Prose-section 4
In plain words
Who knows by what austerity it was earned, this human body so hard to obtain? One who has it, and has the manhood that makes it possible to know the meaning of scripture, and still, clinging to the unreal body and the rest as himself, makes no effort to reach eternal liberation, which is his own very being, is a fool: he has, in effect, killed himself. Who could be more foolish than one who will not seek his own good?
Word for word
Through what austerity has this rare human body been obtained! Even after attaining the male condition described as enabling knowledge of Sruti's meaning, one who makes no effort toward eternal liberation, one's own nature, because of identification with the unreal body and the like, is a fool who has committed ‘self-killing’. Who is more foolish than one who does not seek one's own good?