How do I learn the Bhagavad Gita verses?

Use bhagavad gita as it by iskcon. You may fe...

I read from this book : http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Bhagavad-Gita-Timeless-language/dp/0615459528/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1392197730&sr=8-10&keywords=new+bhagavad+gita Reading Gita is easy, just like anyother book, following it is a different story all togther.

You don't learn the Bhagavad Gita . You Study it. And Don't try reading it just for the sake of it. I agree with what Giridhar Chakravarti has said, that there is a huge difference between reading it and actually following what is written in it.

If you want to memorize the verses, I'd suggest you start with Chapter 12. It has only 20 shlokas and the shlokas are very meaningful/practical. Then, as you go forward, it's good to understand the meaning of each verse if you want to memorize. If you want to learn it as in understand the meaning of each verse, then I will recommend a book that I've co-written: The Complete Bhagavad-Gita (see http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Bhagavad-Gita-verse---verse/dp/1494386119/)

To learn the Bhagavad Gita you can memorize it as if we memorized poetry in the basic schools. To study the Bhagavad Gita you have to read it repeatedly and think deeply about everything you read. To understand the Bhagavad Gita you have to have some prior experiential knowledge. So here it is a “tricky” moment: You can actually not understand the Bhagavad Gita from the text itself but only form you personally. Having the prior experiential knowledge the Bhagavd Gita can be for you a “tester” of your experiential knowledge. Something you will understand something not. Later you can understand more… The Bhagavad Gita is like mirror for us. We can see in it our experiential knowledge. From this point of view, the Bhagavad Gita is a valuable instrument.

Get a gita which has word to word meaning and explanation Then download gita audio... you can even cut each sloka out so that you can hear it repeatedly using an mp3 cutter...and learn 2 verses a day ,  whole thing takes 15 mins a day in 1 yr, you will know the whole gita by heart I am adding a friends suggestion here... This is a real good method. a) Use a Sanskrit shlokas pocket version of Gita. Gita Press has a small pocket edition in Sanskrit + Translation (in English(Book Code 455) OR Hindi(Book Code 20) etc) that's really handy. b) Use Sanskrit audio downloaded from http://www.gitainternational.com/hindi-audio.htm The audio helps to do sandhi-vichheda properly i.e. split one big sanskrit "word" into smaller comprehensible words. c) Using "God Talks with Arjuna" by  Sri Paramahansa Yogananda with extensive commentary on Sanskrit shlokas in English. This is exactly the right mix of practical and esoteric at once that I was looking for. http://www.amazon.in/God-Talks-Arjuna-Bhagavad-Volumes/dp/8189535013 Fortunately I already had both the books 'a' and 'c'. The missing part was the audio book which helps to split and understand the words on my own and then look at the commentary. Otherwise the commentary becomes all important and the shlokas fall by the side. This is because you can't reflect on the sholkas word for word and come up with your idea to contrast and compare with the commentary. And there's a vast difference but at least you've thought for yourself. Also you get to understand what the words mean in the context of the gita. Sanskrit words can mean many things if used indiscriminately, but in the Gita understanding what the word points to is more important than the word itself.Otherwise it's very easy to go galloping in a random direction like Don Quixote atop Rosinante. d) This method of going over only a few stanzas is very good as you don't get tired. Also I found in book 'c' that the earlier stanzas are explained extensively and the later ones are explained on the basis of the preceding word-concepts. So the learning curve may be longer in the beginning but later one may learn and form connections faster. and check out this link also as it might help

