18.48 Fire is wrapped in smoke Krishna speaks
सहजं कर्म कौन्तेय सदोषमपि न त्यजेत्
सर्वारम्भा हि दोषेण धूमेनाग्निरिवावृताः
saha-jaṁ karma kaunteya sa-doṣham api na tyajet
sarvārambhā hi doṣheṇa dhūmenāgnir ivāvṛitāḥ
The work that comes with your own nature should not be abandoned even if it is flawed, son of Kunti. Every undertaking is wrapped in fault, as fire is wrapped in smoke.
Explanation
Fire is wrapped in smoke.
The Gita's most forgiving sentence about work: every undertaking is wrapped in fault.
Not your work is fine. Every undertaking, without exception, comes with something wrong in it — which removes the possibility of waiting for a clean one. Chapter 1 was a man waiting for a clean one.
Going further
Word by word
- saha-jam
- born of one’s nature
- karma
- duty
- kaunteya
- Arjun, the son of Kunti
- sa-doṣham
- with defects
- api
- even if
- na tyajet
- one should not abandon
- sarva-ārambhāḥ
- all endeavors
- hi
- indeed
- doṣheṇa
- with evil
- dhūmena
- with smoke
- agniḥ
- fire
- iva
- as
- āvṛitāḥ
- veiled
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Every undertaking is wrapped in fault, as fire is wrapped in smoke.
The Gita's most forgiving sentence about work, and one of its most realistic. There is no clean option. Waiting for the undertaking that carries no fault is described here as waiting for a fire without smoke, which is why 18.47 can insist that flawed work of your own beats excellent work of someone else's.