Chapter 02 – Shloka 54

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Shloka: 

अर्जुन उवाच

स्थितप्रज्ञस्य का भाषा समाधिस्थस्य केशव ।
स्थितधीः किं प्रभाषेत किमासीत व्रजेत किम् ॥

Step 1: संधि विच्छेद

Simplifying the Shloka by splitting the compound words (shown in colored fonts).

स्थितप्रज्ञस्य का भाषा समाधिस्थस्य केशव ।
स्थितधीः किम् प्रभाषेत किम् आसीत व्रजेत किम् ॥

The following sandhis are seen in this Shloka.

म् + आ = मा

Only one Sandhi is present in the Shloka.

Step 2: Word by word interpretation

The first line of the Shloka has an implied verb  ‘अस्ति’ having ‘भाषा’ as its subject. The second line has three verbs ‘प्रभाषेत’, ‘आसीत’ and ‘व्रजेत’, all three having ‘स्थितधीः’ as its subject. 

With this background, let’s have a closer look at each word in the Shloka.

स्थितप्रज्ञस्य – Root word is the masculine gender word ‘स्थितप्रज्ञ’, meaning ‘one having firm mind’ in English and ‘स्थिर बुद्धि वाला’ in Hindi. The singular form of 6th Vibhakti is applied – the 6th Vibhakti indicates the sense of ‘की’ being applied to the word in Hindi and hence the word means ‘स्थिर बुद्धि वाले की’ in Hindi.

In English 6th Vibhakti means ‘of’ and hence the word means ‘of the one having firm mind’.

The Shabd Roop will be like ‘बाल’

बालस्य

बालयोः

बालानाम्

का – Root word is the question related pronoun ‘किम्’ and since the pronoun points to ‘भाषा’ it takes the same gender, Vibhakti and vachan. Hence the feminine gender, 1st Vibhakti and singular form is applied. In this Vibhakti the word means ‘what’.

The Shabd Roop will be as follows:

का

के

काः

भाषा – The meaning of the word is ‘description’. This word is the subject of the verb and hence takes the 1st Vibhakti. The word is in feminine gender and the Shabd Roop will be like ‘लता’, and the Shabd Roop are as follows:

लता

लते

लताः

समाधिस्थस्य – The root word is ‘समाधिस्थ’ meaning ‘settled in meditation (or samadhi)’ in English and in Hindi the meaning is ‘समाधि में स्थिर’. The word is an adjective of ‘स्थितप्रज्ञस्य’ and hence the same Vibhakti, vachan and gender are applicable. Shabd Roop are like ‘बाल’ and the same is already provided earlier.

केशव – Name of Krishna used for addressing Krishna

स्थितधीः – Root word is ‘स्थितधी’ and the word is the subject of all the three verbs that will follow. Hence the 1st Vibhakti, singular form is applicable. Additionally, the word is in masculine gender. The meaning of the word is Hindi is ‘दृढ बुद्धि वाला’ and in English the word means ‘the one with firm mind’.

The Shabd Roop will be like ‘सुधी’ and are as follows:

सुधीः

सुधियौ

सुधियः

किम् – An Avyaya meaning ‘how’. Note ‘किम्’ also has Shabd Roop but in this case, it is used as an Avyaya.

प्रभाषेत – A verb with root word as ‘भाष्’ – and the विधिलिङ् लकार is used here, which adds the sense of ‘would / should’. The Atmanepade form of the verb is used here in the 3rd Person and singular form.

The Dhatu Roop are as follows:

भाषेत

भाषेयाताम्

भाषेरन्

किम् – An Avyaya meaning ‘how’.

आसीत – A class 2 verb having root word as ‘आस्’ – and again the विधिलिङ् लकार is used here, which adds the sense of ‘would / should’. The Atmanepade form of the verb is used here in the 3rd Person and singular form.

The Dhatu Roop are as follows:

आसीत

आसीयाताम्

आसीरन्

व्रजेत – A verb with root word as ‘व्रज्’ – and once again the विधिलिङ् लकार is used here, which adds the sense of ‘would / should’. The Atmanepade form of the verb is used here in the 3rd Person and singular form.

The Dhatu Roop are as follows:

व्रजेत्

व्रजेताम्

व्रजेयुः

किम् – An Avyaya meaning ‘how’.

Step 3: Rearrangement of the Shloka & Stitching it all together

The rearranged and translated lines for interpretation as per the sequence of Hindi language are as follows.

केशव समाधिस्थस्य स्थितप्रज्ञस्य का भाषा (अस्ति) स्थितधीः किम् प्रभाषेत किम् आसीत किम् व्रजेत

हे केशव ! समाधि में स्थिर स्थितप्रज्ञ पुरुष की क्या परिभाषा है दृढ बुद्धि वाला कैसे बोलता है, कैसे बैठता है, कैसे चलता है ?

The Hindi translations are quite easy to follow for this Shloka.

In English the translations will be as follows:

केशव का (अस्ति) भाषा समाधिस्थस्य स्थितप्रज्ञस्य किम् स्थितधीः प्रभाषेत किम् आसीत किम् व्रजेत

Oh Krishna! What is the description of the one settled in meditation and of firm mind? How would a firm minded person speak, how would he sit, how would he walk?

In the second line, ‘How would a firm minded person speak’ is not in exact syntactic order, as ‘would’ is applicable to the verb ‘speak’ and so the order words is slighly modified to fit the syntactic sequence required in English.