Skip to content

Bhagavad Gita 18.48

सहजं कर्म कौन्तेय सदोषमपि न त्यजेत्।सर्वारम्भा हि दोषेण धूमेनाग्निरिवावृताः॥

sahajaṃ karma kaunteya sadoṣamapi na tyajet |sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa dhūmenāgnirivāvṛtāḥ ||

One should not, O Arjuna, abandon the duty to which one is born, though it may be faulty; for, all undertakings are enveloped by evil, just as fire is by smoke.

Translation by Swami Sivananda · Public domain in India (translator d. 1963)

The duty that falls to one's lot of its own accord should not be abandoned, though it may have its defects. All acts are marred by defects, just as fire is obscured by smoke.

Translation by Shri Purohit Swami · Public domain in India (translator d. 1941)

Our plain-language meaning of this verse is waiting for scholar review.

Edition: Common 700-verse recension. Arjuna's opening question in chapter 13, absent from that recension, is kept as 13.0.

Transliteration in IAST, generated from the Devanagari text.

Source: Sanskrit text via gita/gita (Unlicense), from the Gita Supersite, IIT Kanpur. Sanskrit text public domain.

Bhagavad Gita 18.48 · SatsangVidya