The Army Postal Service celebrated the ceremony of Color
Presentation to the Madras Regiment on 19.05.1982. On this memorable day, a
special cover was released. The cachet displays the insignia of
the Madras Regiment. A great Sanskrit motto is inscribed beneath the emblem
which reads as under:
स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः
sva-dharme nidhanaṃ śreyaḥ
"It is a glory to die doing one’s duty".
This motto is taken from the Bhagavad-gītā 3.35. The text and along with Śrī Śaṅkara's commentary is given below in order to get the philosophical context of the verse.
श्रेयान् स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात् स्वनुष्ठितात् ।
स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः ॥
śreyān
svadharmo viguṇaḥ
paradharmāt svanuṣṭhitāt
svadharme nidhanaṃ śreyaḥ
paradharmo bhayāvahaḥ
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Though out of context, given below are some interesting examples that Śrī Svāmī Dayānanda Sarasvatī (Arsha Vidya Gurukulam) said to bring home the meaning of sva-dharma:
Better is one's own imperfectly performed dharma than the well-performed dharma of another. Death in one's own dharma is better. The dharma of another is fraught with fear.
The concept of sva-dharma needs to be seen also in the spirit of this verse. In terms of one's own karma, sva-dharma, what is to be done is to be done even if one is destroyed in the process. Doing one's own karma is far better than doing the karma of another person, meaning that it is useless to want to do what someone else is doing. Do only what you have to do.
Suppose
the goalkeeper in a soccer game decides to run like the other players
do, because the ball never seems to come to him anyway, it would be a
disaster. In other words, if he decides to do the job of the other
players, even though it is his job to stand between the posts, it would
not work. What is being said here is that if standing between the posts
is your job, you had better do it. If the ball does not come to you, it
means the other team is not scoring goals and, if it comes too often, you can enjoy the action. It
is not as though you are always going to be just standing there.
Sometimes, there will be some action to perform. Just because the other
players run, does not mean that you should run.
Similarly,
the job of a bolt in a piece of machinery is to sit tight. But, suppose
the bolt is teased by the piston that says, 'Why aren't you doing any
action? I am the only one doing anything here. All you are doing is
sitting there tightly. Why don't you do something?' Hearing this once or
twice, the bolt may simply say, 'This fellow is just blabbering. My job
is to sit tight. That's how my maker, the manufacturer, made me.
Therefore, let me ignore what the piston is saying.' But eventually, the
bolt may think, 'Why should I not also move? I think the piston is
actually making some sense. After all, I do sit tightly all the time
while he keeps going. Should I not also do something? Then he may become
my friend. I am also a part of the machinery. Why shouldn't I do
anything?'
Having decided
thus, the bolt has to struggle to move because it has been sitting so
tightly for a long time. It tries to move one way and cannot. Then it
tries to move the other way and begins to shift. Happily, it says, 'I am
also doing now. I am also doing now. I am also doing now. I am also
doing now...' Whereupon the bolt falls to the ground! Before any time at
all, the piston also falls out and the entire mechanism comes to a
standstill -- all because of one bolt wanting to do someone else's
job!........
-- (Ṣrī Svāmī Dayānanda Sarasvatī, Bhagavad-gītā, Home-Study-Course (2001), p. 506, Coimbatore)
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Now my favorite orthodox Śāṅkara-bhāṣya on the Bhagavad-gītā, 3.35:
One's own duty [customary or scripturally ordained
observances of different castes and sects.-Tr.], though defective, is superior
to another's duty well-performed. Death is better while engaged in one's own
duty; another's duty is fraught with fear.
Sva-dharmaḥ,
one's own duty; being practised even though vigunaḥ, defective, deficient; is śreyān, superior to, more commendable than; para-dharmāt, another's duty;
though svanuṣṭhitāt, well-performed, meritoriously performed. Even nidhanam,
death; is śreyaḥ, better; while engaged sva-dharme, in one's own duty, as
compared with remaining alive while engaged in somebody else's duty. Why?
Para-dharmaḥ, another's duty; is bhayāvahaḥ, fraught with fear, since it invites
dangers such as hell, etc.
-- (Tr. Courtesy: Śrī Svāmī Gaṁbhīrānanda)
-----------------
Again a beautiful elaboration from Gūḍhārtha-dīpikā, on the same verse, by the great Śrī Madhusūdana Sarasvatī:
One's own duty, though defective, is superior to another's duty well-performed. Death is better while engaged in one's own duty; another's duty is fraught with fear.
That duty is one's own which is prescribed (by the scriptures) for the respective caste and stage of life. Sva-dharmaḥ, one's own duty; though vigunah, defective -- even though done without the perfection of all its components (i.e., incompletely); is śreyān, superior, both praiseworthy; para-dharmāt, than another's duty -- which has not been prescribed for oneself --; though svanuṣṭhitāt, well-performed, done with perfection in all its components (i.e., completely).
Indeed, nothing enjoined by an authority different from the Vedas can be a duty, on which (contrary supposition alone) the inference that 'even another's duty should be undertaken like one's own duty, because it (too) is a duty' can be an authority on this matter. For there is the dicturm, 'Duty is that which is to be undertaken for a human goal on the authority of an injunction presenting it' (Jaiminīya-sūtrā,1.1.2).
Therefore, svadharme, while engaged in one's own duty, though it be defective, in some part; even nidhanam, death; is śreyaḥ, better, more commendable, than the life of one who is engaged in somebody else's duty. Verily, one's death while remaining engaged in one's own duty is productive of fame in this world, and it is the cause of attaining heaven, etc., hereafter. However, since para-dharmaḥ, another's duty; is bhayāvahaḥ, fraught with fear, on account of being a source of infamy in this world and instrumental in leading to hell hereafter, therefore, another's duty also should verily be shunned like one's own natural conduct that is prompted by attraction, repulsion, etc. This is the meaning.
Thus in this way it stands stated that, those who accept the teaching of Lord attain the highest good and those who do not accept that fall away from the path to the highest good. (In the verses) beginning with, 'But those who, decrying this', etc. (32), have been stated many reasons why those who have fallen from the path from the highest good engage in kāmya-karmas with desire for results and perform only sinful acts. As to that, this is the verse summarising them:
Loss of faith, as also cavil, evil mindedness and foolishness, being under the influence of one's own nature, and excessive attraction and repulsion and liking for another's duty -- these are said to be those that lead to the evil path (Saṅgraha-śloka).
-- (Tr. Courtesy: Śrī Svāmī Gaṁbhīrānanda, Bhagavad-gītā with the Annotation Gūḍhārtha-Dīpikā, Calcutta, Rep.2000, pp. 252-53)
