I feel generous without limits. I am so happy I want everyone around me to be happy, too! I feel light, I make jokes, I go out of my way to be extra kind. I show up and do my part to create something that I feel could matter to people, or, more often, know how much it matters already. I get to be a part of something bigger than myself. It’s not about me. I love that feeling.
I think somewhere circling that feeling is the Law of Dharma. If anyone wants to school me on this concept in the comments or by email, I would love to hear more!
Otherwise, I plan to keep digging. This year-long journey isn’t just about meditating, or practicing doing something with consistency. I don’t want to just log the minutes and move on. I really want to learn all the wisdom I can from this experience, and have a better me to show for it!
Wish me luck! I have a feeling about about to go down a long, deep rabbit hole…
I love doing that.
My Year of Meditation 