Prabhupāda: . . . śrayāya namaḥ.
Sudāmā: . . . śrayāya namaḥ.
Prabhupāda: So sannyāsa, sannyāsa, the derivative meaning is sat-nyās. Sat means the Supreme Truth, oṁ tat sat. Here, in this material world, everything is relative truth. Nothing is absolute truth. The Absolute Truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Absolute Truth is a person like us, but He is the Supreme Person. That is the Vedic information. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13).
Nitya means eternal. We living entities, we are all eternal. That is very nicely explained in Bhagavad-gītā: na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Those who under the impression that after finishing annihilation of this body, everything is finished, they are not in perfect knowledge. The living entity continues to exist either in this body or in another body. Just like very simple example we can understand: All of us sitting here, we had a small baby body. I existed, you existed, in that baby body, but that body is not now existing, but I am existing. I know that "I existed in a baby body, I existed in a boyhood body, I existed in a youthhood body. Now I am existing in this old age body. Similarly, when this body is finished, I shall again exist in another body." This is the right conclusion. Therefore, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20): after the destruction of this body, ātmā, or the spirit soul, is not destroyed or annihilated. He continues.
So ātmā vastu, that ātmā is also part and parcel of the Supreme Truth, sat. Now at the present moment I am given to this misunderstanding that "I am this body." Sannyāsa means to give up this false concept of bodily concept of life and surrender, nyāsa. Nyāsa means renounce—renounce everything for the sake of Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Person. This is called sannyāsa.
Actually this is the beginning of my liberated activities. Sannyāsa means that living entity is acting. Living entity for a second cannot be inactive. You know that even in sleeping we are acting: we dream, we go somewhere, we see something. Although the body is silent, I, the spirit soul, I create another subtle body, and with that subtle body I create so many things and try to enjoy it or suffer it. Therefore a living entity is not inactive even for a second.
So these activities, when they are performed in the bodily concept of life—"I am this body," "I am Indian," "I am Japanese," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian"—in this way, so long we act on this bodily concept of life, it is called material existence. But when we understand that we are not this body—"I am spirit soul"—and on this understanding I understand that I am the part and parcel of the Supreme Absolute Person, that is called brahma-bhūtaḥ situation.
It is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). Now this boy, he is very tender age. He has renounced this material life. He has got young wife, but still, he has given up with mutual consent. The wife also has agreed that, "You take sannyāsa for the service of Kṛṣṇa." So this is actually renouncement. Young boy, young man, everyone wants young wife, enjoy this material life. But he has renounced everything. This is great sacrifice. Instead . . . in spite of presence of young wife and facilities for material enjoyment, one who renounces for the sake of serving Kṛṣṇa, he is sannyāsī. He is called sannyāsa. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). For better service he ceases to act materially. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate. That is sannyāsī.
He is . . . he will be therefore called gosvāmī. His name is, from this day, Sudāmā dāsa Gosvāmī. Because go means the senses, and svāmī means the master. At the present moment, in the materialistic concept of life, everyone is servant of the senses. Everyone acts by the dictation of the senses; therefore they can be called, in other words, as godāsa, servant of the senses. Instead of becoming servant of the senses, one has to become the master of the senses. That is called gosvāmī, master of the senses.
So how to become master of the senses? Senses are very strong. How one can become master? The simple method is when one engages the senses in the service of the Supreme Lord, it is automatically controlled. It is automatically controlled. The senses want . . . just like your mind. If your mind is absorbed in certain subject, you cannot divert your mind to another subject. Sometimes, if your mind is engaged in some serious business, you are thinking, and some friend has come before you, you cannot see him. He asks you, "Mr. Such-and-such, don't you see me?" "Oh, you have come?"
That means the senses, the chief sense is the mind. If you can engage your mind to Kṛṣṇa, in the service of Kṛṣṇa—sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa padāravindayoḥ (SB 9.4.18)—then your senses are automatically controlled, because mind is the chief sense. Under the mind, all other senses, namely the eyes, the ears, the nose, the hands, the legs, they work. If one is absent-minded he cannot work nicely, because mind is absent, or not in order. Therefore our method of controlling the senses is to engage the senses in the service of the Lord.