श्रेयान् स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात् स्वनुष्ठितात् । स्वभावनियतं कर्म कुर्वन् नाप्नोति किल्बिषम् ॥
śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt sv-anuṣṭhitāt | svabhāva-niyataṃ karma kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam ||
One's own dharma even imperfectly done is better than another's well done; svabhāva-ordained karma incurs no sin.
Word by word (3)
- śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt sv-anuṣṭhitāt
- — one's own dharma (sva-dharmo) even if deficient/imperfect (viguṇaḥ = without-merits, poorly-done) is better/superior (śreyān) than the dharma of another (para-dharma) well-performed (su-anuṣṭhitāt = excellently-performed, from su + anu + ṣṭhā = well-executed)
- svabhāva-niyataṃ karma kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam
- — performing (kurvan = doing) the karma ordained/fixed by one's own nature (svabhāva-niyatam = svabhāva-fixed, natural-duty), one does not incur/obtain (na āpnoti) sin/evil (kilbiṣam = fault, sin) — the freedom-from-sin guarantee for svadharma
- svabhāva-niyatam
- — fixed/ordained by one's own nature (svabhāva = own-nature; niyata = fixed, regulated, ordained); when karma arises from svabhāva (natural aptitude/constitution), it has a qualitatively different relationship with the actor than para-dharma; svabhāva-niyata karma is the karma that aligns with who one IS — hence no kilbiṣa (sin/fault), because the action is authentic to one's nature
Better is one's own dharma though imperfectly performed than another's dharma well performed. Performing the karma ordained by one's own nature, one incurs no sin.
A modern analogy
V47 echoes Ch.3 V35 word-for-word almost. A gifted natural healer who haltingly practices medicine is better than a gifted natural healer who brilliantly performs law — because the medical work is svabhāva-niyata (ordained by their nature) and the legal work is not. The 'imperfect' here is not the imperfection of laziness or bad intention — it is the natural imperfection of a developing practitioner doing their authentic work.
V47 restates Ch.3 V35 in slightly different language (viguṇaḥ instead of v-anuṣṭhita). The repetition in Ch.18 is not accidental: Krishna ends the teaching where he began it in Ch.3 — svadharma over para-dharma. The Gita frames this as the closing practical teaching before the path to mokṣa is outlined. V47 also adds something new relative to Ch.3 V35: svabhāva-niyataṃ karma kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam — svabhāva-ordained action = no sin. This is the freedom guarantee that comes from authentic alignment.
Kilbiṣam (sin/fault) is avoided not by the moral quality of the action itself, but by the alignment of the action with svabhāva. A warrior who kills in battle incurs no kilbiṣa because killing is svabhāva-niyata (ordained by his nature as a kṣatriya protecting dharma). A brāhmaṇa who kills in the same battle would incur kilbiṣa because it violates his svabhāva-niyata dharma. This is not moral relativism — it is the recognition that sin arises from violation of one's dharmic constitution, not from the abstract nature of the act.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Better is one's own duty though destitute of merits, than the duty of another well performed. Doing the duty ordained according to nature one incurs no sin. [1]
Better is one's own Dharma, (though) imperfect than the Dharma of another well-performed. He who does the duty ordained by his own nature incurs no evil. [4]
MISSING from index. [9]
Better is one's own duty though performed faultily than another's duty well-performed. Performing the duty prescribed by one's own nature, one incurs no sin. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Even yajña-dāna-tapas must be performed having abandoned attachment and fruits — my settled, highest opinion.
Do not abandon one's innate duty even if imperfect — all undertakings are enveloped by fault as fire by smoke.
Therefore: do your required action without attachment — this is the path that leads to the Supreme.
By bhakti one truly knows what and who I am; then knowing Me truly, one enters into Me immediately.
Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
All actions are done by the gunas of nature. The ego-deluded one thinks 'I am the doer' — this is the root of bondage.