What are some of the most beautiful verses from Bhagavad Gita?

1) yada yada hi dharmasya galnir bhavati bharata abhyutthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srjamy aham Whenever and wherever a decline of righteousness and a predominance of unrighteousness prevails;at that time I manifest Myself personally, Odescendant of Bharata. 2) "vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya navani grhnati naro ’parani tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany anyani samyati navani dehi" "Sri Krishna said: As a human being puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones." 3)"nainam chindanti shastrani nainam dahati pavakah na chainam kledayanty apo na sosayati marutah" "Sri Krishna said: The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind." 4) Karmanye Vadhikaraste, Ma phaleshou kada chana, Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhur matey Sangostva Akarmani You have the right to perform your actions, but you are not entitled to the fruits of the actions. Do not let the fruit be the purpose of your actions, and therefore you won’t be attached to not doing your duty.

"Beautiful" is a subjective word, and I will diverge a bit from the rest of the answers here.  Here are my favorite "beautiful" ones. 1. Arjuna calls himself Krishna's sishyakaarpanyadoshopahatah svabhaavah pricchaami tvaam dharmasammoodha chethaah | yacchreyasyaat nischitam broohi tan me shishyasteham shaadhi maam tvaam prapannam || (2.7)2. The description of a sthitaprajna (second part of chapter 2). Every sloka there is beautiful. 3. The four kinds of worshippers: chaturvidhaa bhajante maam jana sukrutinorjuna | aarto jignaasuh arthaarthii jnaani cha bharatarshabha ||4. The journey of a jnaani:  bahoonaam janmanaamante jnaanavaan maam prapadyate | vaasudevah sarvamiti sa mahatma sudurlabhah||5. Arjuna's fear in reaction to viswaroopam (Chapter 11). There are a few slokas there: Regretting all name-calling he did with his friend sakheti matva prasabham yaduktam he krishna he yadava he sakheti | ajaanataa mahimaanam tavedam mayaapramaadat pranayena vaapi || yaccha avahaasaartham asatkrutosi vihaarasayyaasanabhojaneshu | eko(a)thavaapi acyuta tat samaksham tat kshaamayetvaam aham eeshameedyam ||Request to hide this scary form and go back to his normal form tasmaat pranamya pranidhaaya kaayam prasaadaye tvaam ahameeshameedyam | piteva putrasya sakheva sakhyuh priyah priyaayaarhasi deva sodhum || adrushtapoorvam hrushitosmi drshtva bhayena ca pravyathitham mano me | tadeva me darshaya devaroopam praseeda devesha jagannivasa||6. There are verses from chapter 13 (verses 6-12): "amaanitvam adambhitvam..." another list of qualities that Swami Dayananda delves into in his book "The value of values". 7. There are the opening slokas from Chapter 16 - "abhayam sattva samshuddhih.. " and a list of such "transcendental" qualities (daivi-sampat). And then Krishna also reassures that Arjuna was born with such qualities.8. The description sattvic danam and worship. (Chapter 17) dAtavyam iti yaddaanam deeyate anupakaarine | deshe kaale cha patre cha taddaanam saatvikam smrutam ||aphalaakaanshibhiryajnah vidhidrushto ya ijyate | yashtavyameva iti manah samaadhaaya sa saatvikah ||The following shlokas are also beautiful. 9. And of course, all of chapter 18 :-)

I find God's mention of his splendorous manifestations quite beautiful Chapter 10 Verse-20 aham atma gudakesa sarva-bhutasaya-sthitah aham adis ca madhyam ca bhutanam anta eva ca I am the Self, O Gudakesa, seated in the hearts of all creatures. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings. Verse-21 adityanam aham visnur jyotisam ravir amsuman maricir marutam asmi naksatranam aham sasi Of the Adityas I am Visnu, of lights I am the radiant sun, I am Marici of the Maruts, and among the stars I am the moon. Verse-22 vedanam sama-vedo 'smi devanam asmi vasavah indriyanam manas casmi bhutanam asmi cetana Of the Vedas I am the Sama-veda; of the demigods I am Indra; of the senses I am the mind, and in living beings I am the living force [knowledge]. Verse-23 rudranam sankaras casmi vitteso yaksa-raksasam vasunam pavakas casmi meruh sikharinam aham Of all the Rudras I am Lord Siva; of the Yaksas and Raksasas I am the Lord of wealth [Kuvera]; of the Vasus I am fire [Agni], and of mountains I am Meru. And HE goes on till verse-41. Read more at http://www.asitis.com/10/

