In plain words
He alone who has steadied the mind is truly a man; the man who knows the Buddhi is the best of the wise; one whose word and deed are one becomes the noblest: what more than this can I make known? The mind is the cause, wherever else one may be; neither home nor forest can grant Mukti. One who has no mind for it, though he dwell in a temple or dwell in a forest, what does it avail?
Students!
Human life goes through changes at many stages, gathers new combinations and grows. Growing through the stages of childhood, boyhood, youth and old age, and developing the desires that belong to each stage, man strives to keep his life going in the world. But man, unable to recognise the states that belong to each stage, imagines that it is the world that is changing. The root cause of this is the mind itself. Man has achieved many great deeds. He is winning many victories. Yet even after taking this rare human birth, he cannot restrain the mind. He cannot win the victory over the mind. Moment by moment the mind keeps travelling, from one object to another, from one subject to another. When stones are thrown into a lake one on top of another, how can this lake grow in Praśānti? When stone after stone is thrown into the lake, it is tossed about in turmoil by endless waves and restless ripples. In just the same way, when the stones called desires keep being thrown into the lake of man's mind, one desire after another, one desire after another, how can there be Praśānti? How can this lake stay steady and unshaken? It is impossible. Man must keep moderate desires, fitting to each age, and in that way give the mind the room it needs for Praśānti.