there is so much attachment to a body, a name and a specific identity, one cannot evolve in a single day or in a single step to a stage where one does not identify with anything (and becomes liberated). There can be several steps depending on the force of previous mental conditioning.
One possibility is to attach oneself to a larger cause and overcome the over-attachment to the body, name and specific identity. Anything that lessens the mind's attachment to the body, name and specific identity is helpful in the short run. Suppose one is so dedicated to one's country (or to a cause such as spreading Yoga or spreading praanaayaama or spreading Jyotisha) that one ignores comfort of body and starts to live and breathe that cause. It is helpful in overcoming the attachment to the limited self-identity.
However, in the long run, even attachment to a country or attachment to a cause such as spreading Yoga or Jyotisha blocks one from liberation. However, attachment to bigger and more abstract causes like them is easier to let go than attachment to a seemingly concrete and specific identity such as a body. So, devoting oneself to country or to a cause and working hard on it is a step in the right direction.
It all depends on what debts you have and what stage of spiritual evolution you are at. For a person close to liberation, there is no need to bind further by attaching oneself to a cause, however noble it may be. For someone else, however, attachment to a cause is a step towards liberation.
Suppose you are climbing a mountain. You need mountaineering gear, supplies for many days etc. You start with a heavy load on your back. As you get higher and higher, you may consider throwing away things and reducing your load. But, if you start throwing away your supplies in the beginning itself, you will not make to the top. You will run out of supplies in the middle itself.
Similarly, forming attachment with working for a country, working for a cause, devotion to a god, devotion to a person, a ritual such as homam, a mantra etc are like loads you carry which help you climb the mountain. When you are closer to the top and the supplies become a load, you can consider throwing them away. But you need them to survive and climb in the beginning.
Dharma
As Vimalananda says, dharma is indeed personal. Krishna clearly says in Bhagavad Geeta "Follow your own dharma. It is dangerous to follow someone else's dharma".
Following the path of dharma basically means engaging in the right action/duty. Right action varies from person to person, from time to time and from place to place. It is dependent on what nature expects from you, which in turn is based on who you have been in the past, what actions you did in the past while identifying with the action, who you affected in the past (and how) with the actions that you identified with, what debts you created in the process, and what mental tendencies you accumulated until now. If, based on one's mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to kill evil persons,that becomes one's dharma. If, based on one's mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to spread the message of uniformity of all religions,that becomes one's dharma. If, based on one's mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to spread the ritual of homam in the world,that
becomes one's dharma. If, based on one's mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to make a lot of money and construct a temple,that becomes one's dharma.
The dharma of a being may change from one life to another. At the time of Mahabharata war, it was Arjuna's dharma to kill his gurus, elders and relatives. The time then was such that there was too much weight on earth and nature wanted earth to be relieved of some weight. Tremendous destruction was to take place and civilization destroyed to a great extent, to welcome Kali yuga and set the tone for it. Arjuna being a great warrior, it was his dharma to facilitate that. Some people he deeply loved and respected were on the other side and it was his dharma to kill them.
When the same Arjuna was born again in the 19th century as one of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's sishyas (Swami Yogananda had been Arjuna in a previous life, according to Ramakrishna), his dharma was different in this new time and place. He was born to renounce material life despite his aristocratic upbringing and live the simple life of a monk and inspire generations to embrace a simple life of mental detachment and service to others. When he is born again (which he has to, as per what Ramakrishna said), his dharma based on the time and place may be something else.
The tricky question is: How does one decide what is one's dharma?
Some people have interpreted Krishna's words saying "follow your own dharma and not someone else's dharma" in the light of castism. Though the concept of caste (varna) has been there in Hinduism for a long time, the concept of caste mobility was very much there. Valmiki was a shudra who lived by killing birds. He became a brahmana and a maharshi later. Vishwamitra was a kshatrita and a powerful king. He became a brahmana and and a maharshi later. Basically varna shows one's aptitude. One starts off with the varna of father, because that is what one is exposed to in childhood. As one develops in life, one gets one's own varna based on what one does.
Thus, the misinterpretation of Krishna's words which tells you to know your dharma from your caste is wrong. Moreover, there are not just 4 dharmas in the world. Each person has individual dharma. Knowing what one's dharma is is very very very difficult. If one is pure enough, one will *know* one's dharma. In fact, all of us have a part of our mind that tells us what our dharma is, but it is surrounded by a lot of noise from other parts of our minds which tell other things. Thus, we get confused.
We should make the best judgment combining discrimination and intuition and decide what is our dharma and follow it sincerely. We may be err, but doing the best we can is all that we can do!
More than following dharma, what is of utmost importance is to engage in actions without identification. *That* alone ensures that we are not accumulating new karmas, i.e. not increasing the load. We should not build too much attachment to what we are doing. We should engage in the best possible actions (based on our best judgment on what our dharma in the given situation is), with as little attachment and self-identification with the action as possible. When the action is finished, we should leave the result to god. We should not think "I did it", "what will happen now", "will it work" etc. Such adherence of nishkama karma yoga (unfication through untached action) will simplify our ego and purify our consciousness slowly. As we become purer, our mind will work sharper and tell our dharma clearer.
There is a positive feedback here. This will slowly enable us to see our dharma clearly and follow it without incurring new karmas. This is not easy, but not as difficult as people think.
The bottomline is: Even if one is not following one's dharma, one's sense of "this is my dharma" gets refined with time if one engages in action with little attachment.
In deciding one's dharma, one's intellect and intuition are the inputs. Another external input is the words of scriptures and learned men. One can derive one's dharma from them. A special place is given to one's spiritual master. If one surrenders to a spiritual master, one can take the words of the master to determine one's dharma and follow it sincerely.
When Arjuna was confused about what his dharma was and thought killing gurus and relatives was not dharma, he had a guru in Krishna who clarified his dharma. When Narendranath (Swami Vivekananda) was confused about his dharma and wanted to renounce the world and go to a secluded place to do sadhana, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa cried and prevailed upon him to stay in the material world and do the work of Mother for him.
One who is not in tune with nature and does not know who one is, what one's debts are and what nature expects from one can err in the judgment of what one's dharma is. If one's guru is an elevated soul with a clear insight into one's inner core, such a guru can give perfect guidance.
Bottomline is that I (or anybody) cannot outline a set of principles and declare that as the dharma. No, dharma changes from person to person, from time to time and from place to place. Also, there are no thumbrules to find out what one's dharma is. But, one can refine one's understanding of one's dharma by increasing internal purity. By doing various kinds of spiritual sadhana (like homam, japam etc) and engaging in actions without much attachment, one can slowly purify oneself and refine one's understanding of one's individual dharma.
Q. I did not understand one line of your post. You said during the time of Mahabhrata