Bhagavad Gita 3.35 · BG 3.35
Chapter 3Verse 35
Karma Yoga
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात्। स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः॥
śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt sv-anuṣṭhitāt, sva-dharme nidhanaṁ śreyaḥ para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ
Translation
It is better to perform one's own duty imperfectly than to perform another's duty well. It is better to fail at one's own path than to succeed at one that was never truly yours.
Better your own path walked imperfectly than someone else's walked perfectly.
What does this mean?
A reminder to trust your own path rather than a borrowed or imitated one. Even walked imperfectly, it fits you in a way another's cannot.
In simple words
Krishna says it's better to do your own work imperfectly than to do someone else's work well. Better to stumble on the path that's actually yours than to succeed on one that was never a fit. A borrowed life doesn't become yours just because you're good at it.
The deeper idea
The word usually translated 'duty' here, sva-dharma, means something closer to the role and nature that genuinely belong to you. The verse makes a strong claim: fit matters more than performance. Another person's path, even walked skillfully, is called dangerous, because living against your own grain has a cost that competence doesn't cancel. This isn't romanticizing failure. It's saying the question 'is this mine?' comes before the question 'am I doing it well?'
How it applies to life
People end up successful in careers that were chosen for them, by family, by prestige, by momentum, and feel a persistent wrongness they can't explain. This verse names it. Being good at something isn't proof it's yours. It can be worth trading a smoother version of the wrong life for a rougher version of the right one. That choice looks reckless from outside and often isn't.