Chapter 3 verse 35
“Better is one’s own duty, though
devoid of merit, than the duty of another well discharged. Better is death in one’s
own duty; the duty of another is fraught with fear”
Arjuna’s predicament was to not
fight the war against his own kith and kin. He was fine with walking away from
the battlefield and even begging for food to survive. In this context, Krishna
is telling Arjuna that having been born as a warrior (Kshatriya) in order to
exhaust his vasanas of aggression and ego of warriorship, his duty was to fight
and protect the righteous against the wrong. He was better to not get any
positive affirmation or even death in line of his ordained duty of a warrior
versus performing someone else’s duty. Why does Krishna implore that someone
else’s duty is fraught with fear? Fear can only be of an uncertain future. If
one runs away from their ordained duty, they are getting into something which
they may not be suited for or not equipped to perform and hence is not going to
be at ease doing those actions. The inability to effectively do someone else’s
duty would cause fear of the unknown future. Performing action in line with
their current vasanas thereby providing a chance to exhaust them is the best
path of action and that’s why highest form of walking away from current life
duty- suicide is highly discouraged in Sanatana Dharma.
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