Indian man: All the ācāryas have been doing it.
Prabhupāda: No ācāryas are doing it. All lower-class men. No ācāryas do it. Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Nimbārka, these are ācāryas. Śaṅkarācārya, Caitanya, they never did it. Outsiders, who did not care for the authority of the ācārya, they did it. Otherwise, we are the ācārya sampradāya. They'll never do that. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda. Ācāryopāsanam. That is bona fide process of knowledge. Ācāryopāsanam. Amānitvam adambhitvam. Ācāryopāsanam. This is the process of knowledge. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). This is the ācārya. Ācārya will never interpret things like that. You see Rāmānujācārya's comments on Bhagavad-gītā. Nothing changed. But in every śloka he has given evidence from the Vedas, from the Upaniṣads. Ācārya will never change.
Jayādvaita: In the list of items of knowledge, "approaching a bona fide spiritual master." Ācāryopāsanam.
Prabhupāda: This is ācārya.
Indian man (2): Swamiji, you think bhakti is the solution to the problem of the world today?
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, yes. That is your natural position. You are protected, and God is protector. That's a fact. You cannot live even for a moment without protection of God. That is your position. That is explained by Caitanya Mahāprabhu: jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). Perhaps you have read it in Caitanya-caritāmṛta. You have read Caitanya-caritāmṛta? Yes. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, He immediately gives the definition and position of the living entity: jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa. Sanātana Gosvāmī asked Him, "People glorify me that I am very learned scholar." Grāmya-vyavahāre kahe paṇḍita satya kari' māni. You understand Bengali? Grāmya-vyavahāre kahe paṇḍita. "My these neighbors, they call me paṇḍita. And I accept, 'Yes, I am paṇḍita.' But I am such a paṇḍita," āpanāra hitāhita kichui nā jāni, "I do not know what is my aim of life and what is good for me. I'm such a paṇḍita." Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu answered, 'ke āmi,' 'kene āmāya jāre tāpa-traya' ihā nāhi jāni kemane hita haya. So mistake is, Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately pointed out, that "You are learned, of course, there is no doubt, but you are submitting yourself as others..." Now He said that "You have questioned that ke āmi, 'Who I am?' " So He said that "You are servant of God. That is your real identification." Then He begins teaching. So our position is servant of God. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). One singular number and plural number, ceta, eternal. The singular number cetana is the maintainer, and the plural number cetana is the maintained. So our position is maintained. Just like father maintains the children. That is natural. And children's duty is to remain obedient to the father. That's all. That is bhakti. Then the family is all right. Family means father, mother and children. They're missing.... The children they are seeing, the mother they are seeing, and they are saying there is no father. This is modern civilization. How is that? The children are there, the mother is there. How is that there is no father? What is this conclusion? A sane man's conclusion is if the children are there, the mother is there, there must be father. Without father, how mother can beget children? Is there any experience that without father, mother has given birth to children? The modern civilization is: mother is material nature and we are all sons, born in the womb of the material nature. So who is the father? That inquiry is lacking. But there is father, undoubtedly. And the answer is given in the Bhagavad-gītā: sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya (BG 14.4). Find out this verse. Sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ tāsāṁ mahad yonir brahma, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā. Bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10).
Jayādvaita: "It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father."
Prabhupāda: That's it. And that is the root cause of all problems, that they are missing the father. He is the maintainer. Godless. Is it possible that the mother gives birth to a child without father? Is there any experience in the history of the world, the mother has given birth to a child without connection with the father? They say, "We have not seen father." That does not mean there is no father. A child may not have seen his father. There are many children, but that does not mean that he has no father. There must be father. And so if there is father, no father, how you know it? Suppose you have not seen. You ask the mother, "Mother, am I born without father?" Mother says, "No, you have got your father." Or she can show, "Here is your father." So you cannot understand the father by your research work. You have to take the knowledge from the mother, authority. There is no other way. You cannot make any experiment or research knowledge who is father. That is not possible. You'll never understand who is father. You have to take the authority of the Vedas to understand what is God, or what is the supreme father. And here in the Bhagavad-gītā the supreme father personally is coming and teaching you, "I am the father." So what is the objection to accepting Him? All the ācāryas have accepted, as you spoke of the ācāryas. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has accepted. So what is my objection? That means I am defying all the ācāryas. All the Vedas says kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. Ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). And this is supported by the ācāryas.