Verse 18.47
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् ।
स्वभावनियतं कर्म कुर्वन्नाप्नोति किल्बिषम् ॥
Transliteration
śreyānsvadharmo viguṇaḥ paradharmātsvanuṣṭhitāt |
svabhāvaniyataṃ karma kurvannāpnoti kilbiṣam ||
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3
Translation
Better is one's own duty (though) destitute of merits, than the duty of another well performed. He who does the duty ordained by his own nature incurs no sin.
From the owner's sheet · +1 more
Better one's own dharma, though imperfect, than another's dharma well performed. Doing the work set by one's own nature, one incurs no fault.
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08 · +1 more
Word by word
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08
Explanation
Krishna repeats a teaching from earlier in the dialogue: one's own dharma (svadharma), even if imperfectly done, is better than another's dharma done well. Acting according to one's nature, one incurs no fault. For Arjuna this is pointed. He had thought of leaving the warrior's path for a renunciant's life. Krishna tells him that following a path that fits his own nature, even with its difficulties, is better than imitating another's.
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08