In plain words
So awareness of Atma means you must recognise the principle of the Ātma fully.
What is the Ātma? Now, from space, air. From this air, fire; from fire, water; from water, earth. But there is some basis or other for this space. That is the Ātma. With the Ātma as their basis, these five elements have taken shape as a world. So this whole world is the very form of the five elements. There is no place where the five elements are not. So there is no place where the Ātma is not. But what is the cause of the birth of each one? Here is space. What is space? When we say space, we look upward; we must inquire into the quality of space. The quality of space is sound. Where is space? (with a snap of the fingers) Here it is; here too there is space. This is sound. How did this sound come? The sound came by movement alone. If I keep them like this, did any sound come? Only when I moved them like this did the sound come. Sound arose through movement. Where there is movement, there is vibration. In the sound that comes from that movement, air arises. Look now. Inside that fan, three blades are turning nicely. Air comes through that movement of turning. If there is no movement, there is no air. When movement arose, air began. Without this air, fire does not grow. When you put a fire in one place, it dies out. When air touches it, it blazes up all the more. Air is a help to the growth of fire. So water begins from fire. A small example: we get a temperature of 103°, 104°; as it comes back to normal, some water arises in our body. That is our experience. We are going for social work. When we go for social work, the sun beats down hard. We are working hard. Through these two, heat and the movement of work, sweat keeps springing from within us. What is the cause of this sweat springing up? Heat is the cause. Water came from fire. When this water becomes solid, it turns into earth. So the root cause of earth is water. The root cause of water is fire. The cause of this fire is air. The cause of air is space. The cause of space is the Ātma. The five elements are called nāras. Nāra means the Ātma. Because the Ātma is in each one, they have called him nara. Naraḥ: that which is not destroyed. Raḥ, destruction; na, not destroyed. He who is not destroyed is nara. The body he wears wastes away, but he himself does not waste away. This is only a vesture. There is water in this tumbler. When you set it outside, space is seen in it.