In plain words
When this Manas tries to speak, we must give Manas good counsel and then try to join this Manas to Buddhi. When Buddhi and the Ātma are joined, speech merges in Manas, Manas in Buddhi, and Buddhi in the Ātma, and it strives to recognise the principle of all.
But ordinary people in the world cannot understand the truth that the outer world and the inner world are inseparably bound together. They long always to enjoy pleasures and riches in the outer world, but they make no effort to gain the Ānanda of the Ātma in the inner senses. Man is developing only the outward gaze; he makes not even an atom of effort for the inward gaze. True, this is not their fault. Since the doors of the chief senses among the five, eyes, ears, nose and mouth, open outward, there is no fault in having an outward gaze in this. Only some few develop the inward gaze and enjoy the Ānanda of the Ātma. Is it the body that sees beauty and rejoices, or the Ātma? Is it the body that relishes food, or the Ātma? Is it the Ātma that is enraptured by a fragrance, or the body? When man inquires in this way, he can clearly recognise the truth that this belongs purely to the principle of the Ātma, and that the body is inert. It becomes clear that what lies beyond Manas, Buddhi and the senses, and cherishes and rules the world, is the principle of the Ātma. The root of the outer world and the source of the inner world is the Ātma. Forgetting such a fundamental principle, we yield to the fleeting senses, waste our time on the affairs of the world, and make life meaningless.
All of today's learning is worldly learning. The Vedas, the Vedāṅgas, music and literature, the physical sciences, chemistry, botany: all of these are only worldly learning. We are offering up our lives to these lower kinds of learning alone. The knowledge of the Ātma alone is the higher knowledge. All these lower kinds of learning arose only to earn a living. What is the principle of life's supreme goal? When a house is full of cooked dishes, what is the purpose of these dishes? The cooking of these dishes has its meaning only when there is someone to eat them. So we must recognise today the truth that all these worldly kinds of learning arose in order to recognise the principle of the Ātma, which is beyond the world. Without the knowledge of the Ātma, all these kinds of learning are meaningless.
That is why each person must keep asking himself, moment after moment, what the supreme aim of our life is. Eating, drinking, sleeping, dying: is this all the destination of life?