In plain words
The body must stay straight; but lift it here and lift it there, and it looks like arrows stuck in a quiver. It is through ugly postures like these that students lose a good memory. If we want a good memory, we must sit well and study. If you do not feel like studying, close the book and go to sleep. Good. There is nothing wrong in it. Why take a forced Māgha bath for nothing? You must not study when you are tired. If you keep on studying with a cup of tea set beside you, sipping as you go, thinking only that you must study, study, there is no use in studying at all in such a state. Not only does this memory go; later on, dreadful diseases too will come upon you. Hands and feet tremble. That is why, while a man is in his student days, we must care for this body in the right posture.
Whatever great deed you would achieve, you must achieve it with the body itself. Even to win God's grace, the body is an instrument. Even to enter into Dharma, artha, kāma and Mokṣa, this body is a support. Though the body is impermanent, we must keep it in the right state for the sake of our work. We put protection on our feet and set out. If we come to a river, we take those sandals in our hand and walk. Is this a coronation of sandals? No. No. Why should you carry all those sandals in your hand? You must carry them in your hand in order to protect your feet. In the same way, though sandals are of very little worth, when we use them as we need them we must also give them the respect due to them. Through this, certain dangers too are avoided.
In the war, on the ninth day, Bhīṣma made a vow. 'I shall kill the Pāṇḍavas within tomorrow,' he vowed. This news fell on Draupadī's ears. She came weeping, her tears a flood. Kṛṣṇa! You who have protected me all these days, can You not protect today my state as a wife whose husband lives? Kṛṣṇa, Bhīṣma's vow will not fail. He is a man whose speech is Satya. Never has anything gone against his word. So my husband's death is drawing near. 'In this world there is no one but You to give me the gift of my husband's life,' and she held His feet tight. Kṛṣṇa said. 'Mother! For anything at all, certain means are most necessary. In this material world, this worldly world, we must also use certain kinds of stratagems, as a necessity.