In plain words
For knowledge, the senses of the body, Manas and Buddhi are the root cause … ; for this holy knowledge of the Ātma, the Ātma alone is the basis.
A small example. When we ask anyone, 'Who are you, sir?', we are able to … the person. The one before us gives us, as his identity, the names that belong to his body: 'I am Rāmayya, I am Kṛṣṇayya, I am Pullayya, I am Malla… …'. When we go … deeper and press him and ask, 'Who are you?', what kind of answer co… … a doctor, I am a lawyer, I am a farmer, I am a merchant': that is the answer that comes. This … too is not satisfying. When we go deeper still and ask, he says, 'I am Indi… … American, I am Russian, I am Italian.' Thus, in this way, about his country, he gives out his own … himself. For a man to make himself known, it is not names, not his … occupations, not his own country. These are names his mother and father gave; these names were given, but surely they are not … ! Then the occupations. He entered them by his own choosing; they are not lasting … . Then the country. Taking the place where his body was born, he makes that country his … … . The body is a bubble on water; occupations are passing clouds. Countries … change. It is the principle of the Ātma, the eternal principle of truth, that is one's true form. So when someone asks, 'Who are you, sir?', … we must make known the principle of Ānanda that is lasting, true and eternal, the Ātma.
When we live in a hut, can anyone say, 'O hut!'? One says, 'This is … ,' but no one says, 'I am the hut.' So, 'dēhō dēvālayaprōktō jīvō dēva ssanātanaḥ': the Ātma … ; this body is the hut. 'Who are you, sir?' To give the name of the hut when asked that: how laughable! In a car … goes along driving. Just because he drives the car along, is he himself the car? The driver's name is one thing; the car's name is another. The driver drives this car. In the very same way the body is like a chariot … … the eternal embodiment of consciousness, whose true form is the Ātma, drives it. You give the name of the car, but you are unable to make known the true and eternal you, who is the driver. Because we spend our life only in dealings of the worldly kind, answers like these naturally … . For the life of nature, these four alone, the body, the senses, Manas and Buddhi, are the … tyres. But these are not the basis of the knowledge of the Ātma.
This very Ātma they have called Brahman. This very Brahman they have declared to be the I. This very one they have called … .