The Most Important Verses From The Gita

The Bhagavad Gita, or the Song of the Lord, comprises of 700 verses from the Bhisma Parva section of the Mahabharata, which has around 100,000 verses - 0.7% of the great epic. To choose THE MOST IMPORTANT verses from this is an even tougher task, given that the entire scripture is the advice of Sri Krishna. 

The best place to start is Sankara's masterly introduction to the Gita:

Having created the cosmos and seeking to ensure its existence, the Lord brought forth in the beginning the Progenitors Marici and the rest. Then he imparted to them the Vedic law of works (pravritti). Later, bringing forth others like Sanaka and Sanandana, He imparted to them the law of cessation of work (nivritti) marked by knowledge and detachment. Indeed, the Vedic law making for the world's stability is two-fold: (i)embracing works )ii) embracing cessation. 

This science of the Gita is the quintessence of all that goes under the name of the Vedas, but its sense is difficult to grasp. Many have striven to elucidate its words, their imports, and their totality as a reasoned treatise. Men in general, however, have got it as a mass of self-contradictory ideas.

I will rely on the words of two masters - Swami Vivekananda and Ramana Maharishi, to list the most important verses. The verses which each of them chose address two different aspects of life which Sankara had referred to in his introduction to the Gita. The first rouses us to external action on a foundation of strength, fearlessness and manliness (pravritti). The second tells us to explore our innermost being - the bridge to immortality (nivritti). Both action and meditation are needed for human well-being.

Swami Vivekananda's favorite verse in the Gita was Chapter 2 verse 3:

क्लैब्यं मा स्म गम: पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते |

क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं त्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परन्तप || 

O Arjuna, it does not befit you to yield to this unmanliness. Give up such petty weakness of heart and arise, O vanquisher of enemies.

Swami Vivekananda says: 

If one reads this one Shloka - one gets all the merits of reading the entire Gita; for in this one Shloka lies embedded the whole Message of the Gita.

If you, my sons, can proclaim this message to the world — क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते — then all this disease, grief, sin, and sorrow will vanish from off the face of the earth in three days. All these ideas of weakness will be nowhere. Now it is everywhere — this current of the vibration of fear. Reverse the current: bring in the opposite vibration, and behold the magic transformation! Thou art omnipotent — go, go to the mouth of the cannon, fear not.

Stand up and fight! Not one step back - that is the ideas. Fight it out, whatever comes, let the stars move from the spheres! Let the whole world stand against us! ...You gain nothing by becoming cowards ....you are infinite, deathless, birthless. Because you are infinite spirit, it does not befit you to be a slave. Arise! Awake! Stand up and fight!

A visitor asked Sri Ramana Maharishi as to which verse could be considered the quintessence of the the Gita. Sri Ramana Maharishi recommended Chapter 10, verse 20 

अहमात्मा गुडाकेश सर्वभूताशयस्थित: |

अहमादिश्च मध्यं च भूतानामन्त एव च || 

'I am the Self, O Arjuna, dwelling in the Heart of every being; I am the beginning and the middle and also the end of all beings.' 

Swami Ranganathananda, in his talks on the Universal Message of the Bhagavad Gita, says:

Beautiful! I am the Self hidden in the heart of all beings in the world. Not in the heart of Hindus only! Or Vaisnavas only! No - in the heart of all beings, I am the Self, like the thread that runs through a garland of pearls, making for the unity of the pearls. There is not anything in the world in the heart of which the Divine spark is not there. The Taittiriya Upanishad says: The world has come from Brahman, who is of the nature of satyam-jnanam-anantam. Where shall you find him? In your own heart, hidden in the cavity of your heart, so you have to discover it. That is why a little struggle is needed. 

From God we come, in God we exist, and to God we return, using the word God in the Vedantic sense of the term - not something extra-cosmic, but as the one primordial reality, as the infinite Consciousness, which has spread out in the vast universe. 

This teaching has profound significance for all people. Men and women have been upgraded to a high level. What looks like a tiny physical organism contains some profound dimension. That must be realized. And nature has given us the organic capacity to investigate and realize this truth. The Mundaka Upanishad (II.2.5) says, "Know that Self alone that is one without a second, on which are strung heave, the earth and the inter-space, the mind and the vital forces together with all the other organs; and give up all other talks. This is the bridge to immortality." The 'bridge to immortality' is to realize this Truth, 'I am the Atman', ever free, ever pure, ever enlightened. That is my true nature.  What a beautiful idea! Even in the worst sinner, that Atman ever remains pure. That is why atmajnana, 'knowledge of the Atman' is the greatest thing that we can aspire for.

Swami Vivekananda says:

Hate not the most abject sinner, fool; not to his exterior. Turn thy gaze inward, where resides the Paramâtman. Proclaim to the whole world with trumpet voice, "There is no sin in thee, there is no misery in thee; thou art the reservoir of omnipotent power. Arise, awake, and manifest the Divinity within!"