In plain words
Man must try to recognise the root principle that is in him. For this there must be three kinds of qualities. The first, to offer himself up to God; the second, to dedicate to God all that he thought his own; the third, to go on questioning until he recognises the principle of the Ātma. This, it has been said, is ‘paripraśna’. To go on questioning until one recognises the truth, “I am not the body, not the Manas, not the Buddhi, not the citta, not a passing thing in the world fashioned from what is seen”: that is paripraśna. From ancient times the Veda has been teaching such inward-turned feelings.
‘I’ is the Ātma; ‘mine’ is Māyā
Before all else, you must enquire into what the cells are. These cells are made of molecules and atoms. These molecules and atoms are bound up with divine energy. This divine energy is everywhere.
“Its hands and feet are everywhere, everywhere its eyes, heads and faces; its ears are everywhere in the world; It stands, enveloping all.”
Caitanya fills every place. This very Caitanya is called ‘light’. Light is everywhere. This very light is called ‘I’. To it they have given many names: Ātma, Paramātma, Paraṃjyoti, Śivam. This light is self-existent; it is not something anyone brings into being. From it alone the whole world comes forth. To this very light the Veda gave the name ‘I’. The eternal principle called ‘I’ is within; the things called ‘mine’, whose form is Māyā, are outside. ‘I’ is the Ātma; ‘mine’ is Māyā. The Ātma never undergoes change. That changeless root principle itself lies merged in all things.
But man cannot recognise this root principle, and through many kinds of habit and through vāsanās he sinks into delusion; “This is my father, this is my mother, this is my younger brother, this is my child”: in this way, going by his attachment to the body, he makes up ties of kinship.