Chapter 18Verse 48 of 78

Bhagavad Gita 18.48

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

saha-jaṃ karma kaunteya sa-doṣam api na tyajet / sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa dhūmenāgnir ivāvṛtāḥ

Translation

One should not abandon the work born with one, Kaunteya, even if flawed. For every undertaking is enveloped by flaw, as fire by smoke.

Definitive instruction. The work that is born with you, saha-jam, must not be abandoned even if it is sa-dosha, has flaws. Why, because every undertaking, every karma anywhere, is wrapped in dosha the way fire is wrapped in smoke. There is no flawless work to escape to. The fantasy of perfectly clean spiritual labor that has finally left dosha behind is just that, fantasy. The image is exact. Smoke is a byproduct of fire; you do not extinguish fire to be rid of smoke, you accept that combustion comes with both. Your own work, with its flaws, in the right spirit, is the path. Polished work elsewhere, with its different flaws, is not.

Reflection

Which flaw in your work have you been using as an excuse to abandon it?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Eighteen

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