Devanagari
अर्जुन उवाच
स्थितप्रज्ञस्य का भाषा समाधिस्थस्य केशव ।
स्थितधीः किं प्रभाषेत किमासीत व्रजेत किम् ॥ ५४ ॥
Verse text
arjuna uvāca
sthita-prajṣasya kā bhāṣā
samādhi-sthasya keśava
sthita-dhīḥ kiṁ prabhāṣeta
kim āsīta vrajeta kim
Synonyms
arjunaḥ uvāca
—
Arjuna said
;
sthita-prajṣasya
—
of one who is situated in fixed Kṛṣṇa consciousness
;
kā
—
what
;
bhāṣā
—
language
;
samādhi-sthasya
—
of one situated in trance
;
keśava
—
O Kṛṣṇa
;
sthita-dhīḥ
—
one fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness
;
kim
—
what
;
prabhāṣeta
—
speaks
;
kim
—
how
;
āsīta
—
does remain still
;
vrajeta
—
walks
;
kim
—
how.
Translation
Arjuna said: O Kṛṣṇa, what are the symptoms of one whose consciousness is thus merged in transcendence? How does he speak, and what is his language? How does he sit, and how does he walk?
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
54. Arjuna said: O Keśava, what is the description of this person situated in samādhi, the sthita-prajṣa? What does he speak, how does he sit, how does he move?
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
54. Arjuna said: O Keśava, what is the description of this person situated in samādhi, the sthita prajṣa? In agitating circumstances, how will he speak, how will he remain, suppressing his senses, or how will he engage his senses?
Purport
As there are symptoms for each and every man, in terms of his particular situation, similarly one who is Kṛṣṇa conscious has his particular nature – talking, walking, thinking, feeling, etc. As a rich man has his symptoms by which he is known as a rich man, as a diseased man has his symptoms by which he is known as diseased, or as a learned man has his symptoms, so a man in transcendental consciousness of Kṛṣṇa has specific symptoms in various dealings. One can know his specific symptoms from the Bhagavad-gītā. Most important is how the man in Kṛṣṇa consciousness speaks; for speech is the most important quality of any man. It is said that a fool is undiscovered as long as he does not speak, and certainly a well-dressed fool cannot be identified unless he speaks, but as soon as he speaks, he reveals himself at once. The immediate symptom of a Kṛṣṇa conscious man is that he speaks only of Kṛṣṇa and of matters relating to Him. Other symptoms then automatically follow, as stated below.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Hearing about intelligence fixed in samādhi (samādhav acalā buddhiḥ), Arjuna asks about the characteristics of that yogī. Sthita-prajṣa in this verse has the same meaning as acalā buddhi in the previous verse: fixed intelligence. What qualities can describe the sthita-prajṣa (kā bhāsā)? What are the qualities of the person situated in samādhi, samādhi stha? Actually the terms sthita-prajṣa and samādhi-stha both refer to the jīvan-mukta. What will that person say in the face of happiness and distress, respect and disrespect, praise and condemnation (kim prabhāṣeta)? What will he say, either loudly or to himself? In what way will his senses remain unresponsive to the external objects (kim āsīta)? In what way will his senses respond to the objects (vrajeta kim)?
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
When the Lord spoke thus, Arjuna wanting to know the characteristics of the sthitha prajṣa mentioned in the previous verse, a person situated in realization of ātmā, asks questions. There are four questions in this verse. One concerns the situation in samādhi. The other three are concerning the same person in samādhi when subjected to agitating circumstances.
How does one describe (kā bhāṣā) a person whose intelligence is fixed (sthita prajṣāsya), or the person situated in samādhi (samādhi sthasya)? Bhāṣa means “that by which something is described.” By which qualities can the sthita prajṣa be defined?
When that person becomes subjected to agitating circumstances, how will he behave? How will his words or actions be distinguished from those of others? On receiving praise or blame, affection or hate, what will he say externally or internally (kim prabhāṣeta)? How will he stop the senses from going to sense objects (kim āsīta)? And not stopping the senses, how will he receive those sense objects (kim vrajeta)? These last three are expressed with verbs in the potential mood. (If it were to happen, what would he do?)
Surrender Unto Me
This questions look external but they have internal meanings having to do with one situated in transcendence.
The first one will be answered in text 55: What are the symptoms? And that means how does he reveals his position of being in that transcendental consciousness. And Krsna answer is:
[ 2 ‑ What are the symptoms? (How does he reveal his position?) The self‑realized soul has renounced all tinges of sense gratification through having found pleasure in his self. (55) ]