In plain words
Generally, in the inquiry of the śāstras, we hear the words śama and dama. The world's usage is that śama is control of the inner senses and dama control of the outer senses. Śama is the control of both, the inner and the outer senses. Among the senses, the eye, the ear and the tongue are the chief. They try to follow one another. As soon as the eye sees, the ear wants to hear. The moment the ear hears, the eye tries to look closely at that sight. What it has heard, it creates for itself as a sight.
But none of the senses has power of its own. They are only instruments. The root and ground of them all is the mind. The mind itself creates the world for itself. It fashions for itself a form for its own resolves. Let us examine what grounds there are for calling the eye, the ear and the tongue instruments. In waking, the eye sees. The ear hears. The tongue speaks. But in a dream the eye, the ear and the tongue, none of these can do their work. In a dream, what sees is the mind. What speaks is the mind as well. What works in all the senses is the mind. For all the senses, the mind alone is the current flowing within.
Without control of the mind, man cannot know Śānti even for a moment. A man who wishes to lead a peaceful life, a happy life, must above all practise control of the senses. Why Śānti and happiness are so far from man today comes down to this: he has no control of the senses. These senses roam about, each lighter and wider than the other. Man is made up of the five senses. Their tanmātras are sound, touch, form, taste and smell. The five elements are the ground of the five senses. Earth, water, fire, air and space are the five elements. Water is subtler and wider than earth. Fire is subtler and wider than water. Air moves about subtler and wider than fire. Space is subtler still than air and pervades everything. Each attains a greater subtlety and vastness than the other. The higher it goes, the subtler and vaster the form it takes. The lower it comes, the grosser and denser the form it puts on. Air has a grosser or denser form than space, fire than air, and water than fire. Earth is denser still than water.
Space alone is the root and ground of them all. What gives room is space. It is like a great pot. From there the four elements emerge. From the movement of the pot of space, air begins. Air creates fire. Without air there is no fire. By the heat of fire, water is produced.