In plain words
Saṃskāra is very strange. It follows you like a shadow for several births. What refines is saṃskāra. The power to refine yourselves is in you. But because you neglect it, you cannot refine yourselves. At the very end, when you depart, what goes with you is saṃskāra, not saṃsāra. Neglecting such saṃskāra, you tie yourselves to a saṃsāra that topples at a sneeze, think it eternal and true, and fall into unrest.
From the time you wake till you sleep again, for your belly's sake you spend your life away, beyond all limit and reckoning; your learning you pour out; forgetting the lotus-eyed Lord, what great happiness have you gained? Think it over gladly, O man!
Does looking at a map of the world amount to seeing the whole world? Learning not put into practice is just the same. Forgetting God and trusting the world, what happiness does man enjoy? What does he gain? He travels from country to country and earns money by the crore. But when he departs, can he take even one coin with him? He prides himself that he has gone round the whole world. But what comes of going round the world? A spoon goes into the chutney, dips into the sāmbār, dips into the pāyasam. But does it know the taste of any of these dishes? In the same way, man goes round every country and reads every book. But what use is it? There is not a whiff of Jñāna in him.
Worldly learning and the higher learning
Students! You took part in the games, showed great skill and won prizes. All this belongs to the world. Yet this too is needed. “To be happy here, the learning that wins gold; to be happy hereafter, the learning of Brahman.” Worldly learning is the ‘left leg’; the higher learning is the ‘right leg’. Only when ‘left’ and ‘right’ come together is marching possible.