Sanskrit
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् । स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः ॥
śreyān svadharmo viguṇaḥ paradharmāt svanuṣṭhitāt svadharme nidhanaṃ śreyaḥ paradharmo bhayāvahaḥ
Translation
Better one's own duty, though destitute of merit, than the duty of another, well discharged. Better death in the discharge of one's own duty; the duty of another is full of danger.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
One of the Gita’s most quoted lines, restating the svadharma argument chapter 2 already made (2.31-37) in maximal form — better an imperfect performance of one’s own duty than a flawless performance of someone else’s, even unto death. It’s stated here as a near-absolute, and the Gita returns to almost identical language to close the entire text at 18.47, which frames this verse as more than a local point about Arjuna’s dilemma. The claim is about fit, not merit: svadharma done badly still runs with your own nature (BG 3.33); another’s done well runs against it, and para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ — “brings danger” — because it puts you at odds with what you actually are.
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Word by word
- śreyān svadharmo viguṇaḥश्रेयान् स्वधर्मो विगुणः
- better one's own duty, [though] imperfect (śreyān + sva-dharmaḥ + viguṇaḥ)
- paradharmāt svanuṣṭhitātपरधर्मात् स्वनुष्ठितात्
- than another's duty well performed (para-dharmāt + su-anuṣṭhitāt)
- svadharme nidhanaṃ śreyaḥस्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः
- better death in one's own duty (sva-dharme + nidhanam + śreyaḥ)
- paradharmo bhayāvahaḥपरधर्मो भयावहः
- another's duty brings danger (para-dharmaḥ + bhaya-āvahaḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The verse doesn’t hedge toward a middle path — no “blend your own duty with borrowed strengths.” It states the choice as a stark binary, and raises the stakes to death rather than settling for a milder comparison like discomfort or difficulty. That extremity is doing rhetorical work: this is a proverb built for memorability and force, not a literal policy claiming yours is always literally safer than someone else’s, regardless of the details.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- Doing your own version of a goal imperfectly usually serves you better than copying someone else's approach flawlessly — borrowed competence doesn't transfer as cleanly as it looks like it should.
Professional
- Resist copying a colleague's working style just because it works for them — a role or workflow that isn't suited to how you actually think is described here as the riskier choice, not the safer one.
Family & Social
- Comparing your own parenting, caregiving, or relationship approach unfavorably against someone else's is close to what this verse warns against — your own approach, done honestly, outperforms an imported one done by imitation.
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