The Central Theme of the Gita

Those who have attempted to study the Gita in their youth, or have tried to teach the Gita to young people, understand how very complex this small book may appear. There is no end of topics in it and they are all very essential, whether they deal with this world or the world beyond. Unless one reflects on the verses for a length of time, one will not understand. As a result, many people give up after going through the first four or five chapters, and are satisfied by haphazardly reading a few shlokas here and there.

To remedy this, Swami Premeshananda has chosen one hundred shlokas (verses) from the Gita and compiled them in this booklet. The book is arranged into ten chapters each containing ten of the selected shlokas. Each chapter is titled after the specific yoga to which the corresponding verses refer. The chapter is introduced by Swami Premeshananda, thus preparing the reader for the verses to follow. Each verse from the Gita is given in the original Devanagari script, followed by an English translation. Footnotes and commentary appear on almost every page. As an added bonus, a short essay on the Gita by Swami Vivekananda is included.

The English translation of the shlokas come from Swami Swarupananda's excellent version of the Gita: Srimad Bhagavad Gita
Of further interest please see: The Central Theme of the Srimad Bhagavatam

Swami Premeshananda (1884-1967) was one of the revered monks of the Ramakrishna Order who became a source if inspiration to countless spiritual aspirants, monastic as well as lay. He was an initiated disciple of Sri Sarada Devi.