Dharma Initiative

A person cannot be defined by one word. I can not be described only as a student. I must fulfill many roles that I play. I am a student, but I am also a woman, a Kappa Alpha Theta, a photographer, an artist, a sister, a daughter, a cousin, a friend, a girlfriend, an employee, a Sing Chair, a Christian, an athlete… the list goes on. These words are not only what I do, but make me who I am. Technically, I do not have to fulfill all of these titles. I could just not pursue my art dream. I could stop playing sports. I could drop out of my sorority. If I wanted to. The thing is though, is that I want each and every one of these things to be a part of my life and my identity. It does not have to be, but I purposefully make it my duty to fulfill these titles in order to shape my identity and build my character in the way that I want it. I feel like this is true for all of society in every day and age. People want to be remembered, people want to make a difference. When your roles in life start interfering with each other, it can be very hard to choose which role you put first. One small example where I have had to choose which role to follow recently was when my sister was going through rush at Texas Christian University. I had to pretty much pick how I would support her through this grueling process- as a sister or as a Kappa Alpha Theta. Hmm. I wanted her to be so happy of course with her final decision of which sorority she would choose, but I also wanted so badly for her to choose Kappa Alpha Theta and be my sister in that sense. I am such a loyal, die- hard Theta, and in the end I chose to be her sister. I chose to let her make her own decision and pick a group that would be best for her and would make her happiest. Luckily for me, that group ended up being Kappa Alpha Theta! So, while I did end up letting her choose for herself and I stopped pressuring her to pick my sorority, she ended up choosing it after all. In this instance, I got very lucky and I did not have to deal with negative consequences because of what I chose to be my priority. Unfortunately, this is not the usual outcome of these types of decisions. In The Ramayana, it shows how devastating such decisions can be. Dasaratha must choose to follow his oath and follow his love for his wife Kaikeyi in order to fulfill his Dharma. He has to choose to be a husband over a father, and must banish Rama for 14 years and but Bharat on the throne. The dejected Dasaratha dies of grief because of his fulfillment of Dharma. That is a pretty negative consequence of his actions! Rama also has to endure pain because of his fulfillment of duty to his people. He makes Sita walk through fire to prove her purity, but Sita is so full of grief because of the doubt Rama had in her. She asks Mother Earth to take her away, and she does. Rama loses his beloved wife Sita because of his duty to his people. These difficult decisions must be made publicly, like Rama and Dasaratha, and privately. On a more personal level- we probably have to deal with private decisions more often. These private decisions are what make a person who they really are. You may have heard of it- it is called integrity. Integrity is what a person does when no ones watching. Anyone can put on a show, play nice, and give and share when people are watching. What matters is who knows what is really important when no one else can see. Integrity and duty are things that people in every single day and age must face. Our mental challenges are no different than Rama’s mental challenges. The biggest difference though, is Dharma. I do not really think that our society believes so much in Dharma and Karma. We life in a more free spirited world, a world that is based on instant gratification. We are taught to do whatever we want and whatever is the most fun and most beneficial to us. If we break a promise, so what? Not a big deal. Fortunately, this doesn’t apply to everyone but it definitely applies to our modern culture. The good thing is, we do still have a choice to uphold our word in a Dharma- like sense. It is just not as revered as it was in Rama’s day. I hope that I will be able to prioritize my duties in life in the best way possible. I plan to live my life with integrity.