Paragraph 1
சகல ஜீவர்களும் துக்கமென்பதின்றி எப்போதும் சுகமாயிருக்க விரும்புவதாலும், யாவருக்கும் தன்னிடத்திலேயே பரம பிரியமிருப்பதாலும், பிரியத்திற்கு சுகமே காரணமாதலாலும், மனமற்ற நித்திரையில் தினமனுபவிக்கும் தன் சுபாவமான அச்சுகத்தையடையத் தன்னைத் தானறிதல்வேண்டும். அதற்கு நானார்? என்னும் ஞானவிசாரமே முக்கிய சாதனம்.
In plain words
Every living being wants to be happy always, with no such thing as sorrow. Everyone loves themselves above everything else. And the cause of love is happiness alone. So, to reach that happiness which is your own nature, the happiness you live through every day in sleep, where there is no mind, you must know yourself. For that, the chief means is the enquiry of knowledge called "Who am I?"
Word for word
Since all living beings, without exception, wish to be always happy, free from what is called sorrow; and since everyone has supreme love for none but themselves; and since that love has happiness as its very cause; in order to attain that happiness natural to oneself, which one experiences daily in mindless sleep, one must know oneself. For that, the enquiry of knowledge called "Who am I?" is the principal means.