Prabhupāda: Vyāsāsana means . . . Vyāsa means guru, because he is our original guru. When spiritual master's birthday is observed, it is called Vyāsa-pūjā. This Vyāsa-pūjā means a spiritual master is representative of Vyāsa. Just like we are teaching this bhāgavat-dharma, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we are following the footsteps of Vyāsadeva. So actually the preacher's seat is Vyāsadeva's āsana.
It is the seat of Vyāsa. Just like in the high court the seat, the seat of judgment, or . . . what is called? That seat, nobody else can sit there, in that seat. Only the high-court judge, representative of king or giving law to the citizens, he can sit down. Similarly, the vyāsāsana is occupied by the representative of Vyāsadeva, who can speak on behalf of Vyāsadeva. This is the system.
Go on.
Pradyumna: "Vyāsadeva is the original spiritual preceptor for all men, and all other preceptors are considered to be his representatives. A representative is one who can exactly present the viewpoint of Śrī Vyāsadeva. Śrī Vyāsadeva impregnated the message of Bhāgavatam unto Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and Śrī Sūta Gosvāmī heard it from him, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī. All bona fide representatives of Śrī Vyāsadeva in the chain of disciplic succession are to be understood to be gosvāmīs. These gosvāmīs restrain all their senses, and they stick to the path made by the previous ācāryas."
Prabhupāda: Yes. Gosvāmī or svāmī, the same meaning: one who has been able to control the senses. Generally everyone is controlled by the senses. When one becomes controller of the senses, then he is gosvāmī. So generally we give this designation to the sannyāsīs, because sannyāsa means who has fully controlled all the senses. One should not accept sannyāsa whimsically. One must know about himself how far he can control the senses. Therefore generally sannyāsa is not accepted until one is sixty years old.
But in this age there is no guarantee whether we are going to live up to sixty years old age. So sometimes, younger generation also offered sannyāsa, because Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted at the age of twenty-four years. We are not of course imitating Caitanya Mahāprabhu, but for executing Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission, if we are sincerely working for Him, then we can take sannyāsa at an early age. That . . . when one is actually a sannyāsa, a sannyāsī, master of the senses, he can be addressed as gosvāmī or svāmī.
Yes?
Pradyumna: "The gosvāmīs do not deliver lectures on the Bhāgavatam capriciously. Rather, they execute their services most carefully, following their predecessors, who delivered the spiritual message unbroken to them. Those who listen to the Bhāgavatam may put questions to the speaker in order to elicit the clear meaning, but this should not be done in a challenging spirit. One must submit questions with a great regard for the speaker and the subject matter. This is also the way recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā. One must learn the transcendental subject by submissive aural reception from the right sources. Therefore these sages addressed the speaker Sūta Gosvāmī with great respect."