Prabhupāda: If you are incapable of raising yourself to the standard of becoming spiritual master, that is not your spiritual master's fault, that is your fault. He wants, just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, āmāra ājñāya guru hañā (CC Madhya 7.128), "By My order, every one of you become a guru." Now if one cannot carry out the order of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, then how he can become a guru?
The first qualification is that he must be able to carry out the order of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Then he becomes guru. So that carrying out the order of Caitanya Mahāprabhu depends on one's personal capacity. Āmāra ājñāya guru hañā. Acceptance of Caitanya Mahāprabhu as Kṛṣṇa, that is there in the śāstra: in the Upaniