Hey, true calling, where are you?
We surveyed the Swadharma community and asked them what do they feel about their true calling? Have they arrived? How near, how far? After all, it’s the hero headline of Swadharma.
Since this was asked across 8 batches spread over a span of 4 years to 6 months after the finish of the programme, the average time since Swadharma for the survey respondents is 2 years. The phrasing of the question was as below.
Swadharma’s tagline is “Find your true calling”. How is it playing out in your journey?
My learnings from Swadharma are my driving factors — therefore I’m coming closer to my true calling each day.
I have made changes to my career after Swadharma and these are to some degree in line with what I may have discovered there. So I feel the tagline works.
I think I have found my calling. And that it is to be of service to nature and the Natural World. That calling was already alive in me before Swadharma. Swadharma acted like a catalyst to reveal it. And some further digging after Swadharma confirmed that this is what I want to dedicate the foreseeable future of my life to.
I think I am headed there. Still finding this as I go but on the path!
I think I am still trying to figure that out. I think the Young India Fellowship that played another big role in this. But again as a stepping stone. I am still trying to figure it out…maybe it might take a couple of years or maybe it might take a whole life time.
Very well
I do feel like I have taken my first few steps in this direction, more to follow.
Fantastically.
I am not sure of the true calling, but I feel like I am definitely on a very initial phase to my calling.
Not well. I’m improved in a lot of ways, but ‘true calling’ is too much pressure too soon.
True calling is something you may or may not find ‘during’ the program. But you do set forth in the right path after it and it does open you up to embrace different perspectives and opportunities.
I think I am getting closer.
I don’t think it’s possible to find one’s true calling in 6 weeks. Swadharma gave me certain tools and skills to help me find my true calling, which I continue to try and do.
I don’t believe that there is such a thing as “true calling” i.e. that there is one specific thing that people are meant to do. A person can find satisfaction in several different lines of work, and being focused on only a single line of work can be harmful.
I feel this tagline can be replaced by “Join us to know Yourself” as this programme does not only help in finding True calling, but also give a lot to the student beyond true calling like mentioned as Peace, Happiness, Sense of Responsibility, knowing about ourself.
No idea
I don’t think I was able to find my true calling, but I have definitely been able to prepare myself better to find my gift/ passion in life.
In my journey, I do feel like I have found my calling. It’s a general sense of direction and purpose that excites me each day to grow and move forward. It’s specific manifestation ( music career, educator, healer ) I think will continuously evolve and keep changing. But I feel deeply connected to my heart’s calling and following it without compromise.
My personal tagline for Swadharma will be “Find your inner peace” because that’s what it has been for me.
Though one of the most valuable insights I have gained through Swadharma is how much I value Simplicity. I could say that is my true calling.
I currently look at my true calling, like happiness, as not the goal but a by-product of the right mindsets and actions. Thus, in that context, choosing Masters in Cognitive Science has been extremely rewarding. For the first time I haven’t been planning too far ahead in the future. Rather, I’m dealing with what I have to learn here and now. I don’t know if being a Cognitive Scientist is my ultimate calling, but this master feels like the thing I should be doing currently.
It was surely a transformative experience — At this point I believe it’s about my priorities, hence not being able to completely follow my true calling.
My true calling is to be authentic, kind, assertive and empathetic to people around me as well as with myself.
That is perfect , as we get so busy in listening and following what others say that we lose our own voice with which we were born, to recognize and find the true calling Swadharma plays a major role
I am simplifying, I am cutting the noise.
I feel that even though I may know my calling, I do not feel confident in running towards it.
Swadharma sowed a seed.
The journey shifted to a pilgrimage.
Keep calling -recalling your true findings :))
While I’m sure many people who go through this program do in fact find their true calling, to me that wasn’t the point going in and it’s also not what I received coming out.
For me, the point was essentially to find peace with myself through deepening self-knowledge and awareness and therefore acceptance. From there, I received precious clarity on my guiding values, on my conditioning and programming, and on what general direction I intend to head in from here. But the pressure to find one’s true calling is too much for me.
Each day I’m understanding my behaviours and where they come from, feel like I’m in constant communication with myself and I’m trying to understand those fears and trying to get away from those fears towards my core values.
It holds true in my experience. It did help me find my true calling.
It took me more than 5 week to find my true calling which I’m still exploring.
I’m not there yet completely but I feel like my journey has begun and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead for me.
My true calling was already there within me, but I was not sure if it was really mine. Swadharma confirmed my true calling.
For me, the more I try finding it, the more lost I get. I realized there’s nothing to find. I don’t see it as truly finding and following my passion or calling, now I think of it as carrying my passion with me. It’s more about being open and receptive for me.
I feel like we all know our true calling but just need to uncover it, stop getting afraid and just keep moving in the direction of the inner guidance. I have been following the inner voice since past few years and I am happy that I am doing so. Although I still feel lost most of the time but deep down under I know that I am confident and much more stable.
I don’t know how to answer this one yet :)
Well it’s given me the means to get a bit closer but to finds one calling is a lifelong process and I’m up for the challenge.
I am living a life with my purpose in mind, and being part of the community always reminds me of that.
Perfectly describes my journey.
It feels like a huge exploration and still I feel I have taken only baby steps.
This survey question was part of an ongoing impact study of the Swadharma programme. More to follow.
About Swadharma Programme
Swadharma offers young seekers — aged 18 to 30 — an opportunity to embark on a transformative learning journey with the goal of self-discovery in the context of Auroville. The process of self-discovery is a lifelong process and we are only setting in motion the beginning of the journey. The programme has been designed as a five-week-long multi-disciplinary foundation programme with an option for a self-directed internship in Auroville after five weeks. The duration of stay after the programme is left to the learners to decide depending on their convenience.
