3.35 - Svadharma

[Guest guest]

Namaste Raghavji,

 

3:35: "Better one's own duty though it lacks merit,

than the duty of another, well discharged."

 

Can you please elaborate on this further? In today's

world, the idea seems to be to find what you are good

at and then do that for a living. So how do I know if

I am doing someone elses duty, though I may be doing

it well?

 

Thanks!

Mayuresh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

advaitin, tatha gat <tathagat79> wrote:

> Namaste Raghavji,

>

> 3:35: "Better one's own duty though it lacks merit,

> than the duty of another, well discharged."

>

> Can you please elaborate on this further? In today's

> world, the idea seems to be to find what you are good

> at and then do that for a living. So how do I know if

> I am doing someone elses duty, though I may be doing

> it well?

>

> Thanks!

> Mayuresh.

>

 

Namaste Mayuresh-ji and all

 

At this point this discussion has to jump into the eighteenth

chapter also, since Krishna Himself drops the point here and takes

the thread only at the time of his winding up all his arguments. I

shall therefore write an elaborate answer to you. But please give me

12 hours to come back to you. In the meantime if Raghav-ji or any

one else wants to answer you, certainly they are welcome.

 

PraNAms to all advaitins

profvk

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sri Mayurish:

 

You have raised an important question and this verse has high potential

for misinterpretation because of the subject matter. ProfVKji has

already indicated that he is going to provide a more detailed answer to

your question. Sri Raghavaji may also attend to your request and here

are my brief remarks.

 

In Tamil Nadu, India (where I come from) the political parties who do

not to the ideas expressed in Bhagavad Gita have made

derogatory comments about this verse. They thought that this verse

promotes the continuation of caste system by suggesting that people

work on low wage jobs should not aspire for moving to higher jobs.

Fortunately, the correct interpretation of this verse does not provide

such a suggestion.

 

Lord Krishna through this verse points out the human tendencies

toward's one' own duties and obligations. As human beings, we more

than often perceive that we can do job of others' better than them!

Because of this perception, we tend to neglect our own duties and focus

on how others conduct their duties and take the liberty to judge them.

 

Lord Krishna does not imply that we shouldn't improve our work skills

and work ethics and do our job better than before. At the same time,

we shouldn't poke on how others do their duties nor should we neglect

our duties and undertake others' duties! These are just excuses for

doing our own duties. We need to understand that in the Cosmos, each

one of us have our own responsibilities and we should take all efforts

to fulfill them. That is indeed the Swadharma.

 

regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

Note: if we replace the word 'duty' with 'responsibility' we can

appreciate what the Lord is trying tell us to do!

 

 

advaitin, tatha gat <tathagat79> wrote:

> Namaste Raghavji,

>

> 3:35: "Better one's own duty though it lacks merit,

> than the duty of another, well discharged."

>

> Can you please elaborate on this further? In today's

> world, the idea seems to be to find what you are good

> at and then do that for a living. So how do I know if

> I am doing someone elses duty, though I may be doing

> it well?

>

> Thanks!

> Mayuresh.

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "Ram Chandran" <RamChandran@a...>

wrote:

> >

> > 3:35: "Better one's own duty though it lacks merit,

> > than the duty of another, well discharged."

 

Namaste,All,

 

In this verse perhaps if one reads it as Dharma as opposed to duty

then one would realise, that Krishna is talking about surrender.

Surrender to one's karma with a good attitude; for one cannot change

it anyway....ONS..Tony.

[Guest guest]

>

> Namaste Mayuresh-ji and all

>

> At this point this discussion has to jump into the eighteenth

> chapter also, since Krishna Himself drops the point here and

takes the thread only at the time of his winding up all his

arguments. shall therefore write an elaborate answer to you. But

please give me 12 hours to come back to you. In the meantime if

Raghav-ji or any one else wants to answer you, certainly they are

welcome.

