In plain words
For all beings there exist three kinds of instruments of knowledge. The first is innate, instinctive knowledge, and it can be seen in its fullest, most developed form in animals; among all the instruments of knowledge, this is the very lowest — that is, the basest of them. The second is the power of reasoned inquiry, seen in its fully developed form in human beings. Instinctive knowledge is extremely limited; it can operate only within that limited sphere. In the human being, this innate knowledge has, to a great extent, developed into the power of inquiry, so that his own sphere of action has correspondingly widened. But even this power of inquiry has a rather incomplete range of influence. It can go only so far and no farther; the path of logic, instead of running straight, curves back upon itself and, again and again, returns to its own starting point. This becomes clear if we take, as an example, the objects, physical substances, and energy that form the very source of our knowledge of the world.
What, indeed, is physical matter? Whatever exerts its force upon physical matter does not stop merely at that. But a single, tiny particle of energy out of the infinite perfection beyond, once it touches the avenue of human consciousness and is caught in the net we call consciousness, is confined to that limited sphere — and it is precisely within that sphere alone that our reasoned inquiry can range. For us to cross beyond that boundary, some other means must exist; and that very means is what is called Īśvara-prerita jñāna. So the instruments of knowledge available to us are three: innate knowledge, reasoned inquiry, and God-inspired knowledge. Of these, the first belongs to animals, the second to human beings, and the third to divine beings. Yet these three seeds, unfolded in greater or lesser degree, can be found in every human being — for surely it is only because all three already exist in seed-form that they are able to attain their mature, developed form. There is one more thing to bear in mind here: of these, one