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श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात्।स्वभावनियतं कर्म कुर्वन्नाप्नोति किल्बिषम्।।18.47।।

śhreyān swa-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt sv-anuṣhṭhitāt svabhāva-niyataṁ karma kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣham

Sanskrit Chant Recitation
Chapter 18, Verse 47
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Scripture Translation Room

Sanskrit to English Translation

Translator:
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.

A Reading - Rantideb

Why: better is one's own duty, though imperfectly performed, than the duty of another well performed, one does not incur sin by performing the duty prescribed by one's own nature, restating the earlier chapter's core teaching about the risks of chasing someone else's better-performed path instead of your own.

In life: doing your own genuinely suited work imperfectly is actually a more solid, sustainable foundation than doing someone else's better-suited work well, since the second path tends to eventually reveal a fundamental mismatch that undermines even apparent success.

Teaching: if you're currently succeeding at work that doesn't actually fit your own genuine temperament, take this verse's warning seriously, this chapter treats imperfect performance in your own suited path as more solid ground than success in someone else's.

śhreyānbetter
swa-dharmaḥone’s own prescribed occupational duty
viguṇaḥimperfectly done
para-dharmātthan another’s dharma
su-anuṣhṭhitātperfectly done
svabhāva-niyatamaccording to one’s innate nature
karmaduty
kurvanby performing
na āpnotidoes not incur
kilbiṣhamsin

Deep Classical Commentary (Bhashya)

Author:
18.47 श्रेयान् better? स्वधर्मः ones own duty? विगुणः (though) destitute of merits? परधर्मात् that the duty of another? स्वनुष्ठितात् (than) well performed? स्वभावनियतम् ordained by his own nature? कर्म action? कुर्वन् doing? न not? आप्नोति (he) incurs? किल्बिषम् sin.Commentary 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)