In plain words
In the waking state the eyes see. The mouth speaks. The nose smells. In the dream state neither the eye, nor the ear, nor the nose, none of them is moving in it. Then which eye is it that sees in a dream? We hear sounds full of fear and terror. Who hears those sounds? In a dream we speak in many ways. Which tongue speaks? No. No. It is the Manas alone that takes on all these forms. In the dream state it becomes our eye. The Manas alone becomes the tongue. The Manas alone takes on all the shapes. The senses do not work in the dream state. Your feet are lying on the steps. You are walking somewhere in a forest. Whose feet are those? Your feet are not walking in the dream. There the Manas alone takes on every form. That is why it was said, “Manōmūlam idaṃ jagat.” The whole world is the very form of the Manas. When we set this Manas on the right path, all the senses come under control with ease. That is why, if we bring the Manas under our control, all the senses come under our control. If we water the roots of a tree, the water reaches the branches, the leaves and everything.
What is the Manas? It too is only a delusion. This delusion begins through our actions. We saw a rope. When the pitch darkness closes in a little, you fear it may be a snake. But what is the cause of this delusion, of this fear? Earlier you have seen both a snake and a rope. That is why this fear comes upon you. This rope looks like a snake, so the delusion that it is a snake arises. The moment the delusion that it is a snake comes, fear arises. When the fear comes, you move away. You switched on a torch. The moment you switched it on, you knew it was not a snake. You learned that it was a rope. You threw it away. When you mistook it for a snake, no snake came there and no snake left there; after you switched on the light, no snake left and no rope came. Then and now, what is there is the rope alone. The coming and the going are only this delusion. As long as this delusion stays, Brahman is not understood. We must give up delusion. To give it up, what is needed? We need faith. Without the Parabrahman no thing can exist. A small example. There may be parents in the world without sons, but there are no sons without fathers. There may be water without fish, but fish cannot be without water. Without the thing that is the root and base of everything, no thing of Prakṛti can exist. One is the support. The second is the thing supported. On this table is this tumbler. The table is the support. The tumbler is the thing supported. Without the table, the tumbler cannot be set down. The power that is the root and base of everything was called Brahman. It was called energy. It was called the Ātma. Without it, the thing called this world cannot exist.
Students!