In plain words
Go away!’ so we pray. If we would keep our health whole, we must remove the impurities within. We must take good food. Only by these two kinds of action can we be healthy, strong and content. In the same way, we must try to protect the health of the mind as well. When the body, made of the five elements, falls ill, we have it treated with the proper remedy and keep to a regimen. If even a little dirt touches the body, we clean it at once. But however much dirt clings to the mind, we make no effort to cleanse it. The reason: an outward outlook! We remove the outer dirt only to show the world.
A rented house
The one who has outward vision is the animal; the one who has inward vision is man. But even man, who has inward vision, is bringing his life to an end with nothing but outward vision. When they are wearing dirty clothes and a friend comes, they feel ashamed; but when the heart is dirty, they are not ashamed even when they see God! ‘No one can see the heart, after all’: that is their boldness! First of all, our effort must go to purifying the heart. Only then does the human body become the dwelling of Mādhava. The body is the dwelling of God. But it is like a rented house. It is made of earth alone, not of Consciousness. Sometime or other, we have no choice but to leave this house. One day or another, we must leave it behind. But we fail to recognise this truth.
Karma alone is the measure of the jīva's goal! Karma alone is the cause of one's good and bad; that is why the wise said, ‘Tasmai namaḥ karmaṇe.’ If we perform holy actions, we receive holy fruits. Through that, purity of mind arises. From purity of mind comes the attainment of Jñāna. “Cittasya śuddhaye karmaḥ”: purity of mind comes through karma itself. Just as one bows to God on rising at dawn, one must bow before every action one is about to do.