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Eighteen chapters in one line each, then twelve verses by which the whole Gita can be held. The links open the full chapter and the source verse.
Eighteen chapters
- Arjuna’s despair: in the middle of the battlefield the bow slips from his hand, and here the Gita begins.
- Sankhya yoga: the self neither dies nor is born; your right is to the work, never to its fruit; the marks of steady wisdom.
- Karma yoga: no one can stay without action for even a moment; so act without clinging, in the spirit of offering.
- Knowledge and renunciation of action: whenever dharma declines, I come; the fire of knowledge burns all karma to ash.
- Renunciation of action: both renunciation and karma yoga free a person, and karma yoga is the easier road; the even-eyed sage.
- Meditation: the mind is one’s friend and one’s enemy; practice and dispassion still its restlessness.
- Knowledge and realization: among thousands, one strives to know me; the four kinds of devotees.
- The imperishable Brahman: whatever one remembers while leaving the body, that one reaches.
- The royal secret: a leaf, a flower, a fruit, water, offered with love, I accept; I carry what my devotees need.
- Divine glories: wherever there is splendor, power and strength, there is a spark of me.
- The cosmic form: Arjuna receives divine sight, sees the face of Time, and trembles.
- Devotion: the one who hates no creature and stays even in joy and sorrow is dear to me.
- The field and its knower: this body is the field, and the one who knows it is the knower.
- The three gunas: sattva, rajas, tamas, and the one who crosses all three.
- The supreme person: the ashvattha tree with roots above and branches below; the living being is my own eternal part.
- Divine and demonic natures: desire, anger and greed are the three gates of hell.
- The three kinds of faith: as a person’s faith is, so is the person; food, sacrifice, austerity and giving in three colors.
- Liberation and renunciation: everything gathered into one word: leave every dharma and come to my refuge; do not grieve.
Twelve verses that hold the Gita
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदा चन ।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥47॥Your right is to action alone, never to its fruits. Do not let the fruit of action be your motive, and do not let your attachment be to inaction.
न जायते म्रियते वा कदा चिन्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः ।
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥20॥It is never born, nor does it ever die; nor, having once been, will it ever cease to be. Unborn, eternal, everlasting, and ancient, it is not slain when the body is slain.
ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंसः सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते ।
सङ्गात्संजायते कामः कामात्क्रोधोऽभिजायते ॥62॥When a person dwells on the objects of the senses, attachment to them arises. From attachment desire is born, and from desire anger arises.
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् ।
स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः ॥35॥One’s own duty, though imperfect, is better than the duty of another well performed. Death in one’s own duty is better; the duty of another brings danger.
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥7॥Whenever righteousness declines and unrighteousness rises, Bharata, at that time I bring myself forth.
उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत् ।
आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मनः ॥5॥Let a man lift himself up by his own self and never let himself sink. For the self alone is the friend of the self, and the self alone is the enemy of the self.
अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जनाः पर्युपासते ।
तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम् ॥22॥For those who think of me alone and worship me with undivided devotion, ever united with me, I myself provide what they lack and preserve what they have.
कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत्प्रवृद्धो लोकान्समाहर्तुमिह प्रवृत्तः ।
ऋतेऽपि त्वा न भविष्यन्ति सर्वे येऽवस्थिताः प्रत्यनीकेषु योधाः ॥32॥I am Time, grown mighty, the destroyer of worlds, set in motion here to gather in the worlds. Even without you, none of the warriors arrayed in the opposing ranks will survive.
अद्वेष्टा सर्वभूतानां मैत्रः करुण एव च ।
निर्ममो निरहंकारः समदुःखसुखः क्षमी ॥13॥One who hates no being, who is friendly and compassionate, free from possessiveness and free from ego, the same in sorrow and in joy, and forgiving,
ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूतः सनातनः ।
मनःषष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति ॥7॥The eternal one who has become the individual soul in the world of living beings is a portion of me alone. It draws to itself the mind and the five senses, which rest in prakriti.
इति ते ज्ञानमाख्यातं गुह्याद्गुह्यतरं मया ।
विमृश्यैतदशेषेण यथेच्छसि तथा कुरु ॥63॥Thus I have declared to you a knowledge more secret than the secret itself. Reflect on it fully, and then do as you wish.
सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज ।
अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः ॥66॥Abandoning all duties, come to me alone for refuge. I will free you from all sins; do not grieve.