18.47 Your own, done imperfectly Krishna speaks
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात्
स्वभावनियतं कर्म कुर्वन्नाप्नोति किल्बिषम्
śhreyān swa-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt sv-anuṣhṭhitāt
svabhāva-niyataṁ karma kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣham
Better your own work done imperfectly than another's done well. One who does the work born of their own nature takes on no fault.
Explanation
Your own, done imperfectly.
Better than another's done well — 3.35 repeated almost word for word, fifteen chapters later.
The Gita repeats very little this exactly. That it returns here, in the summing-up, marks it as one of the things the book most wants Arjuna to have heard.
Word by word
- śhreyān
- better
- swa-dharmaḥ
- one’s own prescribed occupational duty
- viguṇaḥ
- imperfectly done
- para-dharmāt
- than another’s dharma
- su-anuṣhṭhitāt
- perfectly done
- svabhāva-niyatam
- according to one’s innate nature
- karma
- duty
- kurvan
- by performing
- na āpnoti
- does not incur
- kilbiṣham
- sin
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