Dear Friends,
Namaste!
How many times have we heard ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’. And we have also been saying that one must be ‘self’ish and that ‘Charity begins at home’. No matter how limited (or expanded) our notion of ‘self’ is, our persona (Body, Mind, Intellect) is an integral part of it and without the opportunity to recreate, rebuild and recharge this persona, we would hardly be able to discharge our “Swa-Dharma” on a sustainable basis.
To top it all, Lord Krishna has Himself stated quite explicitly the importance of “Yukta (Appropriate) Cheshta (Recreation)”. In other words, Lord Krishna has mandated the pursuance of a hobby as one of the four pillars of a Complete Life. (We have seen earlier that the other three pillars are “Yukta” diet (“Ahar”), routine (“Vihar”) and activities (“Karma”)). Our life must be built a day at a time on all of these four pillars and when we do this, very soon it becomes a structure as spell-binding as the Taj-Mahal!
But this raises several valid questions. First of all, if we are expected to perform “Swa-Dharma” at all times (and “Apad-Dharma” in emergencies), where is the time left to pursue a hobby? What is a hobby? Moreover, what hobby is appropriate to pursue? And how, indeed, is it different from “Swa-Dharma”?
Let’s go through the answers to these questions during the rest of this discussion:
1. When we say we have to follow “Dharma” at all times, does it mean we should not ‘waste’ time on ourselves (meaning our persona)?
Wrong! Take a machine for example. The “Dharma” of that machine is to produce goods. However, in order that the machine can produce excellent quality goods in large numbers over a long period of time, it is essential that the machine is well-oiled and overhauled from time to time. It cannot just keep doing production all the time until it completely breaks down. It has to develop, enhance, maintain and nurture its capacity to produce from time to time. We have seen that this principle has been described by Stephen Covey as the ‘P-PC balance’ (Production-Production Capacity balance) principle.
Our apparatus is like a machine. Therefore it behoves us that we develop, enhance, maintain and nurture its capacity to discharge “Dharma” by having a proper diet, routine and hobby.
Thus we see that the “Production” part of the P-PC principle is mapped to “Swa-Dharma/Apad-Dharma” and the “Production Capacity” part refers to proper diet, routine, exercise, rest and recreation.
In short, we must have our “private time” and must use it to recreate, rebuild and recharge our persona.
2. What is a hobby?
Hobby is our Aptitude, our “Guna-Dharma”, things we like (doing), stuff we take naturally and instinctively to! Normally people get tired after performing “work”. This wear and tear happens not only of our body but also of our mind (quite often the so-called tiredness arises more from our mind wearing out rather than the body!).
However, in case of hobby, the wear and tear may take place in our body (especially if the hobby is quite physical) but our mind gets refreshed. In fact the litmus test to know if something is our hobby or not is to experience how we feel after doing it. If our mind does not feel light and nourished after doing it, it’s not a hobby!
3. What is an “appropriate” hobby?
What is an appropriate hobby to pursue? For it to be a hobby, we must have the liking for it, aptitude for it, “Guna-Dharma” for it. And for our hobby to be classified as ‘appropriate’, it must not disturb others, disrupt life. In other words,it must not be in conflict with “Samanya-Dharma”!
Therefore we see that our hobby to pursue is an intersection between our “Guna-Dharma” and “Samanya-Dharma”.
4. So what is the difference between an “appropriate” hobby and “Swa-Dharma”?
“Swa-Dharma” is an intersection among our Aptitude, Altitude and Amplitude. Whereas a good hobby is an intersection between our Aptitude and Amplitude only. What this means is, we do not have to be experts to pursue a hobby (although we may get formally trained!). Unlike while performing “Swa-Dharma”, we are not paying back our “Rishi Rina” while pursuing our hobby. It is just for “us” as in for refurbishing our persona.
There are some lucky folks among us for whom hobby and profession coincide! These souls regenerate themselves through their work! In fact, work is no more “work” for them; it is their passion, mission, breath! Not all are so lucky as these highly evolved human beings and therefore it is perfectly natural and acceptable to have a hobby that is separate from our profession.
The attached diagram highlights commonalities and differences among various “Dharma” types.
Be ‘Hobby’tual...
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