Passage 3

Tap any word for its meaning.

In plain words

So we must hold reviling others, slandering others and tormenting others to be a great sin. The working of saṅkalpas shows itself in man moment by moment. As ‘Saṅkalpavikalpātmakam manaḥ’ has it, the working of Manas is made of saṅkalpa and vikalpa; and more than that, these saṅkalpas keep turning themselves over without end. So we must not give bad saṅkalpas the least room. Wishing for the welfare of others, the joy of others and the good of the world, and carrying on good thoughts and good reflection through the contemplation of God, we must see that life goes along the path to a good end. This is the chief fruit of the mind. All objects too are the very forms of saṅkalpas! This world of the five elements, this body, is the very form of saṅkalpas! This whole world has arisen from the form of saṅkalpas. As ‘Manomūlaṃ midaṃ jagat’ says, the whole world is the very nature, the very form, of Manas! These saṅkalpas can travel from man to man. These saṅkalpas are very powerful. They can bring the very world to a standstill, and bring it into one's own grasp. They can move this very world. Not recognising the power of such saṅkalpas, and not weighing the saṅkalpas that arise as lasting or passing, we let them go free. That is why man falls prey to many troubles, losses, sorrows and griefs. We must enquire well into every saṅkalpa, and then use it.

Manas is what drives man!

The world lies in the one mind alone; why should man wander about, gone crazy?

So said Vēmana. Though his own true principle lies within him, he does not recognise it, and struggles after something he thinks is out in the world, poor foolish man.