Shloka 24
Kośa, Bala, and Maryādā: Treasury, Capacity, and Enforceable Limits (कोश-बल-मर्यादा)
स्वधर्मानन्तरा वृत्तिर्जात्याननुपजीवत: । जहत: प्रथमं कल्पमनुकल्पेन जीवनम्
svadharmānantara vṛttir jātyān anupajīvataḥ | jahataḥ prathamaṃ kalpam anukalpena jīvanam ||
ビーシュマは言った。「人が自らの出生と位に定められた義務に拠って生を支えられぬとき、代替の生計もまた説かれる。なぜなら窮乏の時、第一の道—自らのスヴァダルマ（svadharma）に従って生きること—を捨てざるを得ない者には、第二の道によって生きることが許される。命を保ち、無法へと崩れ落ちぬために、より下位の秩序の職に就くことさえも。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
In hardship, preserving life may require setting aside the primary rule of living strictly by one’s own svadharma; the tradition allows a secondary, emergency livelihood (anukalpa), even adopting work associated with a lower varna, to avoid greater moral collapse.
Bhishma is instructing Yudhishthira in the Shanti Parva on dharma, specifically explaining the graded rules of conduct: the normal rule (svadharma-based livelihood) and the emergency exception (alternative livelihood) when normal duty cannot sustain life.