In plain words
In these words he beautifully questions the heart. So, in the rule of God, the divine One who governs this world, we are each an atom. In this rule of God we must set about filling our hearts with the good resolve to use well, on the right path, even the karma that has fallen to our share. We must make fitting efforts to master the senses; trying merely to curb the body alone does no good.
If you pound the anthill, does the snake inside it die? If you punish your body yourself, do the pleasures of the senses subside? By merely giving up eating and drinking, do you become a knower of the Ātma? If you do not know who you are, how can the Jñāna of the Real be gained!
The Present Comes First
So, first of all, we must try to find out who we are. Until that is known, however many works we do, however many kinds of sādhana we practise, this principle of the Ātma will not be understood by us. That is just why, when we join the elders and the experienced, draw near to them, put their teachings into practice, and so, in a few ways, by our own strength, gather a few sādhanas, there is a chance that through this a little will be understood. But, by your good fortune, instead of your going to the experienced, elders full of experience, elders who have acquired learning of every kind, the experienced are bringing their counsel, their sacred teachings, to you every day, right here. By your good fortune, if you put this into practice and try to understand it this month, you will be people who have done Bhārata a very great service. Here is a small story about this. A king used to put three questions to everyone who came to him. The first question: Who is the best person? The second: What time is the best time? The third: What work is the best work? And he longed anxiously to know these three. However many people gave however many kinds of answers, the king was never satisfied.