What is my Duty?

“Non-violence, truthfulness, honesty, desire for the welfare & happiness of all others, and freedom from lust, anger, and greed, constitute duties for all member of society” We speak a lot about our rights, but how about our responsibilities? What is my duty as a human being in this world, that will provide for a peaceful and prosperous society?

In this episode we talk about how the universal duty for all human beings is to desire the welfare & happiness of all others. You’ll hear about the importance of not just present opinions but the actual truth, the difference between accepting our imperfections and just being OK with it, as well as the Vedic system of dividing society.

Maybe you are a mother or father – with full spectrum of duties and responsibilities of a parent, maybe you are a simple worker or a boss of the company, maybe you have some profession and a lot of duties connected with that. Maybe you have some mission in life that brings with it some activities, duties and responsibilities. According to the Vedas there are four different varnas and ashramas that are defying our position in the society, and there are specific duties that come along with that.

But above all of that we also have prescribed duties of a human beings and qualities that we should cultivate; like non-violence, truthfulness, and honesty.

We speak about the importance of actually cultivating these qualities for the better of society and everyone living in it – because when there is no external peace, it’s because there’s no internal peace. 

Highlights

• 0:00 Intro: “Non-violence, truthfulness, honesty, desire for the happiness and welfare of all others, and freedom from lust, anger, and greed, constitute duties for all members of society”
• 1:33 Truth is always true—regardless of our opinion about it
• 7:18 Equality doesn’t mean bringing everybody down to the lowest common denominator (example from Virginia)
• 11:32 The Vedic division of society for perfect harmony
• 20:35 Truthfulness is speaking truth: not what people want to hear, but what they need to hear
• 32:36 Going beyond lust in our relationships to others
• 44:12 If we care for the wellbeing of others, we should cultivate the qualities of non-violence, truthfulness & honesty—which also serves as an internal control mechanism
• 1:02:09 This podcast is for the few people who are interested and ready for change (example of record-holding female surfer)