Gita 3.35

Sadhak: "How do I know what my sva-dharma is? No one gave me a manual at birth."

Guru: "What makes you come alive? Where does action feel like play rather than effort? What would you do if no one was watching and no reward was offered? Your sva-dharma reveals itself through joy that doesn't depend on outcome."

Sadhak: "But what if what makes me come alive isn't practical? What if my dharma doesn't pay the bills?"

Guru: "Notice the assumption: that sva-dharma must match your profession. These are different questions. You can work a job while honoring your dharma elsewhere. The danger is when you abandon your essential nature entirely for what's practical. Bills need paying; souls need honoring. Why must one exclude the other?"

Sadhak: "The verse says better to do my dharma imperfectly. Doesn't that excuse mediocrity?"

Guru: "The standard isn't excellence versus mediocrity but authenticity versus imitation. You can pursue excellence in your own dharma—that's beautiful. What's dangerous is pursuing excellence in someone else's dharma, becoming a brilliant fake. The imperfect authentic grows; the perfect imitation petrifies."

Sadhak: "What if I was raised to follow a certain path and I'm good at it, but deep down I know it's not mine?"

Guru: "You've answered your own question. 'Deep down I know'—that knowing is the voice of sva-dharma. Society, family, practicality all trained you into para-dharma. The fact that you sense this means sva-dharma still calls. The question is whether you'll honor that call or keep suppressing it for safety."

Sadhak: "But changing paths is terrifying. What if I fail at my own dharma after succeeding at another's?"

Guru: "What is failure in sva-dharma? External failure perhaps, but internal alignment. What is success in para-dharma? External achievement but internal emptiness. Which failure can you live with? Which success? The fear you feel is 'bhayāvahaḥ'—the real fear is spending your life in the wrong story."

Sadhak: "The verse even says death in sva-dharma is better. Isn't that extreme?"

Guru: "Consider: which is worse—to die having fully lived, or to physically survive while your authentic self slowly dies? Many successful people carry a corpse inside them—the person they might have been. Physical death in true living is completion. Prolonged existence in false living is prolonged dying. Krishna isn't being dramatic; he's being precise."

Sadhak: "How do I begin the transition from para-dharma to sva-dharma without destroying my life?"

Guru: "Start where you are. Honor your current responsibilities while making space for your authentic expression. Transitions need not be abrupt. But begin. A single hour each week given to your true nature is better than none. That hour will expand naturally. What cannot continue is complete abandonment of sva-dharma—that's the real destruction."

Sadhak: "Can sva-dharma change over a lifetime? Or is it fixed?"

Guru: "Your essence remains, but its expression evolves. The dharma of the young man differs from the elder's, yet both spring from the same core. Don't confuse dharma with activities. Activities change; the fundamental orientation of your being remains. A natural teacher teaches differently at twenty than at sixty, but teaching is still the dharma. Follow the essence, not the form."