Sthitaprajnasya Ka Bhasha

Arjuna now asks the question that opens one of the Gita's most celebrated passages. O Keshava, what does a person of steady wisdom look like? How does he speak? How does he sit? How does he walk?

Notice how practical Arjuna is. He does not ask for more philosophy. He wants to know what such a person looks like in everyday life — at the breakfast table, in the marketplace, in a conversation. Can you recognize steady wisdom by watching someone live?

Krishna's answer stretches from 2.55 all the way to 2.72. These eighteen shlokas paint a portrait of the Sthitaprajna — the person of unwavering awareness — and they rank among the most memorized verses in all of Indian tradition.

This shloka marks the beginning of the second half of Chapter 2. The first half covered the nature of the soul and the path of selfless action. Now the second half will describe what a realized person actually looks like in practice.

This question is traditionally called the Sthitaprajna Prashna (the question about steady wisdom), and shlokas 2.55 to 2.72 are known as the Sthitaprajna Prakarana (the section on steady wisdom).