Svadharma

(“one’s own dharma”) In the dharma literature, svadharma is an individual’s
unique religious duty (dharma), based
on that person’s social position, stage of
life, and gender. The governing assumption behind this notion is that every person has a social role to fulfill, and each of
these roles is necessary for the maintenance of society, no matter how humble
it might be. For each person, his or her
svadharma carries the highest authority,
and supersedes all other religious laws.
As one example, violence is generally
prohibited, but it is a necessary part of a
ruler’s svadharma—both to protect the
land from external invaders, and to punish criminals within the country. In both
cases the use of violence helps to maintain social order, which is the king’s primary duty. In the same way, society
depends on a host of other people fulfilling their particular social roles. This
notion of social responsibility and interconnectedness is tied to religious fulfillment through the notion of the Path of
Action (karmamarga). According to this
676
Suta
idea, selflessly performing one’s social
duty, for the good of the world rather
than through selfish desire, was also a
path to ultimate spiritual fulfillment and
final liberation of the soul (moksha).
According to this conception, since
every svadharma is potentially a path to
final liberation, each person has a path
that only he or she can tread.