In plain words
'Eko'haṃ bahusyām': though what is, is only one, it takes shape as many. The oneness in this manyness is only one. What is, is only one. That itself is the HERO. The whole world is ZERO. If you put this zero beside the hero, it becomes Ten. If you put one more zero, it becomes hundred. Put another zero, and it becomes thousand. Where does this zero get its value from? It is only from this hero that the zero gets its value. Take away the hero, and everything is only zero. So God alone is the hero. This delusion of the body, this delusion of Manas, this delusion of Buddhi, this delusion of the world: all these are only zeros. But we must carry out our duty. There is no need to give it up. The duty of looking after your child is yours. So, each one carrying out his own duty, you must see that your spiritual vision does not waver.
You must live your worldly life with a spiritual vision. As long as you are in this world, you must follow the rules that belong to the world. However many you follow, our goal stays one and the same. Nothing is ours.
Mother is not, father is not, kinsman and brother are not; wealth is not, home is not; so be awake, be awake!
Every single thing in the world is bound to change one day or another. So how do we come to have this Manas that changes so? It is only through this food and conduct that this body keeps going through so many kinds of change. However many changes it goes through, the person is one. With time, its names and form have kept changing. When he was a baby, we called him child. By the time he had grown ten years, we called him boy. By the time he was thirty years, we called him man. When he comes to seventy-five years, we say grand father. This child, boy, father, grand father is one and the same person. It is only through such forms and names that we bring such ties into being. These are only delusions. It is this very body that is the basis of such delusions. So it is never right to believe in many ways that the body is lasting, that it is real. But as long as it lasts, there is the duty to see that it does not come under another's control and does not fall into diseases.
You must shape this tool, as far as is fitting, in the way fit for the work. Until we cross the water, until we cross the river, we must see that our boat does not spring holes and fall to pieces.