In plain words
For every man there are four kinds of station. One is the body; the second, the Manas. The third, the Buddhi. The fourth, the Ātma. Now, what is the state of this body, what is the work of the body, what is the body's Dharma? Śarīramādyaṃ khalu dharmasādhakam. It is the instrument for practising Dharma. But how can this instrument carry out its own Dharma? A knife cuts a fruit; it chops vegetables. But the knife does not set about cutting these vegetables of its own accord. There must be a person who holds it. The person who holds it must keep cutting with the thought of how the vegetables are to be cut. In just the same way, this body is like an instrument. This instrument cannot enter into actions of its own accord. It has no such freedom. It is by the urging of the Manas and by the strength of the Manas that this body keeps working. For everything, the Manas alone is the support. That is why: "Manomūlam idaṃ jagat." The whole world, this world made of the five elements and furnished with the senses, rests on this Manas alone. So we must recognise the nature of this Manas well. Today we punish the body for all the conduct the Manas carries out. That itself is against Dharma. How? Here is a small example. A man killed another man, or did him harm. Then, under the law, they gave the man who did the harm the sentence of hanging. It is the body that undergoes this punishment. But it was the Manas that did the wrong. If the Manas does wrong, why punish the body? Without the urging and the prompting of the Manas, the body cannot carry out any action, can it? But there is no authority in this world who can punish the Manas. That is why this law punishes the body. This is worldly Dharma.
But that is not the Dharma of the Paramātma. It was the Manas that did wrong. The body is only something used as a vehicle, a kind of instrument. So God punishes the Manas, holding that the body only followed its own duty and the whole fault is the Manas's. Today, through the senses that are called the body, every kind of joy is experienced. This enjoying is its limit. But it is the Manas that enjoys. I am really hungry. When there is hunger, how is this hunger to be satisfied! Where is the hunger felt? There is hunger in my stomach. Only when we give some little food to the fire of digestion is this hunger satisfied. This is the nature of the body. What must we do to satisfy this hunger? In this body, the hand must take the food lying on the plate and put it into the stomach. The hand took it. The teeth chewed it, the throat swallowed it. It reached the stomach. But it was the Manas that felt the joy and the satisfaction.