Bhagavad Gita · 18.47 · Yoga through the Perfection of Renunciation and Surrender·47 of 78
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात्।स्वभावनियतं कर्म कुर्वन्नाप्नोति किल्बिषम् ॥
śhreyān swa-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt
sv-anuṣhṭhitāt svabhāva-niyataṁ karma kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣham
Sanskrit recitation
Honor your own dharma · 18.41–18.48 · Teaching
Translation
Better 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.
Meaning
Just as a poisonous substance does not harm the worm born in that substance, so he who does his Svadharma (the duty ordained according to his own nature) does not incur any sin.What is poison to the whole world is sweet to a worm and yet sugarcane juice that is sweet causes its death. So a mans appointed duty which frees him from bondage must, therefore, be practised however difficult it may seem to be. If you try to do the duty of another it will bring,danger. He who has no knowledge of the Self cannot remain even for a moment without doing action. (Cf.III.35)
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→
- karma
- duty
- kurvan
- by performing
- śhreyān
- better
- na āpnoti
- does not incur
- kilbiṣham
- sin
- viguṇaḥ
- imperfectly done
- para-dharmāt
- than another’s dharma
- swa-dharmaḥ
- one’s own prescribed occupational duty
- svabhāva-niyatam
- according to one’s innate nature
- su-anuṣhṭhitāt
- perfectly done
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