Understanding the context is important than memorizing the verses. The Bhagavad Gita is not math or science, that said, here is a brief introduction of the same….The Bhagavad is not a holy book that belongs to any one individual, caste, group, school, sect, nation or time. It is rather a scripture for the entire world and for all times. It is for all, for every nation, for every race, and for every man and woman, whatever be their spiritual level and capacity.Its universality makes the Gita unique among the eminent sacred works of the entire world. The Gita is that touchstone that vindicates the substance of truth.Almost all holy books abound in provisions for worldly life and sustenance, and also in directives for religious rites and ceremonies. There are also introduced into them-in order to make them more attractive-sensational and even dreadful accounts of what ought or ought not to be done.It is so unfortunate that people blindly accept all these superficial matters as the ‘essence’ of dharm, forgetting that regulations and modes of worship that have been laid down for the conduct and sustenance of physical life are bound to undergo change with place, time, and situation.This really is behind all our communal and religious disharmony.The uniqueness of the Gita is that it rises above temporal questions and reveals the dynamic way by which man may achieve perfection of the Self and final absolution. There is not a single verse in the whole composition that is concerned with sustenance of physical life.On the contrary, each verse of the Gita demands of its disciples that they equip themselves and get ready for the inner war-the discipline of worship and meditation.Bhagavad Gita is concerned exclusively with demonstrating the way by which the Soul may attain to the immortal state after which there are no shackles of birth and death.Instead of providing skills needed for the sustenance of worldly, mortal life, the Gita instructs its votaries in the art and discipline that will surely bring them victory in the battle of life.The war the Bhagavad Gita portrays is not the physical, worldly war that is fought with deadly weapons, and in which no conquest is ever of a permanent character. The war of the Gita is the clash of innate properties and inclinations, the symbolic representation of which as ‘war’ has been a time-honoured literary tradition.Hence it is call of present difficult time to dive deep in metaphysical depth of spiritual ocean of Bhagavad Gita and explore it's divine wisdom for eternal peace of entire mankind through out the globe.“UNIFORM DHARM PRINCIPLES” Through Metaphysical Vision Of Bhagavad Gita By Lord Krishn….!!!1. EVERY ONE IS CHILD OF GOD:“The immortal soul in the body is a part of mine and it is HE who draws the five senses and the sixth the mind that dwell in nature.” ( Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 15, Verse Seven)All human beings are children of God.2. PURPOSE OF THE HUMAN BODY :“It hardly needs saying that since pious Brahmin and royal sages (rajarshi) attain to salvation, you should always engage in my worship after getting the rare human body which is naturally afflicted with pain and suffering and is ephemeral too.” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Nine, Verse 33)The right for such worship is granted to all those in a human body.3. ONLY TWO KINDS IN HUMAN BEINGS :“There are in the world, O’Parth, two kinds of beings, the pious, on whom I have already dwelt at length, and the devilish of whom you will now hear from me. (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 16, Verse Six)There are only two types of human beings, the’Dev’ (divine) of whom the heart is dominated by the noble traits, and the’Asur’ (devil) whose evil traits dominate the hearts. In this entire creation, there are no other types of human beings.4. FULFILMENT OF EVERY DESIRE THROUGH GOD :“Men who do pious deeds enjoined by the three Ved, who have tasted nectar and freed themselves from sin, and who wish for heavenly existence through worshiping me by Yagya, go to heaven (Indralok), and enjoy godly pleasures as a reward for their virtuous acts.” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Nine, Verse 20)“Through worshiping me, people aspire to reach the heaven and I grant it to them. Therefore, everything can be easily attained through the grace of Supreme Being.”5. ELIMINATION OF EVERY SIN BY TAKING REFUGE IN THE SUPREME BEING :“ Even if you are the most heinous sinner, the ark of knowledge will carry you safely across all evils.” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Four, Verse 36)Even the worst of all sinners can undoubtedly gain access to the Supreme Being by using the boat of wisdom.6. KNOWLEDGE :“Constantly resting in the awareness of God is called adhyatmy and the perception of the Supreme Spirit who is the end of realization of truth are all knowledge and whatever is contrary to them is ignorance.” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 13, Verse 11)Dedication to the wisdom of the Supreme Soul, and the direct perception of Eternal Wisdom, which is the manifestation of the Supreme Soul, constitute the components of the real wisdom. Any thing, other than these is ignorance. Thus direct perception of God is wisdom.7. EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO WORSHIP :“Even if a man of the most depraved conduct worships me incessantly, he is worthy of being regarded as a saint because he is a man of true resolve. Thus he soon becomes pious and achieves eternal peace, and so, 0 Son of Kunti, you should know beyond any doubt that my worshiper is never destroyed.” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Nine, Verse Thirty-Thirty one)A great sinner even, if worships ME with one pointedness and single mindedness shall be transformed into a noble soul and shall attain the everlasting peace within. Therefore, a noble soul is the one who has dedicated himself to the Supreme Being.8. EVERLASTING SEED IN DIVINE PATH :“Since selfless action neither wears out the seed from which it sprang nor has any adverse consequence, even a partial observance of this dharm liberates one from the dire terror of repeated birth and death.” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Two, Verse 40)Even a small amount of action performed with a goal of self realization shall elevate the seeker from the terrible fear of birth and death cycles. The seed that is sown in the divine path is never lost.9. THE ABODE OF THE SUPREME BEING:“Propelling all living things that bestride a body which is but a contrivance by his maya, O Arjun, God abides in the hearts of all beings. Seek refuge with all your heart, O Bharat, in that God by whose grace you will attain to repose and the everlasting, ultimate bliss.” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 61- 62)God resides within the heart of every living being. Therefore, one must surrender himself totally to this Supreme Being with complete detachment. Through His compassion, one shall attain the ultimate bliss.10. YAGYA:“Yet other Yogi offer the functions of their senses and operations of their life breaths to the fire of Yog (self control) kindled by knowledge. As some offer their exhalation to inhalation, others offer their inhaled breath to the exhaled breath, while yet others practise serenity of breath by regulating their incoming and outgoing breath.” