Bhagavad Gita 18.47

śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ

para-dharmāt sv-anuṣṭhitāt

sva-bhāva-niyataṁ karma

kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam

Better one’s own duty, though done less well,

Than another’s performed with practiced spell;

By doing work aligned with one’s own nature,

One incurs no fault in such endeavor.

My dear Lord, your wisdom helps me ultimately go beyond this world to reach you. And it guides me to best navigate through this world while I am here.

O all-attractive Lord, let me not get attracted to and consumed by the things that are glamorized in this world. Let me appreciate that, by your arrangement, I have a specific nature. When I neglect that nature in order to pursue some other less aligned or even misaligned role, I set myself up for inner disruption and dissatisfaction, even if I am temporarily successful in gaining outer remuneration and recognition.

O merciful Lord, grant me the inner conviction that my nature can empower me to do something valuable, even if my contribution seems faulty in the sense of being deficient in quantity or defective in quality as compared to some externally expected standard. Let me not get carried away by such superficial considerations alone, and instead remember that my present phase of faulty performance is finite, and that by your mercy, my contribution can, with time, become better and greater.

O omnipotent Lord, lead me to the light of inner clarity by which I can better appreciate the nature you have arranged for me, and to the warmth of contentment by which I can stay aligned with it, independent of outer validation.

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18.47 It is better to engage in one’s own occupation, even though one may perform it imperfectly, than to accept another’s occupation and perform it perfectly. Duties prescribed according to one’s nature are never affected by sinful reactions.