Word meanings
- śreyān
- better
- swa-dharmaḥ
- one’s own prescribed occupational duty
- viguṇaḥ
- imperfectly done
- para-dharmāt
- than another’s dharma
- su-anuṣṭhitāt
- perfectly done
- svabhāva-niyatam
- according to one’s innate nature
- karma
- duty
- kurvan
- by performing
- na āpnoti
- does not incur
- kilbiṣam
- sin
Translations
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.
It is better to do one's own duty, however defective it may be, than to follow the duty of another, however well one may perform it. He who does his duty as his own nature reveals it, never commits a sin.
One's own duty, though defective, is superior to another's duty well performed. By performing a duty according to one's own nature, one does not incur sin.
अच्छी तरहसे अनुष्ठान किये हुए परधर्मसे गुणरहित अपना धर्म श्रेष्ठ है। कारण कि स्वभावसे नियत किये हुए स्वधर्मरूप कर्मको करता हुआ मनुष्य पापको प्राप्त नहीं होता।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)