Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 54
अर्जुन उवाच । स्थितप्रज्ञस्य का भाषा समाधिस्थस्य केशव । स्थितधीः किं प्रभाषेत किमासीत व्रजेत किम्
arjuna uvāca | sthitaprajñasya kā bhāṣā samādhisthasya keśava | sthitadhīḥ kiṃ prabhāṣeta kimāsīta vrajeta kim
Translation
What, O Keśava, is the description of one of steady knowledge, who is constant in contemplation? How does one of steady knowledge speak, how sit, how move?
— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri
Word meanings
- sthitaprajñasya
- steady, intelligence, whose, his
- kā
- what
- bhāṣā
- definition
- samādhisthasya
- of the Samādhi-seated
- keśava
- O Keshava
- sthitadhīḥ
- fixed, mind, whose, he
- kim
- what
- prabhāṣeta
- may (he) speak
- kim
- what (how)
- āsīta
- may (he) sit
- vrajeta
- may (he) walk
- kim
- what (how)
Śaṅkarācārya's commentary
Arjuna asks: what are the marks of the man whose knowledge (prajñā) is firmly fixed, who abides in samādhi? How does such a one speak, how sit, how move? The question is intended to draw out the visible signs of the inwardly realized state, so that the practitioner may both recognize the goal and pursue it as a discipline. The remainder of the chapter (2.55–2.72) is the Lord's answer.