AI Is Taking Jobs. Here Is What Spirituality Said 5000 Years Ago

“Better is one’s own dharma, even if imperfect, than the dharma of another performed perfectly.” This is what Krishna says in the Gita. If you have your own svadharma and you are not perfect in it, it is still better than following someone else’s dharma perfectly.

A Microsoft VP has said something that has caused a stir. According to the speaker, he said that AI agents will now also be charged per seat by software companies, just like human users. In the first three months of 2026, around 80,000 jobs have already been lost because of AI, and this statement shows, in a way, how AI is replacing humans. Software companies want to make profit. They will not shut down.

But what about the humans? What about those 80,000 people, and their families? And what about the jobs that will be lost in the coming days? There is panic in nearly every industry because of AI. People are asking how humans will earn money, and how a person will feed his family without a job.

Spirituality placed the answer before us 5000 years ago. And yet today we are still bound in our chains, because of our ego.

The problem: we identify with our jobs

Think for a moment about what happens in society. When parents have a child, it is decided right then what job the child will do, without asking him and without knowing what he is interested in. The fault is not that of the parents. The same thing happened to them, and to the people before them. For who knows how many years, our society has moved along one pattern.

The child grows up and is fed the idea from the start: “You have to become an engineer.” “You have to take a government job.” “You have to do UPSC.” And the child accepts that all of these things are his identity.

Ask someone with a job today, “What are you?” He says, “I am an engineer.” You have all seen profiles with “CA” or “Er.” before the name. Ask again and he says, “I am a lawyer,” or “I am a software developer.” It sounds impressive. But have you ever thought that a human being, whose capabilities are limitless, is identifying himself with a job role? He has forgotten his real nature and is not trying to find it, because society does not want him to. Forget recognising the real self, he does not even raise the question.

Out of this weakness, he identifies with things he really is not. And when that job is taken from his hands, he sees nothing except frustration and mental trauma. He sees no way forward. How would he? He has spent many years believing that his job is his identity, that it gives him respect in society and puts food on the plate at home. When someone snatches that identification away, how can he not suffer?

He would not even be mentally ready to understand the question “What is reality?” That is why cases of depression are rising, and why so many suicides are happening.

The solution: what you do is not who you are

The solution is to first understand that the work we do is not our identification.

Just as our body has organs such as hands, eyes and feet, in the language of spirituality we also have internal organs. There are four:

1. Mann (mind)
2. Buddhi (intellect)
3. Chitta (memory and impressions)
4. Ahankar (ego)

AI can copy your buddhi, your intelligence. But AI is not mann, and it is not chitta. AI does not have your experience. AI works on data sets.

“But what about money?”

Spirituality answers this too. First, a story.

There was a king. One Friday evening he decided to see what his people were doing. He had worked five days, and he had a weekend too. He was a good king, so on the weekend he stepped out of the palace to meet his people.

After he had gone some distance, he met a beggar. The king asked, “How did you become a beggar?” The beggar was strong and healthy, around 55 years old. The king was surprised that such a man could become a beggar. The beggar fell at his feet and said, “Maharaj, these shoes you are wearing, I used to make shoes like these. But now big companies have come. To make the shoes on your feet, they no longer need me. I did not understand what work to do, so I had no option left other than begging.”

The king felt great pity and gave him some money. The beggar was happy.

The king moved ahead in his BMW. He looked to his left and saw a wealthy man arriving in an Audi. The king lowered the window and saw, “Arre, this is the same man who used to do accounts work for us.” He told his driver to stop him and ask how he bought an Audi. “He must be doing something wrong.”

The man got out and bowed. The king asked, “Dhananna, how are you riding around in an Audi? You used to keep the accounts, didn’t you?”

Dhananna said, “Maharaj, when Tally came, I lost my job. But I had a great love for numbers. I enjoyed understanding them. So I went to Mumbai and joined the share market. I learned a little trading, and after learning I became a full-time trader. Then I learned new applications, and through those applications I started having people invest, and today I have everything.”

The king was amazed. He had never thought that a man who used to keep ledgers could become such a big expert in the share market, just because he was interested in numbers.

This is Svadharma

This is what is called svadharma. In the Gita, Shri Krishna has clearly said that whoever follows his svadharma, however many flaws or mistakes there may be in it, is always better than someone following another’s perfect dharma. You keep stumbling and learning, and because of that same svadharma you find success in life.

Spirituality says a human being has four purusharthas: Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. Within Dharma comes Svadharma. The biggest problem today is that we follow the boundaries set by society. That is why we do not recognise our svadharma, and why any new technology that comes can replace us.

Many people misunderstand svadharma. It does not mean professionalism or a job. It means swabhav (your nature) and niyati (your destiny). What are you interested in? Do you have leadership qualities? Do you like music? Do you have strategic qualities? Are you a creative person? When you use that nature within your circumstances, and work in line with it, you find success. Psychology calls this the flow state.

This is not a motivational message

This is about knowing the truth, looking within and understanding. Spirituality teaches us to see the truth clearly: are we walking because someone else told us to, or is this our svadharma and our nature? Every person’s nature can be different.

So if you want to succeed in the world of AI, you will have to follow your svadharma. Only then will you attain artha, which means money.

One last thing

When you know who you are, and you know that everything happening around you affects you only because it is affecting your ego, then as a drishta (witness), by knowing your true nature, you can avoid the sufferings that come in life.

That is why it is important to spread dharma and to be spiritual. Being spiritual does not mean chanting Ram’s name a million times a day. That chanting is important too, but along with it, karma (action) is also important. And what kind of action that should be, you have probably understood by now. So there is no need to be afraid.