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Four, Verse 27-29)The entire activities of the sense organs and mental turmoils are offered as oblations to the soul that is illuminated by wisdom, into the fire of yog. Meditators, on the self, sacrifice the vital air to apan and similarly apan to pran. Going even higher than this, a Yogi restrain all life forces and take refuge in the regulation of breath (pranayam). The procedure of such practices is Yagya. To perform this action is “ORDAINED ACTION”i.e. Karm.11. KARM:The sacrifice of the vital air to Apan and similarly Apan to Pran and the restraint of inhalation and exhalation of breath is named as Karm. Karm signifies worship or contemplation. The system of practice of Yog is known as Yagya. (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Four, Verse 32)VIKARM:Vikarm means that karm which is not obligatory but which is undertaken for the help and guidance of those who are left behind. After the final attainment, the sage becomes free from the performance of karm. Such self-attained, self-realised sages neither gain nor lose anything by performing the karm. After the attainment of this state whatever they do is immaculate. Such a karm is called vikarm. (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Four, Verse 17)12. PERFORMER OF YAGYA :“O the best of Kuru, the yogi who have tasted the nectar flowing from Yagya attain to the eternal Supreme God, but how can the next life of men bereft of Yagya be happy, when even their life in this world is miserable?” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Four, Verse 31)For people, who do not possess the attitude of yagya, it is very difficult to obtain human form in the transmigratory existence. Therefore, everyone in a human body is entitled to perform Worshipful Meditation (Yagya).13. GOD CAN BE SEEN : “O Arjun! a man of great penance, a worshiper can know this form of mine directly, acquire its essence, and even become one with it by a total and unswearing dedication.” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 11, Verse 54)It is easy to see Him face to face, know Him and even gain entry into Him through intense devotion.“Only a seer views the soul as a marvel, another one describes him as a marvel, and yet another hears him as a marvel, while there are some who hear him and yet know Him not.” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Two, Verse 29)An enlightened sage could see this SOUL as a rare wonder.This is direct perception.14. SOUL IS ETERNAL AND TRUE :“The Self, which cannot be pierced or burnt or made wet or faded, is uninterrupted, all pervasive, constant, immovable and eternal.” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Two, Verse 24)Soul alone is true. Soul alone is eternal.15. BRAHMA (god of creation) AND HIS CREATIONS ARE MORTAL :“All the worlds from Brahmlok downwards are, O Arjun, of a recurrent character, but, O son of Kunti, the soul which realizes me is not born again.” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Eight, Verse 16)Brahma and his creations, dev and demons are full of grief, momentary and mortal.16. WORSHIP OF OTHER GODS :“Driven by the properties of their nature, they who fall from knowledge desire worldly pleasures and in imitation of the prevailing customs, worship other gods instead of one single God.” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 7, Verse 20)Those whose intellect has been robbed through enjoyment of worldly comforts, such foolish persons tend to worship other gods than the Supreme Being.“Although even covetous devotees indeed worship me in worshiping other gods, their worship is against the ordained provisions and therefore enveloped by ignorance.” ( Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Nine, Verse 23)Those who worship other gods, are worshiping Supreme Being under influence of ignorance and their efforts go in vain.RELINQUISHMENT OF SCRIPTURAL PROCESS :“While the virtuous worship gods and the impassioned and morally blind worship yaksh and demons, they who are blinded by ignorance worship ghosts and nature-spirits.’’ (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 17, Verse Four)Those who are of sattvic nature worship gods when they quit the scriptural path; persons of rajas nature worship yaksha, rakshas, and persons of tamas nature worship ghosts and goblins.“Mark you that they who undergo terrible self mortification without spiritual sanction and are afflicted with hypocrisy and arrogance besides lust, attachment, and vanity of power and who wear out not only the elements that constitute their bodies but also me who dwells in their souls are ignorant men with evil disposition.” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 17, Verse Five- Six)Even people with virtuousness tend to worship other gods. However, you must know that such persons too are devilish in nature.17. THE IGNOBLE :“I forever condemn these abhorring, degraded, and cruel persons, the most abject, among mankind, to demoniacal births.’’ (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 16, Verse 19)Those who, after forsaking the prescribed way of performing Yagya, adopt ways without scriptural sanction, are cruel, sinful and ignoble among the human beings.18. ORDAINED PROCEDURE :“He who departs from the body intoning OM, which is GOD in word, and remembering me, attains to salvation.’’ (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 8, Verse 13)The intoning of OM, which is the synonym for eternal Brahm and remembering only the sole Supreme Being in worshipful meditation is the guidance of the enlightened sage.19. SCRIPTURE : “I have thus instructed you, the sinless, in the most subtle of all knowledge because, O Bharat, by knowing its essence a man gains wisdom and accomplishes all his tasks.’’ (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 15, Verse 20)GEETA IS SCRIPTURE :“So scripture is the authority on what ought and ought not to be done, and having learnt that you have the ability to act according to the provisions laid down by the scripture.’’ (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 16, Verse 24)Scripture is only a base to take perfect decision in case of performance or avoidance of DUTY. Hence one should act as per prescribed task elaborated in Bhagavad Gita.20. DHARM :“Grieve not, for I shall free you from all sins if you abandon all other obligations (dharm) and seek refuge in me alone.’’ (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 66)After giving up all the confusing ups and downs, and interpretations (he who shall take refuge in ME, means who shall completely surrender to the sole Supreme Being), the ordained action to achieve ultimate bliss is the real conduct of DHARM (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 40) and even if man of the most depraved conduct if performs, is worthy of being regarded as a Saint. (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Nine, Verse 30)21. WHOM TO APPROACH TO KNOW REAL DHARM :“For I am the one in whom the eternal GOD, immortal life, the imperishable Dharm, and the ultimate bliss all abide.’’ (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 14, Verse 27)He is the dwelling of the immortal GOD, of everlasting life, of eternal DHARM and of the unblemished pure joy of attaining the Supreme goal.In other words, a GOD-attained saint, an enlightened GURU is this bliss, personified.THE TRUE ESSENCES OF ALL THE RELIGIONS IN WORLD ARE ECHOS OF GITA.Source: https://www.facebook.com/eternalpeacemission/

