March 20 – Bhagavadgita Chapter 3; Verses 3.30 (Day 80) Karma Yoga

 March 20 – Day 80

Verse 3.35

श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् ।

स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः ॥ ३-३५॥ 

śhreyān swa-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt sv-anuṣhṭhitāt
swa-dharme nidhanaṁ śhreyaḥ para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ (35) 

ஶ்ரேயான்ஸ்வத⁴ர்மோ விகு³ண: ப¹ரத⁴ர்மாத்¹ஸ்வனுஷ்டி²தா¹த்¹ |
ஸ்வத³ர்மே நித⁴னம் ஶ்ரேய: ப¹ரத⁴ர்மோ ப⁴யாவஹ: ||35|| 

35. Better is one’s own duty, though devoid of merit, than the duty of another well discharged. Better is death in one’s own duty; the duty of another is fraught with fear. 

COMMENTARY: It is indeed better for man to die discharging his own duty though destitute of merit than for him to live doing the duty of another though performed in a perfect manner.  For the duty of another has its pitfalls.  The duty of a Kshatriya is to fight in a righteous battle.  Arjuna must fight.  This is his duty.  Even if he dies in the discharge of his own duty, it is better for him.  He will go to heaven.  He should not do the duty of another man.  This will bring him peril.  He should not stop from fighting and enter the path of renunciation.  (Cf. XVIII.47) 

Commentary by Swami Venkatesananda [verse 35] 

This is the natural corollary of the basic teaching of the Bhagavad Gītā that all life is sacred, that there is nothing high or low in life’s activities, and that our actions should not be motivated by private desires. Why and when does one switch from the discharge of one’s own duties to take on the duties of another? More often than not (i.e. when it is not as part of the natural evolutionary process) when he is tempted by an earthly reward, or by self-aggrandizement.

Even today the amateur who is not really qualified to do a job and does something out of his way, gets a lot of publicity! This desire for name and fame and perhaps the material benefits accruing from them, attracts people, tempting them away from their own duty into the provinces of others.

The professional does his work with a calm mind. The amateur torments himself day and night. The glare of the limelight makes him lose his head. The natural public criticism depresses and annoys him. These are the emotional states which Kṛṣṇa expressly asks us to avoid.

The central ideal of the Bhagavad Gītā is equanimity above all. Anything that disturbs the inner equilibrium is fraught with fear and danger. We must attain that equanimity and then never let anything in the world disturb it.

Total tranquility of the mind is indispensable for enabling us to look within, to study the nature of mind and thought, to see our conditioning and the source of fear, to realize what true love is and to recognize its caricature with which we are familiar, as also to realize what our real nature is and how perverted it has become. This awareness is the first step towards the enlightened life that Kṛṣṇa reveals to us. 

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