In plain words
Rāma studied thirty-four branches of learning. Rāvaṇa studied sixty-four. But Vālmīki said, ‘Rāvaṇa is a fool.’ ‘Rāvaṇo nāma mūrkho'sau,’ he said. ‘Rāvaṇa is a fool. Rāma is a jñānī,’ he said. That the one became a jñānī and the other a fool: in what learning was he lacking? Rāvaṇāsura, who had studied so much, fell under the sway of the senses. That is why he became a fool. Rāma controlled the senses. For that very reason He became a jñānī. The jñānī is not one who merely has brain power. Only one who has mastery of the senses is a jñānī. Hiraṇyakaśipu taught Prahlāda, a student, in ever so many ways; no one else had studied as much as Hiraṇyakaśipu had, or had the strength and ability he had. Hiraṇyakaśipu did a hundred times more research than all the research today's scientists have done. He entered the waters and did research. He took all powers into his grasp. He held the five elements in his hand and played with them. Hiraṇyakaśipu, who knew so much, fell under the sway of his senses. However many powers one wins outside, what use is it? The lunar sphere, the solar sphere, the Milky Way, this and that: you are looking at so many ways. He cannot rid himself of the folly within him. He cannot master the weakness within him.
However many arts one learns, what is the fruit? Who can escape what is written on one's forehead? If a bad thought gets into one's head, the wits wither as in the heat and go dry as pith.
We must see to it that bad thoughts do not come into our heads. When they come into us, however much he has studied, that man is worthless.
When Knowledge is in us, we must put it into practice. ‘knowledge without action is useless,’ they said. ‘Action without Knowledge is foolish,’ they said. Today we are becoming foolish. There is knowledge. But there is no action. There is action, and no knowledge. These two must come together. That is why the little boy Prahlāda, teaching his father sense, said, ‘You who conquered all the worlds in an instant, Father, cannot conquer the host of the senses and the citta.’ What is it you have achieved? You think you have conquered the whole world. You cannot conquer even the senses within you. That is not it. If you conquer the world, you may become a king. If you conquer your senses, you can become a Mahārāja. King of kings, Mahārāja, O King, your own senses are your enemies.