{ "verse_id": "3.35", "mūla": { "devanāgarī": "श्रेयान् स्व-धर्मो विगुणः पर-धर्मात् स्वनुष्ठितात् | स्व-धर्मे निधनं श्रेयः पर-धर्मो भयावहः", "iast": "śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt svanuṣṭhitāt | sva-dharme nidhanaṃ śreyaḥ para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ", "chapter_position": "Chapter 3 (Karma-Yoga (The Yoga of Action)), verse 35", "speaker": "Krishna", "addressed_to": "Arjuna" }, "word_by_word": [ { "surface_form": "śreyān", "lemma": "śreyas", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "प्रशस्यतरः स्वो धर्मः स्वधर्मः विगुणः", "school": "advaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "shankara" ] }, { "sense": "।स्वेन एव उपादातुं योग्यतया स्वधर्म भूते कर्मयोगे वर्तमानस्य एकस्मिन् जन्मनि अप्राप्तफलतया निधनम् अपि श्रेयः अनन्तरायहतत", "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "ramanuja", "vedantadeshika" ] }, { "sense": "इत्यस्य सङ्गतिमाह तथापी ति", "school": "dvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "jayatirtha" ] }, { "sense": "प्रशस्यतरः स्वधर्मः यं वर्णमाश्रमं प्रति वा यो विहितः स", "school": "advaita-bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "madhusudan" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "श्रेयान्" }, { "surface_form": "sva", "lemma": "sva", "grammar": "compound (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "स्व" }, { "surface_form": "dharmaḥ", "lemma": "dharma", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "धर्मः" }, { "surface_form": "viguṇaḥ", "lemma": "viguṇa", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "अपि विगतगुणोऽपि अनुष्ठीयमानः परधर्मात् स्वनुष्ठितात् साद्गुण्येन संपादितादपि", "school": "advaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "shankara" ] }, { "sense": "अपि अप्रमादगर्भः प्रकृतिसंसृष्टस्य दुःशकतयापरधर्मभूतात् ज्ञानयोगात् सगुणाद्", "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "ramanuja", "vedantadeshika" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "विगुणः" }, { "surface_form": "para", "lemma": "para", "grammar": "compound (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "पर" }, { "surface_form": "dharmāt", "lemma": "dharma", "grammar": "ablative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "धर्मात्" }, { "surface_form": "su", "lemma": "su", "grammar": "", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "सु" }, { "surface_form": "anuṣṭhitāt", "lemma": "anu-√ṣṭhā", "grammar": "ablative masculine singular participle noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "अनुष्ठितात्" }, { "surface_form": "sva", "lemma": "sva", "grammar": "compound (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "स्व" }, { "surface_form": "dharme", "lemma": "dharma", "grammar": "locative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "धर्मे" }, { "surface_form": "nidhanam", "lemma": "nidhana", "grammar": "nominative neuter singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "निधनम्" }, { "surface_form": "śreyaḥ", "lemma": "śreyas", "grammar": "nominative neuter singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "परधर्मे स्थितस्य जीवितात्", "school": "advaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "shankara" ] }, { "sense": "अनन्तरायहततया अनन्तरजन्मनि", "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "ramanuja" ] }, { "sense": "प्रशस्यतरं परधर्मस्य जीवितादपि", "school": "advaita-bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "madhusudan" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "श्रेयः" }, { "surface_form": "para", "lemma": "para", "grammar": "compound (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "पर" }, { "surface_form": "dharmaḥ", "lemma": "dharma", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "धर्मः" }, { "surface_form": "bhaya", "lemma": "bhaya", "grammar": "compound (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "भय" }, { "surface_form": "āvahaḥ", "lemma": "āvaha", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "आवहः" } ], "intertextual_panel": [ { "verse": "18.47", "type": "long-distance thematic echo", "score": 0.9476, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.875, "theme_graph": 3.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0629, "lemma_overlap": 10.0083, "stem_prefix": 3.0 } }, { "verse": "9.3", "type": "long-distance thematic echo", "score": 0.8989, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8489, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 10.3878, "stem_prefix": 4.0 } }, { "verse": "2.40", "type": "lemma-family resonance", "score": 0.8949, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8549, "theme_graph": 0.