Decoding Dharma: A Tantra Perspective
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Dharma has always been seen and revered as one of the essential elements of living a harmonious, happy, and meaningful life. In modern spirituality, dharma has taken new meanings and interpretations. While some of the dharma narratives in modern times empower us to think deeper about our existence, there are certain meanings of dharma that take us away from the authenticity of this powerful work. In this episode, Chandresh shares the tantra and eastern wisdom traditional perspective of what dharma is and the various questions around it. Chandresh covers the following questions:
What is the difference between karma and dharma? How are they related?
Does dharma change with time/as you get older?
Is dharma viewed differently in different religions and cultures?
How is dharma different from religion?
How has new-age spirituality changed the understanding of dharma? What are the benefits and downsides to this?
Is dharma related at all to astrology/can it be determined by astrology?
Episode Transcript
According to Eastern wisdom traditions, the path to a balanced, happy, and meaningful existence generally requires a balance of the four elements, dharma, artha, kama, and moksha. Dharma here refers to the right action and how you show up in life. Artha here refers to the financial understanding. How do you make your money? How do you handle the abundance? Kama here refers to material happiness. How do you raise your family? How do you manage your desires, sexual energy, and emotional energy? And moksha is the ultimate destination, the spiritual liberation. In the new age of spirituality, all the meanings are changing. Some of them are becoming more refined. Some of them need to be clarified.
Dharma is one of those elements that's suffering and going through a bit of an interesting element. I feel dharma has become a buzzword in the last few years, but the curiosity about dharma has also encouraged and empowered many humans to look up to the purpose in their life, to look up to why they are here. Dharma is mainly referred to as the unique purpose, and when we talk about purpose, the mind steps in, and the mind has made dharma another aggressive hustling pathway. Nowadays, when I come across seekers, they tend to stress out because they believe or feel they have not discovered their dharma yet, and maybe the time is running out. Every week I stumble upon seekers, and I receive questions and doubts from strangers on Instagram. Everyone is struggling with the concept of dharma, and dharma is the new age hustle, I believe now.
In this episode, I want to share the tantra perspective on dharma. I'll be sharing how dharma has changed with time. What's the difference between karma and dharma? How is dharma different from religion? And, ultimately, is there a safe, fun, easy, creative way to channel your dharma to live your dharma? I am Chandresh Bhardwaj and this is Leela Gurukul. Namaste, everyone. I hope you're feeling relaxed, happy, grounded, and safe. Before I talk about dharma, here are a quick announcement and updates about what's happening with Leela Gurukul. For the first time, I'm working on a goddess program. The title so far is Goddess Rising. It's going to be all about the tantra goddesses. It's going to be about how you can tap into the frequency, energy, the dimensions of these unique tantra goddesses and live a practically spiritual life in alignment with the energy of these tantra goddesses.
It's a huge responsibility, and as I'm sharing it, my heartbeat shifts a little bit because I'm going through the preparation for it. I'm writing, inviting in new downloads for it, speaking to my teachers, and it's so vulnerable, so powerful. Without the immense love and support you all sent to the Leela Gurukul Podcast and the Leela School, it would not have been possible. So thank you. And stay tuned to receive more updates on it. If you're not on Leela emails, please go to leelagurukul.com, and sign up for the emails because the email signups get the first notification and first opportunity to join and be part of any of our offerings. Number two, join me on Telegram Text Channel. That's a space I'm cultivating to share some brilliant, trusting wisdom nuggets of tantra and other experiences about the tantra goddesses because I've been looking for a place that's not influenced by the algorithm in podcasts.
Thankfully, I believe still one of the emails is one of them. The Telegram Text Channel also seems to be a good option because I do not ever want to write something just to satisfy their trend, just to manipulate you into that algorithm space. So these three spaces feel so empowering. Of course, the Telegram Channel, the emails you receive on Leela, and the podcast. And I'm experimenting a little bit more on the podcast. I'm trying to invite in more energy, new energy. So stay tuned. Hopefully, you will like that as well. Now coming to the dharma podcast, I even thought of talking about dharma because in the past few months, I have received a bunch of questions about dharma, and, surprisingly, none of those questions sound different from each other. Although different people send these questions, different age groups living in different countries, and yet the doubt, the challenge is similar.
Many of you have asked me why my definition of life's purpose seems very different from what the teachers say about dharma. So our dharma and the sense of dharma in tantra are two different things. Now, dharma is seen as the unique purpose in life. Dharma is the reason why we exist, why we are here. The Hindu traditions, the wisdom traditions of Vedanta, and yoga are very clear about what dharma is and what it should be. Tantra has brought a lot more flexibility and fluidity in living the dharma. And I feel the reason why dharma space has become a bit confusing is that there is very scattered information all over the internet about dharma. Whatever is trending, the influencers, the teachers, or even the most well-intentioned teachers sometimes will limit the definition of dharma to suit their audience, and they'll not mention the other depths of it because their audience does not resonate with it, or if it's too deep for them.
