Prabhupāda: If you believe me, then it is all right. If you don't believe me, that is different thing.
Reporter: Then, sir, if everybody . . . (indistinct) . . . suppose somebody were to l.tell me that come and believe me that . . .
Prabhupāda: No. Why do I say . . .? You have to, you have to see whether, whether this person is worthy of believing. (laughter)
Reporter: Whether the guru is right.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore guru, guru cannot be any ordinary man.
Reporter: That's right.
Prabhupāda: That guru cannot be. That guru's designation is there in the Vedas, that tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam (SB 11.3.21). Anyone who is inquisitive for understanding . . . suppose if you are inquisitive to understand really what is Lalaji, then you must approach to a person who knows Lalaji. Then you will understand Lalaji. And if you approach somebody who does not know Lalaji, then he may give you misinformation. So guru is that who knows Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise you will not be able to understand what is Kṛṣṇa.
That Kṛṣṇa also very easily you can find out. Kṛṣṇa says. Kṛṣṇa teaches Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna directly. Now if you believe Arjuna, then you understand Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa taught Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna, and why Arjuna was taught, that is also said by Kṛṣṇa, that bhakto 'si priyo 'si (BG 4.3): "Because you are My devotee." Kṛṣṇa did not go to teach Bhagavad-gītā to a Vedāntist. He went to teach to Arjuna. He was a family man, he was a soldier, but why he was selected? He, Kṛṣṇa said, bhakto 'si.
So if you approach a kṛṣṇa-bhakta like Arjuna, then you will understand Kṛṣṇa, otherwise you will not. They are understanding Kṛṣṇa through me, not before me. But if they or some of them "something," some of them "something," they may be very big scholar, but they did not know what is Kṛṣṇa.
Reporter: So first there should be direct . . .
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Reporter: . . . apprehension by . . .
Prabhupāda: Yes. One must be brahma-niṣṭham, śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. Tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Abhigacchet means must. You must find out a guru who knows Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise there is no possibility of knowing Kṛṣṇa.
Reporter: So, sir, for we poor mortals it is very difficult to immediately, you see, to . . .
Prabhupāda: It is not a subject matter to understand immediately.