In plain words
Manas offered to God is pure, like this cloth. Manas too puts on many colours. This is not the influence of others. It is our own saṅkalpas that are bringing this sorry state upon us. So only when we choose the right saṅkalpas can our life stay in peace and safety. Today, wherever you look in the world, there is nothing but fear. Stay in the house: fear. Go out into the street: fear. Get into a train: fear. Get into a bus: fear. Get into a plane: fear. Get into a boat: fear. Think of going on foot: fear. Or else, to stay at home alone: fear. What is the root cause of this kind of fear? The sacred saṅkalpas that should be in man have been rooted out. The whole world lives in fear and dread.
Fear, fear, life is fear, all of it; the whole of our life is a padmavyūha.
All this, too, is filled with fear, like a padmavyūha. What is the secret of the padmavyūha? Only the way in is known; the way to turn and come back is not known. To whom? To Abhimanyu. Today everyone is an Abhimanyu. Everyone is an Abhimanyu, but their conduct is different. Today in the world they know only how to go in for the sake of pleasures and riches; they make no effort to learn the way to escape from it and come out.
These worldly pleasures and riches have sprung from sorrow itself. We are unable to recognise this. So only when we enquire into our saṅkalpas, to see that they are right, and hand them over to Buddhi, do we get the right answer. The Kaṭha Upaniṣad has described the body as the chariot, the senses as the horses, Manas as the reins and Buddhi as the charioteer. Here we must enquire well where Manas stands. Here, what is between the horses and the charioteer is these reins. That is, what is between the senses and Buddhi is Manas. If this Manas in the middle follows Buddhi, it is possessed of Buddhi. If it follows the senses, he becomes bound and suffers. But today many people become slaves to the senses and so fall into sorrow. Following the senses is the path of pravṛtti. Following Buddhi is the path of nivṛtti.