Bg 18.47
śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt sv-anuṣṭhitāt
svabhāva-niyataṁ karma kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam
Bg 18.48
saha-jaṁ karma kaunteya sa-doṣam api na tyajet
sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa dhūmenāgnir ivāvṛtāḥ
Translation
47. Better is one's own duty (though) destitute of merits, than the duty of another well-performed. He who does the duty ordained by his own nature incurs no sin.
48. One should not abandon, O Kaunteya, the duty to which one is born, though faulty; for, are not all undertakings enveloped by evil, as fire by smoke?
Commentary
The opening line of this stanza has been exhaustively discussed earlier (III-35). To work in any field ordered by one's own vasanas is better, because in that case, there is a chance for exhausting the existing vasanas. When an individual strives in a field contrary to the existing vasanas, he not only fails to gain any exhaustion of the existing vasanas, but also creates a new load of vasanas in his temperament. Hence, it is said here: "BETTER IS ONE'S OWN DHARMA THOUGH IMPERFECT THAN THE DHARMA OF ANOTHER WELL-PERFORMED."
By performing "duties ordained by one's own nature" (Swabhaava-Niyatam-Karma) the individual comes to no evil --- meaning, the individual has no chance of imprinting any new impressions on his mind --- the impressions which, in their maturity, might force him to strive, to seek, to achieve and to indulge.
This closing chapter of the Geeta is a peroration of the beautiful discourse of the inspired Divine, and it is, naturally therefore, a summary of the whole Geeta. Hence, we find here a reiteration of almost all the salient ideas which have been discussed earlier, and which are very important for the cure of the "Arjuna-disease.
Anyone can appreciate the logic of it if he considers the following: (1) the deadly poison in the fangs of a serpent never kills the serpent; (2) living organisms crawling in fermented wine never get drunk; (3) the malarial germs in the mosquitoes do not attack them with shivering fevers. THE SWABHAAVA OF EACH ONE CANNOT DESTROY HIM! If the poison is drawn from the fangs and wine is poisoned, the crawling organisms die. Similarly, if the Kshatriyas were to perform the duties prescribed for the Brahmana-type of equipment, they would be only doing harakiri. Arjuna was a Kshatriya; hence retiring from the battle-field to a jungle for meditation would have destroyed him.
In short, it is no use employing our minds in fields which are contrary to our nature. Everyone has a precise place in the scheme of created things. Each one has his own importance and none is to be despised, for, each can do something which the others cannot do so well. There is no redundancy in the Lord's creation; not even a single blade of grass, anywhere, at any time, is unnecessarily created!
Everything has a purpose. Not only the good but the bad also are His manifestations and serve His purpose. The Pandavas' glory is, no doubt, great, but the manifestation of the wickedness in the Kauravas is also the glory of His creation. Without the latter, the history of the former would not have been complete. Nothing is to be condemned; none to be despised. Every thing is He. And He alone IS.
BUT IF THE DUTY TO WHICH WE ARE BOUND IS RIDDLED WITH EVIL, ARE WE TO FOLLOW IT? KRISHNA ANSWERS:
After explaining this much about the nature (Swabhaava) and the corresponding station-in-life (Swadharma), Krishna builds up the idea to a subtle climax. His advice is general and it is meant for all people, of all times, in all situations. Even when the work so ordained by the existing vasanas (Sahajam Karma) is full of evil (Sadosham), Krishna's advice is that one should not relinquish it (Na-Tyajet).
Superficially reading this declaration in a hurry, one is apt to think that this is not spirituality. But to a careful thinker, the term "born with" (Sahajam) solves the riddle. There is an ocean of difference between the meanings of the phrases "BORN WITH" and "BORN INTO."
There are two forces that control and guide, define and determine, our actions --- (i) the impulses brought forth by the pressure of the mental temperaments within; and (ii) the pressure of environments that tickles new temptations in ourselves. One is to follow faithfully, the subjective vasanas, even if they be defective. But at the same time, we must courageously renounce all the demands that the objective world makes upon us from without.
The vasanas one is BORN WITH are to be lived through, without ego and desire; while the vasana-creating atmosphere INTO which one is born should not be allowed to contaminate one's personality. Krishna is very careful in indicating that a spiritual seeker must constantly strive hard to stand apart from the shackling effects of the environments. According to the Geeta, man is the master of circumstances. To the extent he comes to assert this mastery, to that extent he is evolved.
IN FACT, "ARE NOT ALL ACTIONS (WORKS) CLOUDED BY DEFECTS, AS FIRE IS BY THE SMOKE?" Here the term used to indicate "work" (Arambha) is very important. This Sanskrit term Arambha means "beginning." The term was used earlier (XII-16) where also we were asked to "RENOUNCE THE SENSE OF AGENCY IN ACTIVITY." When there is an ego-centric sense of self-arrogation, the "I-am-the-self" arrogation, the "I-am-the-doer" sense, there is, invariably, creation of new vasanas and therefore, it is full of defects (Dosha).
This defect is as unavoidable as the appearance of smoke in fire. The more an oven is ventilated in the atmospheric air, the less smoky becomes the fire burning therein. The more our inner bosom is ventilated with the Consciousness Divine, the less will the ego assert, and therefore, no defects can pollute the actions. If there be an influx of wrong vasanas within, the earlier we exhaust them through "action" --- without any ego or ego-centric desire of enjoying their fruits --- the quicker shall the load of existing vasanas be lifted from our personality.
