Bhagavad Gita · 18.44 · Yoga through the Perfection of Renunciation and Surrender·44 of 78
कृषिगौरक्ष्यवाणिज्यं वैश्यकर्म स्वभावजम्।परिचर्यात्मकं कर्म शूद्रस्यापि स्वभावजम् ॥
kṛiṣhi-gau-rakṣhya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśhya-karma
svabhāva-jam paricharyātmakaṁ karma śhūdrasyāpi svabhāva-jam
Sanskrit recitation
Honor your own dharma · 18.41–18.48 · Teaching
Translation
Agriculture, cattle-rearing, and trade are the duties of the Vaisya (merchant), born of their own nature; and service is the duty of the Sudra (servant-class), born of their own nature.
Meaning
When a man performs his duties rightly according to his caste and order of life his heart is purified and he goes to heaven. Apastambha Dharma Sutra declares, Men of severla,castes and orders, each devoted to his respective duties, reap the fruits of their actions after death, and then by the residual Karma attain to births in superior Dharma, span of life, learning, conduct, wealth, happiness and intelligence (2,2,2,3). There is a vivid description in the Puranas also of the different results and worlds which men of the four castes and orders obtain by discharging their respective duties.
After Swami Sivananda
Honor your own dharma· 18.41–18.48→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 18.41Of Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras, O Arjuna, the duties are distributed according to the qualities born of their own nature.
- 18.42Serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity, forgiveness, and uprightness, as well as knowledge, realization, and belief in God, are the duties of Brahmanas, born of their own nature.
- 18.43Prowess, splendor, firmness, dexterity, and not fleeing from battle, generosity, and lordliness are the duties of the Kshatriyas, born of their own nature.
18.44Agriculture, cattle-rearing, and trade are the duties of the Vaisya (merchant), born of their own nature; and service is the duty of the Sudra (servant-class), born of their own nature.
- 18.45Each person devoted to their own duty attains perfection. How they attain perfection while being engaged in their own duty, hear now.
- 18.46He from whom all the beings have evolved and by whom all this is pervaded, worshipping Him with his own duty, one attains perfection.
- 18.47Better is one's own duty, even if it is destitute of merits, than the duty of another well performed. He who does the duty ordained by his own nature incurs no sin.
- 18.48One should not, O Arjuna, abandon the duty to which one is born, though it may be faulty; for, all undertakings are enveloped by evil, just as fire is by smoke.
Word-by-word→
- api
- and
- karma
- duty
- vaiśhya
- of the mercantile and farming class
- ātmakam
- natural
- kṛiṣhi
- agriculture
- paricharyā
- serving through work
- vāṇijyam
- commerce
- śhūdrasya
- of the worker class
- gau-rakṣhya
- dairy farming
- svabhāva-jam
- born of one’s intrinsic qualities
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