📿 Shloka Collection

Shreyan Svadharmo Vigunah

Gita 18.47 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18 — Moksha Sannyasa Yoga
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् ।
स्वभावनियतं कर्म कुर्वन्नाप्नोति किल्बिषम् ॥
Shreyan svadharmo vigunah paradharmaat svanushtitaat
Svabhavaniyatam karma kurvan napnoti kilbisham
श्रेयान्
better, more beneficial
स्वधर्मः
one's own dharma, one's natural duty
विगुणः
imperfect, lacking in quality
परधर्मात्
than another's dharma
स्वनुष्ठितात्
even if well performed
स्वभावनियतम्
determined by one's own nature
किल्बिषम्
sin, fault, karmic stain

Krishna repeats a teaching He gave earlier in Chapter 3 (verse 35), and the repetition is deliberate. Your own dharma — even if you perform it imperfectly — is better than someone else's dharma performed with polish. And a person who does the work ordained by their own nature incurs no fault.

It is natural to look at another person's path and think: that looks easier, that looks more rewarding, that suits me better. But the Gita says otherwise. A fish trying to climb a tree will always feel like a failure, no matter how sincerely it tries. Its dharma is to swim. That is where its perfection lies.

The reassurance in the second line is quietly powerful: 'svabhavaniyatam karma kurvan napnoti kilbisham.' Doing the work that your nature assigns you does not generate sin — even if the results are imperfect. The alignment between nature and action is itself a form of purity.

This shloka closely mirrors Gita 3.35, reinforcing through repetition one of the text's most central teachings. In Chapter 3, it addressed Arjuna's initial confusion about action versus renunciation. Here in Chapter 18, it serves as a culminating reminder before the final teachings.

In this section of Chapter 18, svadharma is being connected to moksha itself. One's own duty, performed with dedication and without attachment, is not just good conduct — it is a direct path to liberation.

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