Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3, Verse 35

Chapter 3 – Karma Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् ।
स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः ॥

Transliteration

śreyānsvadharmo viguṇaḥ paradharmātsvanuṣṭhitāt .
svadharme nidhanaṃ śreyaḥ paradharmo bhayāvahaḥ ॥

Meaning

One's own dharma, though imperfect, is better than another's dharma well performed. Death in one's own dharma is better; another's dharma brings fear.

Word meanings

श्रेयान् – better, superior
स्वधर्मः – one's own dharma
विगुणः – imperfect, lacking merit
परधर्मात् – than another's dharma
सु-अनुष्ठितात् – well performed
स्वधर्मे – in one's own dharma
निधनम् – death
श्रेयः – better
परधर्मः – another's dharma
भयावहः – fraught with fear

Anvaya (word order)

विगुणः स्वधर्मः स्वनुष्ठितात् परधर्मात् श्रेयान्; स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः; परधर्मः भयावहः ।

Explanation

"Better is one's own dharma, though imperfectly done, than the dharma of another well performed. Better is death in one's own dharma; the dharma of another brings fear." This is one of the best-loved sayings of the Gita, and it answers a very human temptation: to envy another person's role, talents or path and to abandon one's own.

Svadharma means one's own duty, rooted in one's nature, station and responsibilities. Vigunah, "lacking in merit" or "imperfect", admits that our own path may feel clumsy, that we may do it poorly at times. Para-dharma, the dharma of another, may look shining and effortless, svanushthitat, "well performed" by that other person. Yet the Lord says the clumsy-but-own is better. Why? Because the dharma of another is not fitted to our inner make-up, and practising it breeds fear, bhayavaha, for it is built on borrowed ground.

Shankara explains that for a person, a duty laid down for his own order of society is to be preferred even when marked by minor flaws, because the duties of another, even well done, are forbidden and become a source of sin and fear; at the same time he points out that this holds for actions and not for knowledge of the Self. Ramanuja understands svadharma as the prescribed worship appropriate to one's station, which should not be abandoned for another's, because the Lord has ordained it for each. Madhva also treats it as the course of action fitted to one's own qualification.

Many readers understand svadharma more widely, as the calling that fits one's temperament. A natural teacher who forces himself into a career of accounting for the sake of prestige may succeed outwardly and still wither. A farmer's daughter who copies a city life with no root may be anxious. The Gita does not say that people should never change their work, only that they should not leave their deepest nature behind out of envy or fear.

For Arjuna the verse is a direct answer: his nature and station are those of a warrior, and to flee into the life of a forest hermit, however glamorous, would not suit him. Compare 2.31 to 2.33 on the kshatriya's duty, and 18.45 to 18.48, where each person is said to attain perfection by devoting himself to his own work, and where the same teaching is repeated almost word for word. The verse also leads on directly to Arjuna's question in 3.36, "By what is a person impelled to sin?"

Context

After speaking of avoiding raga-dvesha in 3.34, the Lord extols svadharma. From this arises Arjuna's next question (3.36): why, then, does a person commit sin even against his wish?

Life lesson

Instead of copying others' success, choose a path in keeping with your own nature, ability and duty. An imperfect but honest path of your own is safer and more fruitful than a perfect borrowed one.

Key terms

Svadharma: one's own natural and assigned duty
Paradharma: another's duty or path
Viguna: imperfect, lacking in merit