So if 100 people believe the definition of the dharma to be a certain way, then those 100 people will talk about it to another 100 people, and that becomes the truth then. Now, what exactly is the dharma, how is it defined in the Eastern traditions, and what is its tantra perspective? Dharma is a word prominently used in Hinduism, Buddhism, and many Eastern traditions as a way of showing up for your life. Dharma means a system, a law, a truth, a duty, a custom, or a role model around which the structure of society is built, around which the structure of a human being is built. People in my life have often told me, "Never forget your dharma. Your work should be your dharma. Your work is your highest dharma," which simply means your work has to be on that highest level of worship. Your work has to be on the highest level of responsibility. Dharma is the structure, the constitution that the culture brings in because otherwise, everything will be chaotic, scattered, and irresponsible.
Dharma is also a very popular word used in place of religion in countries like India. So if you're traveling in India, if you live in India or lived in India, you would notice they don't use the word religion. Instead, they use the word dharma. Dharma simply reminds them of their highest moral duty. And with this definition, you're noticing it doesn't even talk about life's purpose because dharma contains flavor of the purpose. Because if you are living in your highest spiritual and material responsibility, you will honor the purpose unfolding and showing up for you. But dharma in the new age spirituality has limited itself to the purpose of life. And I've never met anyone who says, "My dharma is to become an accountant. My dharma is to become a doctor. My dharma is to make a movie." Most of the people I come across with dharma talk are the ones who have romanticized their dharma a bit too much. And think I believe the romanticization of dharma has become its blockage.
Dharma is simply the reason you exist. It's the reason you were born. And you could be born to make people's life economically amazing. So you could be an amazing accountant in a small town. You don't have to be a poet or an artist to do that. And I feel the first thing that needs to happen is to let go of the romanticization with dharma. And now I'm bringing in the tantra perspective on dharma. In tantra, we always believe and follow the simple mantra that life does not have a purpose, but life itself is a purpose. When you are living and showing up for simply your existence, your dharma will unfold naturally and organically, and you do not have to force it. You have to cooperate with it. You have to do the hard work. You have to unlearn whatever needs to be unlearned, but digression, the force, and anger do not exist in living that dharma.
I fear that dharma is becoming such a stressful thought and activity for many seekers because they feel they need to live in the jungles. They live to dance, write poetry, and teach yoga, and meditation, because everything else is useless. No. You could be doing the driest thing out there, the one that doesn't fit into the playfulness of life, but that could be your dharma, and you could be done with that work at 4:00 p.m., and after that, you could indulge in the playfulness of life. Dharma reminds us of the balance. It doesn't tell us to run away from our responsibilities. It invites in the balance, and it invites responsibility as well. Now, the more you dig deeper into the authentic definition of dharma, it becomes a little less romantic and a little less seductive, but I assure you, you'll become a whole person when you truly reflect on the dharma of your life.
Now, there are a few Sanskrit words I have to introduce here. One word is Sankalpa, and that's intentional. One way to deepen your dharma is through Sankalpa. Sankalpa is the conscious desire of your soul. The closest English translation would be the intention. So here I'm reminding you that as we end this year, 2022, do not make any resolutions for the next year. Do not set any goals for the next year. Instead, invite in a Sankalpa, invite in intention. The intention is the seed you plant toward your vision. If you do not have any intention right now, your intention could be to invite the right environment and the right energy. So, for example, let's say whatever you wish to do, if that goal or vision requires calmness, discipline, creativity, and consistency, that could be your Sankalpa. And dharma blooms when there is clear intention or a clear space to plant the intention.
In the Leela program, we spend so much time, pretty much every week, on deepening the intention because without intention, the meditation, the dharma talk, it's all irrelevant. It doesn't create any transformation. So the first thing here to understand us is, what is your Sankalpa here? What is your intention? One intention you could set up is to move forward with calmness, clarity, and courage. Another one of my favorites is moving forward with gratitude and trust. And you'll start to notice these simple intentions clear up the barriers, clear up the doubts, and become more calm, open, and aware. The second important step in your dharma, get to know who you are. Most of the time, we know ourselves through the lens of others. Either it could be a parent who loved you so much or a parent who couldn't love you so much. Because you're born through them, it's a natural thing that you will see yourself through them.
You'll see yourself through the school teachers, friends, culture, the religion you grew up in. And in my personal experience of working with the students, I've noticed that they struggle with the dharma so much or Sankalpa so much because they don't realize who they are. Human beings are so focused on becoming something else that they don't even care about being who they already are. If there are three siblings in one house, every sibling struggles to become like the other because they notice, "Okay, my sister gets a bit more love because she does that. My brother gets more love because he does that." So the struggle just continues to become that way so that they can please the parents, so that they can please society. And in the end, your natural melody is ruined. Get to know who you are.
A simple meditation on who I am should be running in your background daily. Meditate on, who am I? Because once you know who you are beyond the story of your family, the cultural narrative, and the external information influencing your goals, your dharma becomes crystal clear. If a tree does not know what it is or who it is, then a tree cannot serve its purpose of the tree because the tree may be becoming maybe too busy and becoming like a flower next to it. This is what we do all the time. We are so busy becoming that kind of person that we do not respect our existence as it is. Is there a difference between karma and dharma? How are they related? It's such a good question. Alexis shared this question with me. Karma is your right action. Karma is the choice you make, and dharma and karma support each other, but karma comes later.
