In plain words
Instead he went to his mother, clasped her feet and said, “Mother, get me permission from Father to do these experiments.” His mother, the very form of motherhood, full of tenderness and wishing for her son's progress, asked her husband to give his consent to these experiments. Pressed by his wife, the father gave his consent to the experiments once more. From that day the boy began experiments of one sort and another inside his own house. There too a loud bang went off and flames broke out. They were a very poor family. Everything they owned was burned to ashes. At this the father grew angrier still. When the boy was eleven, he sent him out of the house. The boy had no other support. In his heart he made a kind of vow.
Whatever you have taken up, you have taken it up: hold on just so until your hold prevails. Whatever you have longed for, you have longed for it: keep on worshipping until the longing is fulfilled. Whatever you have asked for, you have asked for it: do not let go until what you asked is given. Whatever you have set your mind on, you have set your mind on it: do not move until the thought is fulfilled.
Either He, unable to bear the pestering, must save me, or you must keep on asking, forgetting the body; that and nothing else; but to stop halfway and turn back is not my vow.
That is what he said. Far from his parents, Thomas lived on in the market place like a madman. He took shelter with one person and another; there are local trains there. On those trains he found a small job supplying bread and biscuits. He would hand them out to the passengers at the proper time, and after that go into a bathroom, and there too he began these experiments.