सहजं कर्म कौन्तेय सदोषम् अपि न त्यजेत् । सर्वारम्भा हि दोषेण धूमेनाग्निर् इवावृताः ॥
saha-jaṃ karma kaunteya sa-doṣam api na tyajet | sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa dhūmenāgnir ivāvṛtāḥ ||
Do not abandon one's innate duty even if imperfect — all undertakings are enveloped by fault as fire by smoke.
Word by word (3)
- saha-jaṃ karma kaunteya sa-doṣam api na tyajet
- — the karma born-with-oneself (saha-jam = born-together, innate; saha = with + ja = born = born-simultaneously with the person) even (api) if with faults (sa-doṣam = sa + doṣa = with-fault, imperfect), one should not abandon (na tyajet = should not let go), O son of Kuntī (Kaunteya, Arjuna)
- sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa dhūmenāgnir ivāvṛtāḥ
- — for (hi) all undertakings/initiatives (sarva-ārambhāḥ = all beginnings/commencements) are enveloped (āvṛtāḥ = covered, from ā + vṛ = to cover) by evil/fault (doṣeṇa) as (iva) fire (agniḥ) is by smoke (dhūmena) — the universally applicable simile: all action has inherent imperfection, as all fire produces smoke
- dhūmena agniḥ iva āvṛtāḥ
- — covered by smoke as fire is; the agni-dhūma (fire-smoke) simile is precise: you cannot have fire (action/result) without smoke (imperfection/doṣa); trying to do svadharma perfectly is like trying to have fire without smoke — impossible; the proper response is: accept that all karma has doṣa (smoke), keep doing the karma (keep the fire burning), do not abandon the fire because of the smoke
One should not abandon one's innate duty, O son of Kuntī, even though it has faults; for all undertakings are enveloped by faults as fire by smoke.
A modern analogy
Every honest profession has its occupational faults. Doctors cause pain. Warriors cause death. Farmers kill insects. Merchants profit from others' needs. These are the 'smokes' of the respective 'fires' of svadharma. V48 says: do not use these inevitable faults as reasons to abandon your innate calling. The smoke does not negate the fire — it is an inevitable companion of the fire.
V48 adds an important dimension to V47's 'do your svadharma': even svadharma has faults (sa-doṣam). This prevents a naive idealization of svadharma. The reason to persist despite faults is universal: sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa āvṛtāḥ (all actions are covered by fault). There is no such thing as faultless action in the relative world of Prakṛti. If waiting for perfect action before proceeding, one would never act. V47 gives the principle (svadharma over para-dharma), V48 gives the persistence injunction (despite faults, do not abandon).
Saha-jam (born-together-with-the-self) is stronger than svabhāva-niyatam (ordained by nature). Saha-jam emphasizes that this duty was born with the person — it is constitutive of their identity, not merely appropriate to their nature. To abandon saha-ja karma is to abandon a part of oneself. This is why it should not be abandoned even when faulty: the doṣa belongs to the action's natural condition, not to the actor's fundamental orientation.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
The duty born with oneself, O son of Kunti, though faulty, one ought not to abandon; for, all undertakings are surrounded with evil, as fire with smoke. [1]
One should not relinquish, O son of Kunti, the duty to which one is born, though it is attended with evil; for, all undertakings are enveloped by evil, as fire by smoke. [4]
MISSING from index. [9]
One must not abandon, O son of Kunti, one's natural duty though tainted with evil, for all actions are enveloped by evil like fire by smoke. [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.
One's own dharma even imperfectly done is better than another's well done; svabhāva-ordained karma incurs no sin.
Even doing all actions always, with refuge in Me — by My grace one attains the eternal imperishable abode.
Who acts in duty without depending on fruit — that one is the true sannyāsī and yogī, not the fireless or the inactive.
Abandon all dharmas, take refuge in Me alone — I will liberate you from all sins; do not grieve.
One with no ego-doer-sense, whose buddhi is untainted — even while killing all these beings, kills not, is not bound.