In plain words
Ahaṅkāra is like a root worm to a tree. It has friends who are its fellow thieves, attachment and hatred. When these three join together, our life sinks to the very bottom. So first of all we must take care to give Ahaṅkāra no room of any kind in us. What is the cause of this Ahaṅkāra? Ajñāna alone, and nothing else, is the cause. In one who has recognised everything there is no room for Ahaṅkāra to enter. Only when we first put Ahaṅkāra far away and grow in humility and obedience does learning become ours.
Today strange modern qualities are entering into humanity. Man lacks the power of enquiry to know the difference between learning and Viveka. In learning there is a state of knowing everything. We pour out our life in great measure for the sake of show. We must try to learn simplicity. You will have read it in history. At the time when Sardar Patel was Deputy Prime Minister, Mahavir Tyagi was Home Minister. One day he came to Patel's house. While he was talking, Patel's daughter Mani Behn was moving about. As she worked, she had patched old rags together, patched old dhotis together, wrapped them on as a sari, and was working. While Patel was there, Mahavir Tyagi questioned Mani Behn. 'Mani Behn! You are bringing disgrace on your father's honour. What kind of position is your father in? He is Deputy Prime Minister. If you, his daughter, are like this, people will take you for a beggar woman; this dress is not right for you,' he said. She grew angry. Standing firm, she spoke in this way. 'Tyagi-garu! Disgrace belongs to those who earn without morality and honesty; for me, toiling at my own work, there is no disgrace however I wear my clothes. In the world today disgrace belongs to those who spend the money their parents earned by hard toil and bring their parents' property to nothing; for me there is no disgrace. Toiling and working, and looking after my father, I wear my clothes in the way I like. I will not take even one coin from what belongs to others. I know my own honour and dignity. No one else need tell me,' she said, and went away. On that same sofa Sushila Nayyar was sitting. Then she told Mahavir Tyagi clearly: Tyagi! You do not rightly know about Mani Behn. From the moment she rises at dawn until evening, Mani Behn works without a moment's rest. Though her father is Deputy Prime Minister, she does all the work of the house herself. She scrubs all the vessels herself. She washes all her father's clothes herself. When she finds time she spins yarn on the spinning wheel, and with the thread she has spun she sews shirts and dhotis for her father.