Swami means one who is one’s own master. Swa means one’s own master. One who rules over oneself is one’s own king. Now, at the moment we are not our own masters. At the moment we are servants. Our master is the mind. It is the mind that rules us. Sometimes it makes us talk, sometimes it makes us speak the truth. Sometimes it makes us practise austerities. Sometimes it compels us to steal, sometimes to do charity. Sometimes it makes us adopt the path of righteousness and sometimes the path of unrighteousness. The king is our mind and we are the servants.
When the mind becomes the servant and we become the master, then we are a swami. Swami Vivekananda and others were masters of their minds. Great people make the mind a servant, and the mind can be a good capable worker. If you can make the mind your servant, you can achieve all the subtle capabilities, siddhis, and all the divine blessings or vibhootis, which come from the mind. Now the mind is enjoying the position of the guru, and that is why it does not do anything.
27 November 2000, Rikhiapeeth, published in Bhakti Yoga Sagar Volume Six