So once I realize my dharma is to honor the tantric path in my life, my karma should begin. Then my karma is to maybe write a book, show up in a community where they need the support, and maybe start offering my work in a certain accessible way. Your karma is later part of the blooming. The first part is the dharma, where you truly show up and start to simply create a set of systems where you belong. And does dharma change with time or as you get older? It does, and it should, but it does not drastically change. It does not significantly change its expression. It keeps getting polished. And if I take my example, I hoped to follow a spiritual path when I left banking. I did not know the right and the wrong of it. I didn't have a business model for it for many years. I didn't know what's my branding. How do I serve? To whom do I serve? I just knew that I want to talk about the spiritual experiences that have made me a better human, and hopefully, they will help others too.
But as time changed, my experiences changed. I learned better. I made more mistakes. I started realizing how to show up for my dharma in a better way. A few years ago, I realized a major part of my dharma is to talk about the goddess energy. And in all transparency and vulnerability, I felt uncomfortable. I felt, who am I as a man to talk about the Devi energy? And then I realized, who am I if I don't talk about it? Because my entire existence has been around the Devi energy. I did not have a memory of my life when I was not surrounded by these tantra goddesses' energy, not even a memory of my life. And then I felt it was such a shame and would be an injustice to this life if I didn't talk about the lessons and experiences I have gone through in understanding and deepening my relationship with the Devi energy.
But dharma takes time. So it took me many years, many years. I'm still peeling off those layers. It's still taking time, and I am still getting comfortable. But once you start to understand it and become open to it, receptive to it, and comfortable with the discomfort, that's when that dharma starts to become much clearer. Is dharma different from religion? Dharma in religion is seen through a similar lens in the eastern traditions because nowadays, religion has become this old way of looking at life. It's boring, dead. Nobody wants to talk about it. It's not cool to talk about religion. It's much cooler to talk about yoga, tantra, [inaudible 00:20:52], zen way of life. Ten years from today, tantra, yoga, and all these new-age lingoes will die. Nobody wants to use those words, and something else will appear.
So dharma, the expression of it, will, I guess, continue to change as the new generations show up and they find a new language, a new way of connecting. But at the root level, dharma, religion, your purpose, they all are so connected and related. Of course, there will be teachers, spiritual leaders, and so-called leaders and so-called teachers, I'm talking about, who will corrupt and butcher the system. But there will always be honest and authentic seekers who will continue digging deeper into the roots and arrive at the right version of dharma. And one final question I want to address here is, does astrology influence dharma, or can astrology help dharma? Now, astrology is the science of planets. It's a great way of decoding your life until maybe five, seven, or ten because, until that age, you haven't developed your karmic actions. You haven't developed your own beliefs. You're not corrupted yet.
You are still a very innocent wildflower. The adults haven't corrupted you yet. Society hasn't interfered yet fully with your system. But after a certain age, comparison, competition, aggression, and stress, it all starts to pour in. And that's when you start to go far away from your true self. Astrology is great at a tender age because it can guide you. It can support your path. It can tell you; you have a natural talent for becoming a musician. You have a great talent for going into medicine study. You have a great talent for science, space, and research and could put your efforts in that direction. But beyond a certain age, your karmic actions are so scattered. Your own emotions of greed, more greed, attachment, ego, sexual energy, emotional energy, and all the conflicts of mind have created such a mess that you are simply reacting to the planetary positions, and your negative points are multiplying. The positives are not manifesting.
So astrology can barely help you in that direction. But there is a way. There's still a way to channel astrology into deepening your dharma. And that way is through meditation. That way is through Mantra Sadhana. Sadhana is the spiritual discipline. Sadhana is a set of daily, consistent, disciplined meditation with the right mantra, deities, and rituals. It helps you release the toxic ness, the heaviness, and the unwanted external energy. And then you start to become more and more aligned with the right effects of the planets. Then you start to feel more courageous to embrace your dharma and show up for it. The conclusion is your life does not have a purpose. Your life is a purpose. Stop interfering with your life's purpose by bringing in external information, by leading with fear, trauma, doubts, and insecurities. Instead, come back to your source. Come back to the heart.
A simple meditation, a simple inner work, can change you drastically, can change you significantly. I'm confident that even if you pick a few episodes and meditations from the Leela Podcast, you will peel off so many unwanted layers, and you can start to come back to your blooming. You can come back to your natural organic dharma. Connect with like-minded seekers. Start building a system for yourself where you can truly find the flaws, find the fault in your dharmic cycle, and then start to show up for your natural, unapologetic, wild, organic self. That's all for today. Please let me know how this episode was, and if you have any questions, email us. And if you liked this episode, do share it on your Instagram. When you share it, it supports me, encourages me, and encourages the entire team to keep doing this. Thank you. Be safe. Be well.
Useful Links
Find Your Source of Happiness - 21 Day Challenge
Private Guidance Program with Chandresh
