In plain words
This day is spoken of in the world in many ways, as Guru Pūrṇimā and as Vyāsa Pūrṇimā; Pūrṇimā means the moon taking on its full form. That is, it is the sacred mind's nature standing in a state of fullness. That is, a state with no tie at all to abhimāna, mamakāra and Ahaṅkāra is the true meaning of Pūrṇimā. So the heart of the guru is like the moon on the full-moon day. They said that the one who was such a guru is Vyāsa, and, “Vyāsa is Nārāyaṇa, is Hari.” Nārāyaṇa Himself came as Vyāsa: anantā vai vedāḥ; He divided for the world the endless principle of the Vedas and opened for men the way to go to the higher world. To give every man in this world, bound up with rajoguṇa, a journey to the higher place that is sāttvic and pure, He went on setting them out as steps of several kinds. But unhappily, because time, karma, work and duty changed, even Vyāsa's teachings came to take a contrary path. Today, because we have grown used to what is worldly and physical, to mere customs and observances, our mind keeps sliding down to a still weaker level. In a guru's teachings there must be nothing at all that belongs to the world. Any guru who gives teachings that belong to the world is no true guru. He alone is a guru who teaches only the principle of the Ātma, the root foundation.
When there is something else, the sāttvic, standing in the higher place above rajoguṇa, why should we teach only these, rajas and tamas? But today the believers, and those who have entered the spiritual path, long only to go step by step to the lower place, and find it very hard to go to the higher place. In this world, what is permanent? Inquire once more. Is property permanent? Or is the body permanent? Or are positions permanent? What is permanent? Nothing is permanent. Everything keeps perishing. Yet within every thing, too, lies a divinity called goodness. So to see this principle of goodness is the true vision of Īśvara. If a flower or a fruit is good, no one asks any question. When something is bad: “Why is it bad? Why has he gone bad? Why is it wrong?” Such a rain of questions we shower, but of the good we ask no such questions. So we question the bad, harm, pain and sorrow, but of good, of contentment, of Ānanda and of happiness we ask no questions at all. So goodness, Śānti and happiness: these are the nature of the Ātma. If today we have lost such Śānti, such happiness, such Ānanda, it means we have lost the true power of inquiry.
Embodiments of the divine Ātma! Truly, the principle of the Ātma, endless, undivided and one, lies densely packed within us. Forgetting this supreme principle and putting our faith in the principle of the world, we are wasting our life. So our jīva principle, the Īśvara principle and this principle of matter are only reflections cast in these guṇas, sattva, tamas and rajas; they are not the true forms.