In plain words
When you say, “This is my tumbler,” the tumbler is one thing and the I another. When you say, in the same way, “This is my body, my mind, my hand, my leg...”, the ‘I’ must be something apart from all these, must it not! Ask yourselves the question, “Who is this ‘I’?” Body, Manas, Buddhi, citta.... These are merely instruments. Of them all, the ‘I’ itself is the master. If you recognise this truth, body, Manas, Buddhi, citta... you will have recognised the principle of the Ātma, which is beyond all these. This is a silver plate. We are using it to cover things with.
This is a silver tumbler. We are using it to drink water. We can change the tumbler into a plate and the plate into a tumbler. Though names and forms change, the silver does not change. In the same way, the boy himself changes into a youth, and the youth himself into an old man. But the principle of the Ātma does not change. Forms change and pass. Do not trust the forms that change and pass. The mind is restless, like a monkey. So do not trust the mind either. What supports everything is the principle of the Ātma. This itself is ‘conscience’. Put your trust in that. If you forget the Ātma and trust the body and the mind, danger cannot be escaped, sooner or later.
As long as there is delusion, Brahman is not reached
As long as you are in this world made of the five elements, you must believe the five elements themselves to be forms of God. What supports these five elements is Prajñāna. That is why it was said, “Prajñānaṃ brahma”. You yourselves are embodiments of Prajñāna. Prajñāna is not worldly knowledge, not physical knowledge, not book knowledge. All these belong to pravṛtti. True Jñāna is within you yourselves. It is not something that comes after you are born; it comes with you from your very birth. It is always beside you and with you, and shows you the right path in every way. But, falling into delusion, you forget the divinity that is within you. That is why you meet with troubles. This very delusion is a great Māyā; Māyā does not exist as anything separate. What is not: that itself is Māyā. All this is Māyā. All these are passing clouds. Nothing is permanent. The principle of the Ātma alone is permanent. You must keep that eternal and true Ātma as your goal.