What is karma? · Lesson 5 of 5
Walk your own path
Our last karma lesson is about choosing the right actions for you.
In the Gita, Krishna says it is better to do your own duty, even imperfectly, than to do someone else's duty perfectly. Your duty is called your dharma: the right path for your nature, your stage of life and your situation.
This is very freeing. You don't have to live someone else's life. A student who loves art doesn't have to pretend to love medicine because a cousin did. A grandparent doesn't have to keep up with what younger people are doing.
But it also asks for honesty. Your dharma isn't just "whatever I feel like." It includes your real responsibilities: caring for family, being truthful, doing your work well.
When you are walking your own path, your actions feel right, even when they are hard. When you are copying someone else's path, things can feel wrong even when they are going well.
Put together, these five lessons say one thing: act on purpose, act with care, let go of the results, and walk the path that is truly yours. That is karma, understood well.
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात्। स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः ॥
śhreyān swa-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt sv-anuṣhṭhitāt swa-dharme nidhanaṁ śhreyaḥ para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ
Better one's own duty, though destitute of merit, than the duty of another, well discharged. Better death in the discharge of one's own duty; the duty of another is full of danger.
In plain words: Krishna says it is better to do your own duty, even poorly, than to do someone else's duty well. It is better even to die doing your own duty, because following another's path is full of danger.
Ask the Swami about this lesson
A quick question while you read