In plain words
Truly, mānava means one of very great worth. Nothing in the world has the worth that man has. But because he cannot know that worth, man is sinking to a low state. Who sets the value on gold and on diamonds? Man! In Bombay a square foot costs two lakh rupees. Is it not through man that it came to have so great a value! Today the value of things keeps rising, but the value of man has fallen away. What is the reason? It is that man has lost human values! On the day man gives up selfishness and self-interest, on that very day he can raise his own worth.
Too much talk, loss of wits
The senses are the very gifts of grace God has given so that man may live an ideal life. We must see good; we must hear good; we must speak well, think good, do good. The boy who spoke a little while ago said: the chief of Swami's teachings is Talk less, Work more. We must speak less and do more work. In olden days all the great sages kept silence. For what? By speaking too much, some hurt may come to others. Or Asatya may creep in. You do not recognise how high a state silence brings. Once Vivekānanda went on talking for ten days without rest. On the eleventh day he forgot all the ślokas he had learned. However hard he tried, not a single śloka came back to memory. Then Sadānanda came: “Narendra! Through too much talk your intelligence is being clouded over, memory …. So keep silence for some time,” he said. Following his advice, Vivekānanda sat in silence for fifteen days. After that, all the ślokas came back to his memory. Children today try to increase their power of memory for their examinations. But their power of memory is wasting away because they talk too much. At least at examination time, it is good to keep from talking. Through silence, memory and intelligence grow greatly. The more the words grow, the faster old age too comes on.
Only where there is restraint is there grace
The senses are very sacred. They are very powerful. All of them are God's own gifts of grace! But we must use them only as far as God's command says they are to be used. Only then does God's grace too come in fullest measure. If instead we misuse them, God's grace too dwindles away. When you break His command, how can God bless you? You must use the senses in keeping with the saṅkalpa with which He gave them to you. You must not use them as you please; you must keep God's wish in view. Only when we set the senses on the right path does humanness become blessed.
We must journey from anna to Ānanda
The whole of human life is bound by the five kośas. They are the annamaya, prāṇamaya, manomaya, vijñānamaya and ānandamaya kośas. But in beasts, birds and animals there are only the annamaya, prāṇamaya and manomaya kośas.