We never learn anything in Bhagavad Gita via path of literal reading. All scriptures including Bhagavad Gita demand our indulgence in path of contemplation, path of logistical reasoning, path of self enquiry... to unveil hidden underlying meaning. I receive queries from so many people world over that they had read Bhagavad Gita number of times but still it was not clear. If we keep digging shallow wells all over instead of concentrating on one single well, how could we complete our journey of life?   The contents of sacred Bhagavad Gita was not difficult to understand provided we had the zeal and enthusiasm exhibited by Swami Vivekananda. We only wanted to read, never truly understand. We only wanted to get a degree, but were never after wisdom. The man who desires gaining something in life always comes first in class. Not because one scored highest, but was also intelligent. We must indulge in Bhagavad Gita only if our goal of life was spirituality, reaching god in present life.   I know many people in person who started their journey of spirituality but left midway. Some became serious patients of depression. Path of spirituality, jnana wisdom contained in Bhagavad Gita was always a one-way path. We must always tread spiritual path with caution. Path of spirituality was always one-sided, once traversed ahead; chances of returning to material fold of life were nil.     Since six years of age I had a desire to see God. My path was spirituality, not religion. I realized early in life that Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharishi Ramana finally succeeded in reaching God. I duplicated their efforts. I all the time indulged in path of self enquiry (path of Neti... not this, not this) as preached and advocated by Maharishi Ramana. Self enquiry, Neti is best practiced lying in shavasna pose of yoga. Slowly step-by-step I succeeded in removing dross impurities within my soul atman.   By remaining truthful in life, we can hear the sweet small inner voice of our soul atman that seemed to come from within our heart. Prompted by the voice of our soul atman, we could easily digest the inner meaning of shlokas verses contained in Bhagavad Gita. Absolute faith in God Almighty was also an absolute necessity. In absence of truthfulness or faith, one could never understand contents of Bhagavad Gita in totality.

When I started reading the Geeta, I never focussed on learning the text by heart. I tried to understand the meaning, instead. I really liked some shlokas and my mind started to memorize them on its own. As I read the Geeta repeatedly I started to like more and more of them.After doing so for almost an year, there are some 20 shlokas which I know by heart. Also, there are many shlokas of which I know only a part, but with a little effort memorizing them becomes easy. I think the Geeta's message itself can be applied here- You have a right to read the Geeta, but have none on the result, which is all the shlokas being on the tip of the tongue. Don't read the Geeta just for memorizing, and it should also be not that you don't read it at all!