[Caliwany]

Hammer and others might enjoy reading this short commencement speech presented by, I presume, the #1 student in the Spring 2008 graduating class at University of Puget Sound. She talks about the meaning of "dharma" to her fellow graduating class and what it means to her and to them as they go out into the "real" world. Pretty interesting speech.


Commencement :: Class Speaker: Rachel Gross '08


To me, it is interesting that a non-Hindu Westerner can find so much meaning in Bhagvad-Gita and then be able to share it with her fellow non-Hindu Westerners. I guess it's just very rare in conservative Texas but may be more common elsewhere. I'm also ambivalent about what many Hindus say about the Gita and about other spiritual knowledge of Hinduism such as yoga, that it isn't just for Hindus and that it is a universal knowledge applicable to non-Hindus too...all that's fine from the inclusive spiritual Hindu perspective but doesn't explain the advent of Jewish yoga and Christian yoga because those religions never had yoga until now and they're much more rigid religions.

[sportlife]

The link isn't working for me. Can you fix it?

How'd'ya know I like me some good-old-time comparative religion?

[Teareerah]

well, that's why I like to post the whole article instead of just the link...the links often go dead after a few days...if you're lucky to get even a few days.

I've contacted Univ. of Puget Sound media relations to see whether they can e-mail me a copy of the text. If they do, I'll post it here.

[Derrida]

Cool. I'll be on the lookout.

[Sttim]

Got it this morning as a WORD attachment. So I will just copy/paste it right here in full:

Do you know what you are doing tomorrow? What about during the summer? What about next year? While there is a lot of pressure on us to be able to answers those kinds of questions right now, pressure from both ourselves and our parents and our friends, I want to suggest that it really doesn’t matter. Not that you can’t have a plan that starts tomorrow morning, but for most of us, nothing is set. The most exciting part about graduation is the freedom that comes with that lack of concrete plans.

In my Connections core class this year, I had the chance to make actual connections between the world and my class material. We read the Bhagavad-Gita, a philosophical Hindu text that offered a commentary on how to create your own path in the world. As I understand it from my secular and Western and therefore limited perspective, the god Krishna explains dharma, a Sanskrit word meaning sacred duty, to the warrior Arjuna who is faced with a dilemma and does not know how to make a decision. Krishna explains that dharma is the sacred duty you have to yourself to find your own direction and follow it. Arjuna’s dharma, just like each of ours, is unique. Krishna explains to Arjuna, and by extension, to us, that it is better to follow our own path, no matter the struggles, than to follow someone else’s.



Krishna’s message to you, the UPS graduating class of 2008, would be that no matter where each of us goes next year, there is no judgment. We should not necessarily be in grad school or med school or off in France on a Fulbright, though if that is where our dharma takes us, that’s great. There is no need to tell inquiring minds, perhaps the ones with you here today, that you are taking a year off. There can be no such thing as taking a year off from your own life, from your own dharma.

The Bhagavad Gita suggests that finding and following your own individualized path, your own dharma, means that you keep your life, your society, and the entire universe in order. There is a dharma for each of us Loggers, and here we have been able to follow our own path, on our own timeline, no matter what that might be.
I don’t want to suggest that UPS has prepared us for finding our dharma; instead, the university has given us the tools to prepare ourselves. And that cycle is already in motion. We have been living life here, not just preparing for it. Freshman year we chose our friends and the type of theme housing we wanted. Later on we chose our majors—we picked Business or German or combined majors or created our own. Our dharma, just like our majors, has been ours to find and to shape.



Another idea that Krishna explains to Arjuna is the danger of attachment to the fruit of the action, to the reward or outcome at the end of the journey. Maybe we have the image in our minds of where we should be in 5 years. But imaging a position or a salary rather than the path to get there means we are focusing on a fleeting prize rather than the years of our life that could slip away by waiting. UPS students, by virtue of their choice to attend a liberal arts university, already understand the importance of the journey. None of us came to Puget Sound with the express idea of getting a serviceable degree and getting out. Liberal arts mean cello lessons along with international relations. It means building rainwater collection gardens on campus, not just reading about them. It means competing on a volleyball team that goes to nationals while being able to put schoolwork first. Our four years here would not have been so full of memories of study abroad in New Zealand or belly-dancing at RDG if we were focused only on the fruit of UPS, the diplomas we will receive today.


When we focus on the journey rather than the fruits of action in the search for dharma, it does not mean we are foregoing direction. UPS students are not fickle if their plans for tomorrow and the next day change. Instead, it just means their dharma lies elsewhere. The university embraces the idea of UPS students going in any direction--maybe guiding whitewater rafting trips or sewing life-size strawberry suits. Even though we walked into Baker Stadium in straight lines, there are no straight lines that lead away from the commencement ceremony. We can rethink our dharma at any moment. The student going to an MBA program is no better than the student traveling to Cameroon. We have to let go of the viewpoint that there is a place we need to end up. Post-graduation plans, no matter how often you repeat them to your grandparents, are still only plans. That means they can change. That means anyone here, not just graduating seniors, can decide that their dharma actually points in a different direction.

Now UPS might not share the idea of cosmic destiny embraced by Hinduism, but both our university and the Bhagavad Gita support the idea of a path rather than a destination. We cannot arrive at that perfect job or apartment or fellowship without traveling first. Life doesn’t start today when we throw our caps into the air or next week when we start new jobs. Life has already begun, and we already made choices that brought us here. The question is, where do you want your dharma to take you next?

[NanoKakadze]

I like the speech! It's good and inspirational!

But note that the concepts of "karma" and "dharma" (etc.) presented in it were not the concepts as they truly are, but rather the common Western stereotypes of them. It is hard for a Westerner to wrap his mind around Indian thought, and just as hard for an Indian his mind around that of the West. Cultural clash is evinced here.

It is an excellent piece for a work by a student, and uses a number of rhetorical techniques that are not the easiest to master as well. I suspect she probably took a religion class or was interested in religion or something to that effect, as well as a public speaking course.

Thanks for posting!

[Larisochka]

Wow, that's great. Thanks for sharing!