Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan

Then the question comes there are activity which are not easy to do which causes some mismatch that Krishna addresses here:

Bg 18.47

śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ
para-dharmāt sv-anuṣṭhitāt
svabhāva-niyataṁ karma
kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam

Synonyms: 

śreyān — better; sva–dharmaḥ — one’s own occupation; viguṇaḥ — imperfectly performed; para–dharmāt — than another’s occupation; su–anuṣṭhitāt — perfectly done; svabhāva–niyatam — prescribed according to one’s nature; karma — work; kurvan — performing; na — never; āpnoti — achieves; kilbiṣam — sinful reactions.

Translation: 

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.

So in this verse and in the next verse Krishna will address the problem of problematic prescribed duties. Sometimes someone will think that my duty is very problematic to do, but Krishna says 

śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ, it is far better to do one’s own sva-dharma, even if it is having some faults, viguṇaḥ, faulty or imperfectly done,

para-dharmāt sv-anuṣṭhitāt, as compared to para-dharma

because svabhāva-niyataṁ karma, when one acts according to one’s karma 

kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam, one will not accrue karmic bondage.

This is especially for Arjuna’s question, where he is thinking that violence is undesirable that too with his relatives so one should not fight. So Krishna is saying tolerance and forgiveness are qualities of a Brahmana in contrast the qualities of Kshetriya is Yudhe Ca Api Apalayanam, so Arjuna you cannot run away from battle field you have to fight 

So He is saying viguṇaḥ, even if it appears faulty but you will become purified by doing your prescribed duty. So it is like a hospital where different patients are given different customized medicines. One has to take one’s own medicine, one cannot take someone else medicine and thinks that other’s medicine seems more palatable then my medicine. So Kshetriya dharma may involve killing but that killing is essential for maintaining law and order that is also required sometimes, so one should accept that.

End of transcription.