In plain words
The senses are said to be higher; higher than the senses is manas; higher than manas is buddhi; and higher than buddhi is that one.
Word for word
They say the senses are higher; higher than the senses is manas; and higher than manas is buddhi; but he who is beyond buddhi is that one.
The commentators
Bhagavadgītābhāṣyam
इन्द्रियाण्यादौ नियम्य कामं शत्रुं जहिहि इत्युक्तम् ; तत्र किमाश्रयः कामं जह्यात् इत्युच्यते —
इन्द्रियाणि श्रोत्रादीनि पञ्च देहं स्थूलं बाह्यं परिच्छिन्नं च अपेक्ष्य सौक्ष्म्यान्तरत्वव्यापित्वाद्यपेक्षया पराणि प्रकृष्टानि आहुः पण्डिताः । तथा इन्द्रियेभ्यः परं मनः सङ्कल्पविकल्पात्मकम् । तथा मनसः तु परा बुद्धिः निश्चयात्मिका । तथा यः सर्वदृश्येभ्यः बुद्ध्यन्तेभ्यः आभ्यन्तरः, यं देहिनम् इन्द्रियादिभिः आश्रयैः युक्तः कामः ज्ञानावरणद्वारेण मोहयति इत्युक्तम् । बुद्धेः परतस्तु सः, सः बुद्धेः द्रष्टा पर आत्मा ॥ ४२ ॥
In plain words
"Restrain the senses first, then kill desire, that enemy" — that is what was said. So on that point: standing on what does a person kill desire? That is what comes next —
The senses — hearing and the rest, five of them — the wise call superior to the gross, external, limited body, because they are subtler, more inward, more far-reaching. Higher still than the senses is the mind, which lives by resolving and doubting. And higher than the mind is the intellect, whose nature is to decide. And higher than all of this — higher than every object of knowledge, right up through the intellect itself — is something more interior still. It was desire, riding on the senses and the rest as its vehicles, that was said to delude this embodied self by veiling its knowledge. But beyond the intellect stands that — the witness of the intellect, the Self supreme.
Close to the Sanskrit
"Having first restrained the senses, slay desire, the enemy" — thus it was said. On that point, resting on what should one slay desire? This is now stated —
The senses, beginning with hearing, five [in number], are said by the wise to be superior — excellent — compared to the body, which is gross, external, and limited, with regard to their subtlety, interiority, pervasiveness, and so on. Likewise, higher than the senses is the mind, whose nature is resolve and doubt. Likewise, higher than the mind, indeed, is the intellect, whose nature is determination. Likewise, that which is more interior than all objects of knowledge ending with the intellect [is the Self] — it has been said that desire, equipped with the senses and the rest as its vehicles, deludes the embodied self, that whom, by way of veiling knowledge. But beyond the intellect is that [Self] — that is the witness of the intellect, the supreme Self.