It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says, jñātvā mām: "Me," Kṛṣṇa says—person. Just like "Give me." So Kṛṣṇa says, jñātvā mām. What is that? So we have to know Kṛṣṇa, that He is actually enjoyer. Master and servant. If the servant knows that "In this house my master is the proprietor. He is the enjoyer. I am simply servant," then he is peaceful. But if he artificially tries to become the master, although he is servant there, then there is all disturbance.
So here our miserable conditions are caused by our thinking that "I am the proprietor. I am the owner. I am the enjoyer." One becomes to owner, proprietor, because he wants to enjoy. So this is our disease. Actually, we are servant of Kṛṣṇa: jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (CC Madhya 20.108-109). This is our original position. We are servant, even in this condition. But we are servant of māyā, illusion—means we are servant of our lusty desires: kāma; krodha, anger; lobha, greediness; moha, illusion; so many, mada, madness. We are servant of these propensities. We are not master. When you become master of these sense gratification processes, then you are svāmī. That is the position of svāmī. Svāmī means master. Gosvāmī. Gosvāmī means this controller of the senses. Go means senses. So svāmī or gosvāmī means one who has control over the senses or one who has control over the mind.
The mind is very restless. The whole yogic process is meant for controlling the mind, because unless you control the mind, the mind will volumes and volumes of desires, hundreds, thousands, millions. And you have to satisfy them. Then where is śānti? You have to satisfy the master. Who has become your master? Mind. Then you are disturbed. There cannot be any peace. And mind has got many millions of desires. Therefore when you can control over the mind, that mind desires something and you have to control, "No, you cannot do it," then you become svāmī. Svāmī. . . These sannyāsīs, they are given the title svāmī or gosvāmī because the sannyāsīs are supposed to control over the mind, over the senses. Therefore they are called svāmī. Otherwise, not svāmī but servant. If you are controlled by the mind, then you are servant, and if you are controller of the mind, then you are svāmī, the same person.
So how you can become svāmī? Because we are falsely thinking that "I am the proprietor. I am the enjoyer. I am the leader. I am the friend of my family, my society, my nation," so many ways, you have to convert these things. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 5.29). Kṛṣṇa says that "I am the friend of everyone." But we are taking the place of Kṛṣṇa, leadership. I am declaring to my countrymen, to my follower, that "I am your friend." So actually, I cannot be friend because I do not know what is the goal of life. I cannot lead them properly. Some immediate convenience we can offer, and people, being less intelligent, they are after immediate profit. It is called preya. Just like if you say to a small child, "Don't go to school. Please come and play with me," he would like to play with his friend. That is immediate profit. But if you ask him to go to the school, that is remote profit. That is called śreya. And preya, preya means immediate profit. Two young men, if one friend says to the other friend, "Oh, let us go to the cinema," that is very palatable. And if he says, "Let us go to this meeting in Hare Kṛṣṇa Land," that is not very palatable. This is the distinction between śreya and preya. Niḥśreyasāya. Niḥśreyasāya means ultimate goal of life, ultimate profit of life.
So ultimate profit of life is to go back to home, back to Godhead. Because we are suffering on account of separation from God. This is our cause of suffering. Instead of becoming servant of God we have become the servant of senses. That is the cause of our suffering. Therefore three things, if we can understand thoroughly: that Kṛṣṇa, or God, is the proprietor and enjoyer of the whole universe or creation, and. . . Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). He is the proprietor of all universal planets, and suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām, and He is the real friend of everyone. Jñātvā, "One who knows," Kṛṣṇa says, mām, "Me, then he gets śānti." Otherwise, there cannot be any śānti.
In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta also it is confirmed that,
- bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī—sakali aśānta
- kṛṣṇa-bhakta—niṣkāma, ataeva śānta
- (CC Madhya 19.149)
Kṛṣṇa-bhakta, one who is fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is śānta. He is fully confident. Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or God consciousness, he is fully confident that Kṛṣṇa. . ., "I have surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. I have taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa, and He has promised, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi (BG 18.66). Then where is the cause of my anxiety?" Therefore he can become. . . He has understood Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality, almighty, all-powerful, full of all opulences. "So if He has taken my charge, then where is my anxiety?" That is śānti. That is śānti. And so long we are taking shelter of māyā, asat, which will not stay. . . Suppose we are taking shelter. . ., child is taking shelter of the father, mother, or the citizens is taking shelter of the state, of the government. So one has to take shelter of something else for protection, for security. But they are not actually security. Therefore we are always full of anxiety. You may be a citizen of a great state like United States of America, but you are not without any anxiety because that shelter is not sufficient. That will not stay. Just like recently in America they had to dethrone Mr. Nixon because they were not free from anxiety.
So you cannot become free from anxiety by taking shelter of anything material. That is not possible. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt (SB 7.5.5). Asat and sat. Sat means eternal, and asat means temporary. So we are eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). We are not annihilated after the annihilation or destruction of this body. Therefore we have to take shelter of the eternal. Then we'll be happy. And so long we shall take shelter of the temporary thing, asat, this material world, material society, friendship, love, state, community, nation—anything you take, they are not permanent—so you cannot be happy. But if you take shelter for security at the lotus feet of the Supreme, then you are actually secure.