There is the duty of kings and the duty of subjects. There are different ideas of duty for every kind of man, suited to his individual stage of evolution. According to a man's ability to receive instruction, so should be his response to his measure of dharma. The fulfilment of one's own inner nature, in whatever sphere it may be functioning, is dharma.

Another word for dharma is harmony and harmony is caused by striking the right note at the right time and in the approved manner. To recognize the power to strike these notes consciously we become acquainted with our conditioned nature. The nature of the thoughts, the substance of the desires, the character of the emotions and the manner of the response of the senses to outside stimuli: these are the essential indicators for our guidance.

In every grade of nature, the fulfilment of the highest in that grade prepares for another step yet higher.

Our true nature is Spirit, or God, but our search for that realization has to start from where we stand at this very moment. An example has been given of a very lazy farm labourer whom we wish to awaken to a sense of his natural duties. What shall we do? Will it quicken his higher sense if we tell him of the indescribable nature of the supreme God who rules over all the universes in His infinite love? No! Our imagination easily tells us that such an appeal would be above his present intelligence. In this case, we meet him by urging upon him that his wife and children, whom he dearly loves, are starving. This may reach his sensibility just where he stands at that moment and it may rouse him to action. If he fulfils his duty, which is plainly his dharma, he fits himself for something higher than he has yet accomplished. The outer stimulus is made through the senses.

Before God can be known in realization, man first learns about Him in the conditioned. How is this done?

The lessons are learnt first through his thoughts. What kind of thoughts occupy me all day? What is man? What is his purpose on the earth? What kind of desires chiefly hold me? Are my desires for gratification of sense, for ambitious schemes, or for God alone? Then through the emotions. What is their character? What stirs me most deeply? Is it, for example, an injury done to myself, or a beautiful piece of music? These are the pointers to indicate to a soul examining his own conditioned nature where he stands at this moment. No man can learn this from another, or by imitating his neighbour. He must recognize his own innerness for himself. Every plant, tree, bird, rock and flower displays itself, and that is its reason for being.

Do not let us shrink from this task of examination even though we may find so many things we do not wish to acknowledge. Let us be true to what we find, even if it be the ugliness of jealousy, envy, hatred, malice, evil-speaking and selfishness. Let us acknowledge what we find to ourselves truthfully. Turning to the Lord with our findings and, pouring them out, let us say with the Psalmist, "O Lord, my only hope is in Thee!"

It is important to do this before your meditations. Make the offering of yourself, then forget all about the little conditioned self and repeat the text of the meditation which you intend to dwell upon. Rest in it and finally become lost in it. In brief:

1. Acknowledge your predominating qualities.
2. Foster the earnest desire to be rid of all the lower calls of your nature.
3. Repudiate their power over you by repeating again and again throughout the day, "My body is not my Self, my mind is not my Self, God alone is the real Self."

This is the path of Yoga. According to our ability to receive instruction and the response we make to it, so is the measure of our dharma. In the Bhagavad Gita, again and again, the importance is stressed of performing our own particular duty. Thus we unfold the real life in dharma. Working with dharma quickens the individual stage of our evolution.

Let us turn now to the cosmic law of nature, for it is one and the same life which runs through both the individual and the cosmic. It is from the great cosmic law that we learn the great lessons of patience and maturity, and some of the subtlest problems of morality can be dealt with on this principle. Right and wrong are relative terms in the conditioned universe. The Absolute is the Lord alone.

The transcendence of all limitations is accomplished by these steps :

1. Know your nature.
2. Discipline that nature and do not let it enslave you.
3. Live in the centre of your highest being. Meditate, meditate, meditate.

Everything that lives is for the shining forth of God's glory. This is the real dharma.