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 11.304, "stem_prefix": 4.0 } }, { "verse": "2.31", "type": "lemma-family resonance", "score": 0.8933, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8433, "theme_graph": 0.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 15.8388, "stem_prefix": 5.0 } }, { "verse": "1.40", "type": "shared-vocabulary echo", "score": 0.8856, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8556, "theme_graph": 0.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 7.2393, "stem_prefix": 3.0 } }, { "verse": "11.18", "type": "lemma-family resonance", "score": 0.8779, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8279, "theme_graph": 0.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 10.3878, "stem_prefix": 5.0 } }, { "verse": "3.19", "type": "cross-chapter thematic parallel", "score": 0.8766, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8366, "theme_graph": 2.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 3.9205, "stem_prefix": 2.0 } }, { "verse": "2.7", "type": "lemma-family resonance", "score": 0.876, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.826, "theme_graph": 0.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 11.4864, "stem_prefix": 5.0 } } ], "doctrinal_projections": { "advaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "shankara_3.35", "anandgiri_3.35" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "Even a svadharma (one's own duty) performed imperfectly exceeds a paradharma (another's duty) performed with full competence, because the criterion is not outward quality but ontological fitness — what is prescribed for the person. Death while standing in svadharma is preferable to a life spent in paradharma, since paradharma produces bhaya (fear) in the form of naraka (hell) and allied downward births. Śaṅkara closes with Arjuna's implicit question — understanding the root of bondage is the first step to cutting it; rāga-dveṣa (attraction-aversion) are the twin obstructors, and this verse offers the compressed, settled answer to what was diffusely stated earlier.", "divergence_note": "Śaṅkara: 'śreyān praśasyataraḥ svadharmaḥ vigatagunah api… paradharmaḥ bhayāvahaḥ narakādilakṣaṇaṃ bhayam āvahati'" }, "viśiṣṭādvaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "ramanuja_3.35", "vedantadeshika_3.35" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "For a being entangled in prakṛti (material nature), karma-yoga (the path of dedicated action) is svadharma — it is what he can actually take up — while jñāna-yoga is paradharma, constitutionally inaccessible to him and therefore riddled with pramāda (inadvertence). A flawed karma-yoga performed without pramāda surpasses even a meritorious jñāna-yoga attempted beyond one's capacity; dying in karma-yoga is better because the momentum carries intact into the next birth, where practice resumes without obstacle. Paradharma's danger is not merely ethical but structural: the risk of collapse and accumulated interruption across lives.", "divergence_note": "Rāmānuja: 'prakṛtisaṃsṛṣṭasya duḥśakatayā paradharma-bhūtāt jñānayogāt sagūṇādapi… anantarajamni avyākulakarmayogārambhasaṃbhavāt'" }, "dvaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "madhva_3.35", "jayatirtha_3.35" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "*Śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt svanuṣṭhitāt* — even an imperfectly executed *sva-dharma* (one's own duty) excels another's duty well performed; *sva-dharme nidhanaṃ śreyaḥ, para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ*. Madhva's transitional sentence — *tathāpy ugraṃ yuddhakarma ity ata āha śreyān iti* — locates the verse within the running dialogue: Arjuna's second objection, lodged when he asked *jyāyasī cet* (3.1), was deferred; now, after *yudhyasva vigatajvaraḥ* (3.30) and *tayor na vaśam āgacchet* (3.34) have recalled it, Kṛṣṇa resolves it here. Jayatīrtha's gloss makes the internal logic explicit: *yady api karma kartavyaṃ, tathāpi ugram avarjanīya-rāga-dveṣaṃ na kuryām iti śeṣaḥ* — the unstated completion of the objection is 'yet I should not perform action that carries unavoidable *rāga-dveṣa* (attraction-aversion).' The verse closes that gap: the *jīva* (individual self) is assigned *sva-dharma* by Hari, and *sva-dharma* for the *kṣatriya* is battle, however *ugraṃ* (fierce). To exchange it for *para-dharma* — another's apparently calmer duty — is *bhayāvahaḥ*: it generates the very dread it sought to escape, because it departs from *Hari*'s ordination of each *jīva*'s station.", "divergence_note": "Madhva's own bhāṣya is a single connector: *tathāpy ugraṃ yuddhakarma ity ata āha śreyān iti*. The doctrinal elaboration is Jayatīrtha's, whose *Nyāya-sudhā* supplies both the