Dharma and the Tao

The teachings of the Tao come from the ancient teachings of dharma. When a being follows the Tao, they are in alignment with their inherent nature and they follow the laws that govern that inherent nature. These laws, the principles and operating forces of the universe, are the fabric of existence. Without them, the natural world would lose its integrity.

To understand the Tao is to understand the inherent nature of human beings, the inherent nature of rocks, the inherent nature of water, the inherent nature of Earth, and the inherent nature of each and every type of living being. When beings are in alignment with their inherent nature, dharma flows naturally. A sense of harmony with all life is the result. The Tao is the Way. Dharma is also called the Way, the law, the path. Dharma is inherent in all things.

Human beings have a longing for the Great. There is a restlessness in the hearts of people, because there is dissatisfaction with duality and feelings of separation from the whole. Sooner or later, most people experience the existential pain of separation from the unconditional love that is the source of their being.

This separateness, and the restlessness that emerges because of it, brings a search for wholeness that may take many forms. People try to acquire things to feed the need inside of them. They grasp for solutions, not only in the physical world, but in the psychic and spiritual worlds as well. However, this need to reconnect with wholeness is met only when dharma governs a person’s life and they move in harmony with their innermost Self.

Bhagavat Dharma, our human dharma channels our restlessness towards the Great. When we do this, our unique human expression moves towards unity and wholeness. We align ourselves in perfect harmony with our inherent, natural state of being. Dharma is followed when you are in alignment with the natural laws of the universe, with the laws of the Divine Mother. When people find harmony with all that is, life becomes an expression of love, a seva, a service to others. One feels alignment with the Tao.

When you are in the flow of dharma towards the Divine, all that you have seen and known comes into a harmonious alignment and becomes directed towards your innermost Self rather than towards pleasures or worldly acquisitions. When dharma governs your life, the little sense of “I” melts away and is surrendered to the love that is unconditional, that is the larger Self. The pain of duality is dissolved in Moksha, liberation from ignorance, a movement from ego-centered pleasure seeking to selfless love in the flow of dharma. This movement towards unitary wholeness and liberation is the natural, essential flow of human life, inherent in your own being.
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Each person’s expression of this flow of dharma will be unique. You move on the path of dharma when your life becomes a flower offered to the Infinite. When you live in love with all beings and with honor and respect for all life, when you direct the restlessness and pain within to the one true Self, you move on the path of dharma. Let love flow in you and through you, in all that you do, all that you say and in all that you are. Then, following dharma, you live in harmony with the natural laws and in harmony with all life. This is knowledge of the Tao. 

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