One of my favourites is this one   Tasmad ajnana sambhutam hrt-stham jnana asina atamana Chittva ainam sanshayam yogam atistha uttistha bharata                                                                                                                     Chapter 4 Verse 42   I have broken down this verse according to the various words. This is not the way it is to be said. This is the way it is to be said. I maybe wrong here.   Tasmadajnana sambhutam hrt-stham jnanasinatamana Chittvainam sanshayam yogamatisthottistha bharata     The beauty of this verse is how it moves effortlessly from the cause to the cure. The meanings of the words are as follows: (Taken from "The Gita As It Is" by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)   Tasmad: Hence, therefore Ajnana: Ignorance Sambhutam: Result, outcome Hrt-stham: of the heart, located in the heart Jnana: Knowledge Asina: Using the weapon of Atamana: The Self Chittva; Cutting off Enam:This Sanshayam: Skepticism, Doubt Yogam: In yoga Atistha: To be located or situated in Uttistha: Stand, arise Bharata: Descendant of Bharata   This verse ranks very high on two counts. 1.      The power and beauty of Sanskrit as a language is clearly visible here. The literary seamlessness of this verse is beautiful. Linguistically, it’s a smooth journey . 2.      This verse contains the cause, the disease and the cure and integrates them marvelously.   The meaning would be as follows.   Your inaction is an outcome of the ignorance residing in your Atman.  The solution also resides deep within you.  The individual is exhorted to unleash the power of yoga. The most important aspect of yoga, apart from detachment from material possessions is the true knowledge of the Atman. Knowing ourselves is one of the foremost requirements for being successful in life.  Later on Socrates also used the phrase “Know thyself.”   Once the individual realizes his true nature which is the Supreme knowledge (Jnana), like a sword cutting through blades of grass, he can cut through this ignorance (Ajnana) and fulfill his destiny and his potential. Krishna exhorts Arjuna, the descendant of Bharata to arm himself with this weapon, arise and fulfill his duty.   This is the essence of life.

dhyayato visayan pumsah sangas tesupajayate sangat sanjayate kamah kamat krodho 'bhijayateSynonyms:dhyāyataḥ—while contemplating; viá¹£ayān—sense objects; puṁsaḥ—of a person; saá¹…gaḥ—attachment; teá¹£u—in the sense objects; upajāyate—develops; saá¹…gāt—from attachment; sañjāyate—develops; kāmaḥ—desire; kāmāt—from desire; krodhaḥ—anger; abhijāyate—becomes manifest.     krodhad bhavati sammohah sammohat smrti-vibhramah smrti-bhramsad buddhi-naso buddhi-nasat pranasyati Synonyms:Krodhāt—from anger; bhavati—takes place; sammohaḥ—perfect illusion; sammohāt—from illusion; smá¹›ti—of memory; vibhramaḥ—bewilderment; smá¹›ti-bhraṁśāt—after bewilderment of memory; buddhi-nāśaḥ—loss of intelligence; buddhi-nāśāt—and from loss of intelligence; praṇaÅ›yati—one falls down.While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises.From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory.When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down .

One of the best is Adhyay 2 Shlok 3 क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते । क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं  त्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परंतप ॥३॥ Yield not to unmanliness, O son of Prithâ! Ill doth it become thee. Cast off  this mean faint-heartedness and arise, O scorcher of thine enemies!" If one reads this one Shloka —क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते ।  क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं त्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परंतप॥ — one gets all the merits of  reading the entire Gita; for in this one Shloka lies imbedded the whole Message  of the Gita. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_4/Lectures_and_Discourses/Thoughts_on_the_Gita