Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 3, Verse 35
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात्।
स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः।।
स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः।।
śreyān swa-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt sv-anuṣṭhitāt
swa-dharme nidhanaṁ śreyaḥ para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ
also searched as "Shreyan swadharmo vigunah paradharmat svanushthitat"
Translation
Better is one's own duty, even if done poorly, than the duty of another done well. It is better to die while performing one's own duty; the duty of another is full of fear.
Vāṇi's rendering
Your own dharma, done imperfectly, beats another's done well. Better to die in your own path — another's invites dread.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| श्रेयान्śreyān | better, more beneficial |
| स्वधर्मःsva-dharmaḥ | one's own duty, the work that is truly yours (appears as svadharmo before the next word) |
| विगुणःviguṇaḥ | imperfect, poorly done, lacking polish |
| परधर्मात्para-dharmāt | than the duty belonging to another |
| स्वनुष्ठितात्sv-anuṣṭhitāt | than one carried out well (su + anuṣṭhitāt) |
| स्वधर्मेsva-dharme | in one's own duty |
| निधनम्nidhanam | death, dying |
| श्रेयःśreyaḥ | better |
| परधर्मःpara-dharmaḥ | another's duty |
| भयावहःbhaya-āvahaḥ | bringing fear, carrying dread (bhaya + āvahaḥ) |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 Verse 35 mean?
It means the work that is genuinely yours, done clumsily, is worth more than someone else's work done beautifully. Krishna is answering Arjuna's wish to trade the warrior's field for the ascetic's forest. A life copied from another gives you nothing to stand on — and that groundlessness is what the verse calls fear.
What is the meaning of shreyan swadharmo vigunah paradharmat svanushthitat?
Śreyān means better; sva-dharma is your own duty; viguṇaḥ, imperfectly done; para-dharma, another's duty; sv-anuṣṭhitāt, though excellently performed. The line weighs a flawed authentic act against a flawless borrowed one and finds the flawed one heavier. Excellence in the wrong life is still the wrong life.
Why does Krishna say another's dharma is full of fear?
Because when the work is not yours, you have no footing from which to answer for it. Every choice becomes imitation, and imitation cannot be defended — not to others, not to yourself. Bhaya-āvahaḥ names that hollow dread. Your own dharma may cost you dearly, but it never leaves you standing on borrowed ground.
How do I know what my own dharma actually is?
Look at what stands in front of you rather than at what you admire from a distance. Sva-dharma is rarely glamorous; Arjuna's was a battlefield he wanted to flee. It is the duty your life has already placed in your hands. Notice which work you keep explaining away — that one is often yours.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Arjuna wants the monk's life — clean hands, no blood, a dharma that looks better than his own. Krishna calls it another's. The point is not that one path outranks another; it is that a borrowed path, however well walked, is walked by nobody. You cannot be excellent at someone else's life. And the fear Krishna names is precise: para-dharma breeds dread because there is no ground under you, no place from which to answer for what you do. Your own work, fumbled, still stands somewhere. Do the thing that is actually yours, badly, today, rather than the admired thing that belongs to someone else.