We are not substratum. Had we been part and parcel of Godhead there would be no misery. As we are realists we cannot think that we should turn idealist, that we should suppose everything to be simply a deluding feature and that observed objects are nothing but delusions and that we should consider ourselves to be the Oversoul. But it is not so. We are not the substance. We are potency. The position of the Jiva is a part of the Tatastha-shakti (Marginal Potency) that can enjoy, cease to enjoy and go back to his original position. In the devotional mood he can offer his services to the Absolute instead of picking up servants from this world which is the plight of the deceptive brain. These are but baits and traps and will not lead us to the Absolute. We are not part and parcel of the substantive entity Godhead but of His Tatastha-Shakti to serve the Absolute. The determination of the self will lead us to that very thing.

We should attain first to this, that we are in need of receiving the Divine boon, our own boon of the self. As we are now in the human frame, we can have the opportunity of knowing the face of transcendence. Inanimate beings are not known as sentient. They are deprived of the function of audition of the transcendental Sounds. We cannot communicate to them all that we are in need of in future. But since we have got a human life, we are in a predicament that allows us to hear through the medium of transcendental Sound a good response to our desire for the best thing that one could crave.

So a person's entire lifestyle can be dovetailed with his deep purpose in life. Such a person is the controller of his body, not a slave of his senses. Most people are servants of their senses and minds—they are godas (go means "senses"; das means "servant"). A bhakti yogi, however, strives to be a goswami (swami means "master," and so goswami means "master of the senses"). A goswami is not dragged around by his senses, but instead uses his senses for his own desired purposes. Although goswami is also a title, in fact the real meaning of goswami is controller of the senses, whether one is externally with the title goswami, brahmachari, householder, or whatever.
Chris Butler Speaks

We have experienced finitude in our previous birth and in this life too by our empirical activities. We have come across many things and we have come to the conclusion that we should seek for the best; and, in order to do so, we are called upon to pay sufficient attention to our own acquisition, eternal acquisition; and this is based on the opportunity offered to us.

When we think that we are conditioned souls we always look at the outer side of our existence, that is, the external body we have; and then we come to inspect the inner aspect which we call our astral body; and both these come and go, so that they have no eternal references associated with us. But as our souls are eternal, we cannot consider that the futile external body as well as the internal temporal body are identical with the soul. They are incorporated later on by abuse of our independent will. When we abuse that free will, or when we show our diffidence to serve the Absolute, the Over-soul, we think we are to dominate our Nature and Natural Phenomena. But these things, so to say, have only a temporal level. The eternal self should never be considered as identical with the mind who is but an agent of the soul to meddle temporarily with the external world. We are but part and parcel of the Over-soul, that is, of Paramatma. We are all human souls. We must not become confused by the simile of the breaking of the jar, compared to the material bodys, and we should not come to the conclusion that we have no other situation but to be identical with the Over-soul. For that is not the case. We are measurable cavities like that of the pot. Simply by the breaking of the external frame, we cannot think that we will be turned immeasurable. We are decidedly always measurable things. This measurement or the very platform of finitude is quite sufficient for us not to consider ourselves to be the Oversoul. A finitude cannot consider that the very finiteness can ever claim that he is the Infinite. So, Shri Krishna Chaitanya has told us that in your entity you are no other than Karshnas, or Vaishnavas. You have no other eternal function than to serve Shri Krishna.