This is a lecture from the book Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.100 that Srila Prabhupada gave on July 5, 1974 in Washington, D.C..
These are the Vedic evidences. So actually nobody can be master; everyone is servant. Either we are servant of God or we are servant of dog. That's all. Nobody can be master. If anyone has no master, then he keeps a pet dog to become his servant. That is nature, we can see. One is servant of his wife, one is servant of his pet or government service or this service. Nobody can claim that "I am the master." That is not possible. That is also temporary. So actually this is the position of all living entities. Everyone is servant. But in the material sense, he is servant of māyā, servant of senses. Servant of māyā means servant of senses. And spiritual life means instead of becoming servant of māyā or servant of senses, we become the servant of Kṛṣṇa or God. That is the position. Servant we shall remain. We have to change the position. And if we become servant of God, then we become happy, and if we remain servant of dog or māyā, then we remain unhappy. This is the position. We have to change the position. Kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśās teṣāṁ mayi na karuṇā jātā na trapā nopaśāntiḥ. One intelligent brāhmaṇa, he's offering, "My Lord, I have become servant of so many senses, but neither the senses are satisfied, neither I am satisfied.
This is the result of my service. Therefore now I have got my intelligence that I want to become Your servant." This is intelligence. So I have experienced that I became a servant of my family, servant of my society, servant of my country, and so on, so on, but nobody, neither my so-called master was satisfied, neither I was satisfied. We see practical examples, there are many examples. In our country, Mahatma Gandhi, he dedicated his life for the service of the country. Nobody can doubt about his service, but what is the result? His master killed him. He worked for his country, he took country as his master, and he worked so hard, and his countrymen killed him. We should take lesson from this that you cannot satisfy in this material world by becoming servant of your family or community, society, nation. No. It is not possible. You can satisfy very easily Kṛṣṇa by little service. By little service. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt.
So this is intelligence, how to become a servant of Kṛṣṇa. That is the perfection of life. That means mukti. Mukti does not mean you'll get four hands and eight heads. No. Mukti means, as it is defined in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, muktir hitvānyathā rūpaṁ sva-rūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ. That is mukti. Sva-rūpeṇa, legally, constitutionally, I am servant of God, or Kṛṣṇa. Now I have become servant of dog and māyā. So if I give up this service and again become servant of God, that is mukti. That is mukti. Muktir hitvānyathā rūpam. We are trying to become... Here māyā means "which is not." Ma-ya. We are every one of us, we are thinking, "I am master." "I am the monarch of all I survey." Here is a poetry. Everyone is thinking. I made my plan, I make my survey, and I become king. But that is māyā. You cannot become. You are already servant of māyā.
prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni
guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā
kartāham iti manyate
[Bg. 3.27]
Everyone is under the clutches of these material laws. You cannot violate even an inch. And still the rascal, ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā, by false prestige, he's thinking that "I am the master." I was asking this morning that what is this independence meaning? Actually, where is independence? This independence, has it meaning? If you are completely under the rules and regulations of the material nature, what is the meaning of this independence? So those who are paṇḍita, they do not take it as independence. They do not take it. Therefore Sanātana Gosvāmī said, āpanāra hitāhita kichui nā jāni. "I do not know what is independence, I am dancing like dog, independence." Therefore he says, āpanāra hitāhita kichui nā jāni: "How independence I can get, that I do not know." Real independence is, as Kṛṣṇa puts in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam [Bg. 13.9]. One who is intelligent, he sees that "My real problem is janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi, birth, death, old age and disease."So when we get free from these four problems, that is real independence. Otherwise, there is no independence. I may dance with independence, but any moment I shall have to leave my country, my society, my friends, my family, any moment, "Get out immediately. No, no independence." That is my position. So that is intelligence.