In plain words
What grieves through bad karmas is Manas itself. But between that and this there is no connection at all. Karma, upāsana and Jñāna, all that is done with the body, belong to the body alone. Karma is transient. Bhakti is transient. Jñāna is transient. Why so? The body is transient. That is why, anityam asukhaṃ lōkaṃ. So worship for the sake of that which is eternal Satya. So karma first showed the way. Taking that karma as its support, upāsana grows. Because upāsana grows, Jñāna grows. When born, a babe. At ten years, a boy. At thirty years, a man. At seventy-five, a grandfather. Babe, boy, man, grandfather: the four are one and the same; only the forms are various, the names various. These are not different. I have said so before. From the Ātma, Ahaṃ was born. From Ahaṃ, Manas was born. From Manas, speech was born. So Ahaṃ, born of the Ātma, is the Ātma's son. What is called ‘I’ is the very first name: God. It comes before the name Om. From the Ātma, Ahaṃ was born. From Ahaṃ, Manas was born. Manas is the Ātma's grand son. From Manas, speech was born. Speech is the Ātma's great grand son. Ahaṃ, Manas and speech are all born of the Ātma. They are the Ātma's own family. So the feeling of the Ātma must arise in Manas. Not only that. In speech too the feeling of the Ātma must come. From the principle of Ahaṃ the Ātma must emerge. To regard such things as separate is wrong.
How much unity there is in a joint family! When the family breaks apart, how its strength dwindles! Many threads came together and became cloth. So it cannot be torn. It is very strong. If you take the threads in it apart, one by one, you can snap them with your fingers. Because we break the joint family into pieces, we fall into misfortune. The Ātma, Ahaṃ, Manas and speech are one family. These four have one common property, and that is Prajñāna. It is in Ahaṃ, it is in Manas, it is in speech. In the Veda: ahaṃ brahmāsmi. Prajñānaṃ brahma, ayamātmā brahma. In everything it has always taught unity alone.
Today we should not put our faith even in what is called the brotherhood of man. Everyone thinks in terms of brotherly feeling. Of those who live together in brotherly feeling, how many are not going all the way to the Supreme Court to fight! Differences of opinion arise between brothers and they take up hatred. Far better than this is the feeling of one Ātma. The Ātma in everyone is one.