> PraNAms to all advaitins

> profvk

___________

 

Namaste

 

Earlier I said that I will write an elaborate essay on Svadharma to

answer some of the questions raised. For this purpose I first

wanted to check what I have already posted on this list during the

past few years on this part of the Gita – so that I need not repeat

myself and cloud the mails of the list. I found that the following

are the articles that I have written on this subject. The no. of

stars before the reference indicates the importance and significance

of the article as far as I can judge myself:

 

* http://www.escribe.com/culture/advaitin/m25460.html (karmasu

kaushalaM)

 

** http://www.escribe.com/culture/advaitin/m20740.html

(Actionlessness)

 

**** http://www.escribe.com/culture/advaitin/m20740.html (Maa

phaleshu ?)

 

**** http://www.escribe.com/culture/advaitin/m18794.html (

Attachment and Non-attachment – An excellent analogy)

 

*** http://www.escribe.com/culture/advaitin/m15639.html

(Detachment)

 

*** http://www.escribe.com/culture/advaitin/m14849.html and the

next two posts (Practical methods for the spiritual ascent)

 

*** http://www.escribe.com/culture/advaitin/m13844.html (Gita and

Varna Dharma -1)

 

*** http://www.escribe.com/culture/advaitin/m13875.html (Gita and

Varna Dharma – 2)

 

**** http://www.escribe.com/culture/advaitin/m13889.html (Gita and

Varna Dharma – 4)

 

**** http://www.escribe.com/culture/advaitin/m12730.html (How to

practise non-attachment to work)

 

*** http://www.escribe.com/culture/advaitin/m5285.html (Comments on

some verses of Ch.3)

 

I think this covers many of the points raised recently. I shall get

back to this topic if there is anything else I have to add.

 

Thanks for the patient reading by you all.

 

PraNAms to all advaitins

profvk

[Guest guest]

namaste. swadharma and paradharma of this verse have been

interpreted by various commentators and by various members

of our List. I like to give one or two of these interpretations

and also an alternate meaning. I would be grateful for any

corrections.

 

1. swadharma is one's religion. Everyone's birth is according

to his/her pUrvajanma karmA-s (karmA-s of the previous lives).

Karmaphalaprada (the saguNa brahman) arranges the parentage and

the circumstances and the environment of the place and time of

birth according to these previous karmA-s. Hence it is convenient

for the jIvA to follow and live the samskArA-s of the religion

of birth. I am using the word 'religion' here in a broad sense.

Now if the jIvA wishes to follow the procedures, samskArA-s of

another religion, it means the jIvA has to uproot the upbringing

of the previous lives and learn new samskArA-s. For this, one

life may not be sufficient and the present life may simply be

a wasted effort.

 

2. swadharma is one's duty. Every human - because of the unique

circumstances of the family, of the society, of the work and the

professional environment - has to perform special or uniqe duties

and may have unique responsibilities. One has to perform these

responsibilities that are unique to that jIvA. If these duties

are performed without any grumbling, it leads to peaceful life.

But if the jIvA develops a hatred to these special responsibilities

and craves for duties of another jIvA, then life will be miserable.

 

3. swadharma is swabhAvaniyamitau karma (18.47) i.e. karma which

is natural to jIvA's prakriti. Such karmAcaraNa (performing such

karmA-s), even though it may sometime appear to be of low calibre,

is much better than performing karma which is not natural to

jIvA's prakriti. Such karmAcaraNa (performing karma which is not

conducive to one's prakriti) may be a seed for re-birth.

 

Finally, I like to give an alternate interpretation.

 

4. swadharma is one's own dharma or duty or responsibility. Any

jIvA's dharma is to establish oneself in the SELF, i.e. to

realize the SELF. Paradharma is to establish or crave for the

non-SELF. It is better to die while making effort to knowing

the SELF. To crave for the non-SELF leads to fear and other

dualistic anxieties.

 

So, Lord Krishna is saying in this verse to establish oneself

in the SELF; craving for activities of the non-SELF leads to

sorrow and grief.

 

I would be grateful for any corrections.

 

regards

gummuluru murthy

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