In plain words
The world is the unfolding of the five elements
How are we to tell this apart? The one who sees a vessel must be other than the vessel, must he not? The one who sees a pot must be one who is other than the pot. The human body is like a vessel. The one who sees this vessel must be other than the vessel. Yet the person who sees the vessel, though he is other than it, is in the vessel too. The sun is seen in the vessel. The vessel is a made thing. The sun did not come from somewhere, and does not go off somewhere. He is lasting. This does not mean that the lasting sun is inside the passing vessel. He is in the vessel, and he is outside the vessel too. ‘Antarbahiścatatsarvam vyāpya nārāyaṇasthitaḥ’: the sun is everywhere. He is seen in the vessel too. So in the vessel called the body, in the water called Manas, the Ātma called prāṇa is seen. But this Ātma called prāṇa is not limited to the vessel alone. Only the vessel is limited. The water is limited, but prāṇa is not limited. That is the ‘principle of the Ātma.’ All the kinds of joy we enjoy today belong to Prakṛti; they are not beyond it. Today every man does prayer, japa, dhyāna, yoga or yajña for the sake of gaining a success that is limited and of Prakṛti. How far can we win success with these passing, limited sādhanas? Man's life is limited, his mind is limited; the world itself is limited. Prapañca: ‘pra’ means unfolding; ‘pañca’ means sound, touch, form, taste and smell. Prapañca, the world, is the unfolding of these five elements. How could a world formed of these five elements be unlimited rather than limited? That is why all through our lives we experience only a limited joy, only a limited happiness.