In plain words
Unable to understand sacred humanness, people today wander only into petty, trifling matters and forget their own divinity, the sacred Ātma. But with pleasures and delights that are impermanent, fleeting and untrue … crossing all bounds, they forget the eternal, true and pure Ātma. In … man finds no Ānanda at all. All that is of the Ātma is joy; all that is of Prakṛti is sorrow. So only when man turns his vision towards the sacred Paramātma does true happiness come to him.
Man today longs for the fruit of merit, but he does not step forward in good deeds. He forgets the fruit of sin, but he steps forward to commit sinful acts. Saying one thing, doing another. Because of this alone, humanness is draining away. Man has taken to opportunism. He does not eat and rest content. Birds, beasts and other creatures eat their own food and enjoy it. Birds, beasts and other creatures have neither the selfishness of hoarding nor the wretchedness of plundering. But man is not like that. Not content with eating and being glad, he piles up in many ways goods enough for some generations, for some ages even. Not only for himself: with his own five-year plan, … in a state where, though five generations come and five worlds … change, he piles up goods and vehicles that will never wear away and never run short. Life … fleeting as a moment. When, at what hour, in what way his end will come, we cannot say. … in piling up impermanent things he falls into troubles of many kinds. Man endures any hardship and piles up worldly, material goods, but he does not spend even a moment to develop the eternal, true divinity.
What is the cause of famine and dearth in the world today? The desires all around are themselves the root cause. From the pauper who lacks a meal to the man of millions, these desires keep growing. From the scholar to the unlettered, from the child to the aged, these desires keep growing. "I must be a great singer." "I must be a great actor." "I must become a great man of business." "I must be a great official." "I must become a great scholar." Desiring and desiring in this way, desires keep growing like anthills. There is nothing wrong in having desires. But desires that go beyond limits bring grave danger.