Reporter: Is the teacher always necessary? I mean, many meditation groups or yoga groups say that...
Prabhupāda: Yes. Why you are asking? Anything you want to learn, you must go to a teacher. How you can learn independently?
Reporter: I mean just, say, by reading the Bhagavad-gītā.
Prabhupāda: Reading Bhagavad-gītā is also taking lesson from the teacher. Teacher—Kṛṣṇa is personally the teacher, and you read Bhagavad-gītā means you take lessons from teacher, the supreme teacher.