Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 18, Verse 47

Contents

1 श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुण: परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् |
2 स्वभावनियतं कर्म कुर्वन्नाप्नोति किल्बिषम् ||
3 भावार्थ:
4 Translation

श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुण: परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् |

स्वभावनियतं कर्म कुर्वन्नाप्नोति किल्बिषम् ||

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

भावार्थ:

अच्छी प्रकार आचरण किए हुए दूसरे के धर्म से गुणरहित भी अपना धर्म श्रेष्ठ है, क्योंकि स्वभाव से नियत किए हुए स्वधर्मरूप कर्म को करता हुआ मनुष्य पाप को नहीं प्राप्त होता॥47॥

Translation

It is better to do one’s own dharma, even though imperfectly, than to do another’s dharma, even though perfectly. By doing one’s innate duties, a person does not incur sin.

English Translation Of Sri Shankaracharya’s Sanskrit Commentary By Swami Gambirananda

18.47 Svadharmah, one’s own duty; though vigunah, defective-the word though has to be supplied-; is sreyan, superior to, more praiseworthy than; paradharmat, another’s duty; su-anusthitat, well performed. Kurvan, by performing; karma, a duty; svabhavaniyatam, as dictated by one’s own nature-this phrase means the same as svabhavajam (born from Nature) which has been stated earlier-; na apnoti, one does not incur; kilbisam, sin. As poison is not harmful to a worm born it it, so one does not incur sin by performing a duty dictated by one’s own nature.

It has been siad that, as in the case of a worm born in poison, a person does not incur sin while performing his duties which have been dictated by his own nature; and that someone else’s duty is fraught with fear; also that, one who does not have the knoweldge of the Self, (he) surely cannot remain even for a moment without doing work (cf. 3.5). Hence-