In plain words
The … of the Vedas and śāstras, the Itihāsas and Purāṇas came about so that human beings might make their life in this world and the next worthwhile; … we must conduct ourselves. We must inquire well into the enjoined actions and the forbidden actions, … only the enjoined ones and put the forbidden ones out of mind: that is the right path. To perform the enjoined actions and repay… the debt to the ṛṣis is the duty of every human being. Only then do we become those who have repaid the debt to the ṛṣis.
Then the third is the debt to the fathers. This body itself is the very form of the parents' blood. The parents … birth…, nourished it, reared it, brought it up and protected this body, and went on making sacrifices in so many ways. … the food …, the clothes we wear, the water we drink, the blood that flows, the Buddhi that thinks: all these are the parents' …. To please such parents is the chief duty. Only then do we become those who have … repaid the debt to the fathers. Moreover, to practise Satya and Dharma in society and, … to nourish Dharma, to give society good offspring is the chief duty within the debt to the fathers.
Mahārāja Daśaratha repaid the debt to God. He served the ṛṣis, … works of good Dharma, carried out yajñas, yāgas and other rites, and so repaid the debt to the ṛṣis as well. But he could not … the debt to the fathers. He gave his father due honour and respect. But he met the misfortune of being unable to give society good … for the upholding of Dharma, in the way the śāstras lay down. Daśaratha was one who believed that to practise Dharma … is the chief duty. Grieving that he had no sons, he resolved that he must … the putrakāmeṣṭi. To wish for sons is not merely so as to secure… wealth and property. Nor is it in order to have the śrāddha performed for oneself. It is not in order to have service rendered to the father. The father's chief wish is to long for good sons so as to uphold Dharma in …. … Daśaratha resolved on this putrakāmeṣṭi sacrifice. Vaśiṣṭha… and Jābāli agreed to this resolve with great joy. At this gathering the chief minister Sumanta rose and recalled what Sanatkumāra had said. ‘O King, have you forgotten, I wonder, the … that Sanatkumāra taught you? By receiving the blessing of the great ṛṣi called Ṛṣyaśṛṅga and taking him as the Brahmā of the yajña…, you will have good offspring through him: that was Sanatkumāra…'s command. Recalling these words, Daśaratha took his ministers and priests along… and went to Ṛṣyaśṛṅga's hermitage. When he prayed to Ṛṣyaśṛṅga, he agreed… at once; … came with his wife Śānti, and Ṛṣyaśṛṅga began the yajña. Here, for the protection of the sacrifice, keeping to the … path of Dharma, he also began the aśvamedha sacrifice.