Srimad Bhagavad Gita -Ramanujacharya 115

Srimad Bhagavad Gita -Ramanujacharya

Chapter-3 Karma Yogaḥ

śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt svanuṣṭhitāt | sva-dharme nidhanaṃ śreyaḥ para-dharmo bhayāvaḥ || 35 || 35. Better is one's own duty, though devoid of merit, than the duty of another well-done. Better is death in one's own duty; the duty of another is fraught with fear. Commentary Therefore Karma Yoga [one’s own natural duty] is better than Jñāna Yoga [the duty of another]. It is one's personal duty because it is natural and easy to perform, and even if defective, it is free from possibility of interruption and fall. Jñāna Yoga (meditation on the ātman), on the other hand, though performed well for some time, constitutes an alien duty, as it is difficult to practice for one immersed in Material Nature. It is therefore subject to interruption and the possibility of error. For a Karma Yogi — practicing his natural duty, even death without success in one birth does not matter. In the next birth, with the help of the experience already gained in this birth it will be possible to perform Karma Yoga without any impediments.