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt sv-anuṣṭhitāt
svabhāva-niyataṁ karma kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam
Bg 18.48
saha-jaṁ karma kaunteya sa-doṣam api na tyajet
sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa dhūmenāgnir ivāvṛtāḥ
Translation
47. Better is one's own duty (though) destitute of merits, than the duty of another well-performed. He who does the duty ordained by his own nature incurs no sin.
48. One should not abandon, O Kaunteya, the duty to which one is born, though faulty; for, are not all undertakings enveloped by evil, as fire by smoke?
Commentary
The opening line of this stanza has been exhaustively discussed earlier (III-35). To work in any field ordered by one's own vasanas is better, because in that case, there is a chance for exhausting the existing vasanas. When an individual strives in a field contrary to the existing vasanas, he not only fails to gain any exhaustion of the existing vasanas, but also creates a new load of vasanas in his temperament. Hence, it is said here: "BETTER IS ONE'S OWN DHARMA THOUGH IMPERFECT THAN THE DHARMA OF ANOTHER WELL-PERFORMED."
By performing "duties ordained by one's own nature" (Swabhaava-Niyatam-Karma) the individual comes to no evil --- meaning, the individual has no chance of imprinting any new impressions on his mind --- the impressions which, in their maturity, might force him to strive, to seek, to achieve and to indulge.
This closing chapter of the Geeta is a peroration of the beautiful discourse of the inspired Divine, and it is, naturally therefore, a summary of the whole Geeta. Hence, we find here a reiteration of almost all the salient ideas which have been discussed earlier, and which are very important for the cure of the "Arjuna-disease.
Anyone can appreciate the logic of it if he considers the following: (1) the deadly poison in the fangs of a serpent never kills the serpent; (2) living organisms crawling in fermented wine never get drunk; (3) the malarial germs in the mosquitoes do not attack them with shivering fevers. THE SWABHAAVA OF EACH ONE CANNOT DESTROY HIM! If the poison is drawn from the fangs and wine is poisoned, the crawling organisms die. Similarly, if the Kshatriyas were to perform the duties prescribed for the Brahmana-type of equipment, they would be only doing harakiri. Arjuna was a Kshatriya; hence retiring from the battle-field to a jungle for meditation would have destroyed him.
In short, it is no use employing our minds in fields which are contrary to our nature. Everyone has a precise place in the scheme of created things. Each one has his own importance and none is to be despised, for, each can do something which the others cannot do so well. There is no redundancy in the Lord's creation; not even a single blade of grass, anywhere, at any time, is unnecessarily created!
Everything has a purpose. Not only the good but the bad also are His manifestations and serve His purpose. The Pandavas' glory is, no doubt, great, but the manifestation of the wickedness in the Kauravas is also the glory of His creation. Without the latter, the history of the former would not have been complete. Nothing is to be condemned; none to be despised. Every thing is He. And He alone IS.
BUT IF THE DUTY TO WHICH WE ARE BOUND IS RIDDLED WITH EVIL, ARE WE TO FOLLOW IT? KRISHNA ANSWERS:
After explaining this much about the nature (Swabhaava) and the corresponding station-in-life (Swadharma), Krishna builds up the idea to a subtle climax. His advice is general and it is meant for all people, of all times, in all situations. Even when the work so ordained by the existing vasanas (Sahajam Karma) is full of evil (Sadosham), Krishna's advice is that one should not relinquish it (Na-Tyajet).
Superficially reading this declaration in a hurry, one is apt to think that this is not spirituality. But to a careful thinker, the term "born with" (Sahajam) solves the riddle. There is an ocean of difference between the meanings of the phrases "BORN WITH" and "BORN INTO."
There are two forces that control and guide, define and determine, our actions --- (i) the impulses brought forth by the pressure of the mental temperaments within; and (ii) the pressure of environments that tickles new temptations in ourselves. One is to follow faithfully, the subjective vasanas, even if they be defective. But at the same time, we must courageously renounce all the demands that the objective world makes upon us from without.
The vasanas one is BORN WITH are to be lived through, without ego and desire; while the vasana-creating atmosphere INTO which one is born should not be allowed to contaminate one's personality. Krishna is very careful in indicating that a spiritual seeker must constantly strive hard to stand apart from the shackling effects of the environments. According to the Geeta, man is the master of circumstances. To the extent he comes to assert this mastery, to that extent he is evolved.
IN FACT, "ARE NOT ALL ACTIONS (WORKS) CLOUDED BY DEFECTS, AS FIRE IS BY THE SMOKE?" Here the term used to indicate "work" (Arambha) is very important. This Sanskrit term Arambha means "beginning." The term was used earlier (XII-16) where also we were asked to "RENOUNCE THE SENSE OF AGENCY IN ACTIVITY." When there is an ego-centric sense of self-arrogation, the "I-am-the-self" arrogation, the "I-am-the-doer" sense, there is, invariably, creation of new vasanas and therefore, it is full of defects (Dosha).
This defect is as unavoidable as the appearance of smoke in fire. The more an oven is ventilated in the atmospheric air, the less smoky becomes the fire burning therein. The more our inner bosom is ventilated with the Consciousness Divine, the less will the ego assert, and therefore, no defects can pollute the actions. If there be an influx of wrong vasanas within, the earlier we exhaust them through "action" --- without any ego or ego-centric desire of enjoying their fruits --- the quicker shall the load of existing vasanas be lifted from our personality.
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
