Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 Verse 35
भगवद् गीता अध्याय 3 श्लोक 35

श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात्।
स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः।।3.35।।



English Translation - Dr. S. Sankaranarayan
3.35. Better is ones own duty,  [though] it lacks in merit, than the well-performed duty of another; better is the ruin in ones own duty than the good fortune from anothers duty.


English Translation of Commentary  - Dr. S. Sankaranarayan
3.34-35 Indriyasya etc.,  Sreyan etc.  A person living the worldly life does entertain likes or dislikes towards every sense-object.  For, due to his total ignorance he imagines that actions are performed only by his Self.  Thus there is this difference between a man of knowledge and  a man of worldly life, eventhough they perform alike their [respective] worldly activities such as eating etc.
 
The established view of ours [in this regard] is this : For a person, who,  freed from attachment in every way,  Performs his own duty,  there is hardly any  bond of merit or demerit.  Indeed ones  own duty never disappears from ones heart and it is certainly rooted there deeply as a natural taste.  Not a single creature is born without that.  Hence it should not be given up.


Transliteration Bhagavad Gita 3.35Shreyaan swadharmo vigunah paradharmaat swanushthitaat;
Swadharme nidhanam shreyah paradharmo bhayaavahah.


Word Meanings Bhagavad Gita 3.35śhreyān—better; swa-dharmaḥ—personal duty; viguṇaḥ—tinged with faults; para-dharmāt—than another’s prescribed duties; su-anuṣhṭhitāt—perfectly done; swa-dharme—in one’s personal duties; nidhanam—death; śhreyaḥ—better; para-dharmaḥ—duties prescribed for others; bhaya-āvahaḥ—fraught with fear