Bhagavagd Gita - Session 7- Track 710

That svabhāvajam is automatically sahajam; sahaja means that which is spontaneous, which is irresistible. Swadharma is somewhat to be distinguished from Swabhava: Swabhava is the becoming of your true Self; Swadharma is the law of the development of that true nature. There is a movement is called bhāva; Dharma means there is a law of that bhāva.

A plant is first of all to be put into the soil, and then it begins to grow; but it does not give flower immediately the very next day, there is a law of its development. There is a bhāva, Swabhava, there is a law, there is a kind of a movement; but that movement has its own law, it moves in a particular rhythm, when your Swabhava begins to develop according to the law of that development that is called Swadharma.

You give to a child what you should give to the PHD student is wrong because even though the child may have that capacity in due course when he becomes in his movement, develops, at that given stage it is not according to Swadharma. That which is Swadharma for the child is what is appropriate to the child at ‘that’ time. Therefore, we have to find out for each one what his Swabhava is and what is his Swadharma. Everybody does not move at the same rhythm, that also is an important point. Different children have different rhythms as regard to different activities.

Question: Is Swabhava governed by the stars of a person?

Answer: Swabhava is governed basically by what is put into you by the divine Will. That is the basic answer. When you bring in the concept of a star, you are bringing a situation of the intermingling of Swabhava with Rajas, Sattwa, and Tamas: this intermingling happens at a given time. That time is what is called muhūrta in astrology: at that time, whatever stars are to be seen, they become a kind of an indicator graph as to when these two things have mingled at a given point. Therefore, if you see the star’s movements, and you see the intermingling of these two, how they act and react, there is a correspondence. But even if you do not see the stars and if you are a good psychologist and if you see how the two things have mingled together and if you know what is Swadharma of that intermingling then you can predict as to how it will move forward.

Question: How does the Yoga come into it?

Answer: The Yoga is the conscious understanding, and the effort to bring Swabhava into operation as quickly as possible. There is a normal movement of mingling, of Swabhava with Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas, and there is so much of ignorance, there is so much of confusion, and this intermingling is a very difficult and a very painful process. The Yoga comes in to tell you that there is an intermingling first of all. Most often people don’t even know there is an intermingling.

We, human beings normally don’t know there are two elements in us: the element of real Swabhava and the element of Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas which is not your Swabhava. We don’t even know the two things have been mingled out. A Yogi comes to know that there is a mingling, then watches and finds out what belongs to Prakriti, and what belongs to Swabhava, and then, guides the individual on the basis of Swabhava. And therefore, it follows that sometimes some things may be more natural to you, you may be able to do more quickly according to Prakriti, but Swabhava, it may not be appropriate to your Swabhava.

You may not be able to do things better and yet Sri Krishna says: “You go to Swabhava even if you are not able to do things so well”, which ordinarily you will say, “Why you do it? This child is able to do this very well in this, and you tell him, “don’t do it”, and ask him to do something in which he is not so proficient to do, why do you do that?” Yogi’s answer is that this mingling in him at present is not appropriate, is not fitting with each other. Therefore, in order to make the individual grow on his right lines ultimately, you sacrifice even now his proficiency in this; allow him to grow into this, so that gradually that which is irresistible will come out: it will become sahajaṁ.

Question: The Yoga accelerates the Swadharma.

Answer: That’s right, exactly. In fact, Vivekananda when he was asked: “what is yoga?” He said: “Yoga is a process of acceleration”. The very words he used: “Yoga is a process of acceleration.” That which normally takes a long time because of ignorance, because of our unintelligence, because of our adoption of mechanical means, we are not able to move fast. If you know things properly, then you accelerate the whole process. What is normally done in ten years, you can do in six months.