In plain words
In this way Yājñavalkya, the knower of Brahman, went on making plain to everyone in that assembly the divine secrets that lie in daily life and in humanness. In sum, when we inquire into the secret of it all, and ask for what purpose they used to perform rites such as yajñas and yāgas, these yajñas and yāgas were begun to make humanness manifest, to recognise divinity, to live in holiness, to understand the highest meaning, and to merge in divinity, forgetting humanness. In those days they did not perform yajñas and yāgas out of a wish for heaven, or a wish to have the heart's desire fulfilled. Unfortunately, as time went on, all this holiness kept slipping out of sight. In everything, self, self, self-interest. The feeling of tyāga is not seen in any corner. Tyāga itself came to take shape as the chief yajña. The whole of human life is the very form of a yajña. Every act one does, too, is only a reflection of yajña. In everything you must foster the feeling of tyāga. Whatever work you do, you must regard it as done for your own sake. And who is this self? You must have faith that you are the embodiment of the Ātma. He who thinks, “I have made this much tyāga for someone, I have done service for someone,” is utterly ignorant. The feeling “I am doing” becomes the cause of Ahaṅkāra. Free of Ahaṅkāra, giving up pride, you must keep Satya and Dharma as the aim in the duties you carry out.
To establish such humanness in the world today: this itself became one reason for performing these spiritual rites. Wherever you look today, people talk of yajñas. Today's yajñas are all turning into a field of trade. Whenever the money in their hands runs short, they start some yajña or other. The reason? Performing yajñas for one's own sake: call it a yajña, and simple people hand over money. Of the money that comes in, he spends some and uses the rest selfishly. Today every act is taking shape in just this way. One must begin all good works with the feeling of tyāga, with an unselfish thought. The man without tyāga will never find Śānti.