two-objection structure (*dvāv ākṣepāv arjunena kṛtau*) and the unexpressed completion of Arjuna's fear (*ugram avarjanīya-rāga-dveṣaṃ na kuryām*). Both levels are needed for the full dvaita reading." }, "śuddhādvaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "vallabha_3.35" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "After establishing that rāga-dveṣa (attachment-aversion) prevent even natural prāṇis (beings) from following ordained dharma, Vallabha draws the practical rule: svadharma must not be abandoned even when imperfect, and paradharma must not be adopted even when it appears attractive. The qualifier svanuṣṭhitāt carries the force of saṅga (attachment to outcome) — even a fully completed paradharma done with ego-attachment is inferior to one's own path performed with internal surrender to Kṛṣṇa's līlā (divine play). The verse is Kṛṣṇa's protective instruction against the seduction of paths that look easier or holier.", "divergence_note": "Vallabha: 'viguno'ṅgahīno'pi svanuṣṭhitāt saṅgāt… paradharmo'pi nopādeyaḥ'" }, "bhakti": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "sridhara_3.35" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "Śrīdhara addresses the specific temptation Arjuna faces: war is difficult and painful (duḥkharūpa) while ahiṃsā (non-injury) and begging seem easy and righteous — why not switch? The answer is that svadharma even with some limbs missing (aṅgahīna) is superior to a fully completed paradharma, because the kṣatriya's svadharma leads to svarga (heaven) in death whereas paradharma, being prohibited for him, leads to naraka. Bhaya here is concrete eschatological consequence, not merely psychological anxiety.", "divergence_note": "Śrīdhara: 'kiñcidaṅgahīno'pi svadharmaḥ śreyān… svadharme yudhādau pravartamānasya nidhanaṃ… svargādiprapākatvāt. Paradharmas tu svasya bhayāvahaḥ niṣiddhatvena narakaprapākatvāt'" }, "advaita-bhakti": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "madhusudan_3.35" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "Madhusūdana confronts the objection directly: if śāstrīya karma (scriptural action) must be done, why not take the easiest form — bhikṣāśana (living on alms), which is painless — rather than the agony of war? The reply is that svadharma is varna-āśrama-specific (relative to one's caste-stage position) and is knowable only through Vedic injunction, not by inference; a paradharma performed even perfectly has no Vedic mandate for this person and thus no dharma-status whatsoever. Death in svadharma brings kīrti (glory) here and svarga hereafter; paradharma brings infamy and naraka — hence the comprehensive bhaya on both worlds.", "divergence_note": "Madhusūdana: 'na hi vedātiriktamānagamyo dharmaḥ… svadharmasthasyeha loke kīrtyāvahaṃ… paradharmas tv ihākīrtikaratvena paratra narakapradatvena ca bhayāvahaḥ'" } }, "prosodic_information": { "meter": "anuṣṭubh", "meter_shift_from_previous": false, "meter_shift_to_next": true, "pragmatic_context": { "vocative": "Tāta", "preceding_question": "", "following_response": "" } }, "theme_list_memberships": [ { "list": "परधर्म", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "18.47" ] }, { "list": "परमशान्ति", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "6.15" ] }, { "list": "विगुणः", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "18.47" ] }, { "list": "संसारधर्मैरविमुह्यमानः", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "9.3" ] }, { "list": "स्वधर्म", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "18.47" ] }, { "list": "स्वयं", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "3.13", "3.17", "3.19", "3.21", "3.26", "3.27", "3.28", "3.30", "3.31", "4.1", "4.3", "4.38", "10.13", "12.8", "12.14", "15.4" ] } ], "audit_trail": { "substrate_version": "v2.6-frozen", "fitted_weights": { "a": 1.0, "b": 0.01, "e_v": 0.005, "z": 0.2, "h": 0.0, "th": 0.01 }, "corpus_provenance": { "mūla": "Belvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness", "panel_witnesses": [ "bg-mula", "bg-shankara", "bg-ramanuja", "bg-madhva", "bg-vedantadeshika", "bg-vallabha", "bg-jayatirtha", "bg-anandgiri", "bg-sridhara", "bg-madhusudan" ] }, "extraction_date": "2026-04-21", "score_methodology_documented_at": "Paper 1, Section II.B", "word_by_word_parser": "ByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)", "post_generation_repairs": [ { "date": "2026-05-03", "fix": "verb-lemma-misidentification (broader heuristic: prefix-√root canonical for all verb-tagged tokens)", "scope": "word_by_word[].lemma", "loci": [ "anuṣṭhitāt: anuṣṭhā -> anu-√ṣṭhā" ] } ] }, "so_what_questions": [ "If paradharma is universally forbidden, how does the tradition account for āpad-dharma (emergency duty) — cases where circumstances appear to require acting outside one's own dharma?", "Śaṅkara treats viguna (imperfect) as 'vigatagunah' (qualities absent) — does this mean even a structurally defective performance of svadharma retains soteriological value, and on what basis?", "Rāmānuja maps svadharma/paradharma onto karma-yoga/jñāna-yoga for those bound in prakṛti — does this mean the same verse instructs differently depending on the adhikāra (qualification) of the reader?", "Madhusūdana insists dharma is only Veda-cognized (chōdanālakṣaṇo'rtho dharmaḥ) — how does this verse interact with smṛti or ethical reasoning for practitioners outside brāhmaṇical scriptural access?", "All six commentators treat death in svadharma as śreyaḥ (the higher good) — what does this reveal about how the tradition weighs physical continuity against ontological integrity?", "Vallabha adds the qualifier saṅga (attachment) to svanuṣṭhitāt — does this imply that paradharma performed without ego-attachment might not generate bhaya, opening a path beyond the frame of the verse?", "The verse offers no definition of svadharma's content — commentators differ sharply (varna, adhikāra, prakṛti-fitness, Hari's assignment). What principle, if any, could settle which reading is operative for a given practitioner?" ], "everyday_applications": { "advaita": "A practitioner inclined toward meditation who is constitutionally a householder-professional should not abandon family and livelihood for a renunciate (sannyāsa) path simply because that path appears spiritually superior. Śaṅkara's reading says: do your householder duties imperfectly rather than perform renunciate observances that belong to another's station — rāga toward sannyāsa is itself the obstruction that niṣkāma-karma (desireless action) in svadharma dissolves.", "viśiṣṭādvaita": "A devotee of moderate intellectual capacity who is drawn to elaborate jñāna study beyond her actual capacity should remain in sādhana-bhakti (devotional practice) — her svadharma — even if imperfect, rather than forcing herself into philosophical study she cannot sustain. Rāmānuja's reading: pramāda (inadvertence) in a too-difficult path breaks continuity across life-stages; a humble karma-bhakti practice, sustained even imperfectly, guarantees unobstructed resumption in the next stage.", "dvaita": "A Vaiṣṇava professional who is tempted to adopt ascetic or mendicant practices admired in another sampradāya (tradition) must recognize that Hari has placed him in his station for a reason; his svadharma is the service Hari has assigned, not the service that looks more impressive from outside. Madhva's reading grounds this in ontological dependence: the jīva has no authority to reassign itself; the fear is precisely the spiritual disorder that comes from substituting personal preference for divine appointment.", "śuddhādvaita": "A Puṣṭi-mārga sādhaka who finds her own form of seva (service to Kṛṣṇa) plain and unglamorous compared to the ecstatic kīrtana of another devotional community should continue her assigned seva with whatever quality she can muster, rather than imitating practices not given to her by the guru. Vallabha's reading: it is precisely saṅga (attachment to visible results and external forms) that makes paradharma seductive — true Puṣṭi surrender releases that comparison entirely.", "bhakti": "Śrīdhara's eschatological reading gives a direct practical test: before abandoning svadharma for a seemingly superior practice, ask whether one's own duty leads to liberation-or-merit in this station, and whether the alternative is actually prescribed for this person. For a teacher who is constitutionally a gṛhastha (householder), leaving family to take up monastic instruction because it seems spiritually richer is a move from aṅgahīna-svadharma (imperfect own-duty) to a prohibited path — the outcome is loss, not gain.", "advaita-bhakti": "Madhusūdana's insistence that dharma must have Vedic sanction — not merely inferred moral plausibility — translates to a contemporary test: before substituting a spiritually appealing practice for one's assigned path, verify it has a genuine pramāṇa (valid source of knowledge) for your position, not just a compelling argument. The bhikṣāśana example is exact: choosing the easier, apparently virtuous path because it avoids pain is a failure of adhikāra-discernment, and the two-world consequences (infamy here, naraka hereafter) follow precisely from that category error." }, "primary_meaning": "Your own duty, even done poorly, is better than another's duty done well. Better to die in your own calling than to take another's path, for that path brings danger." }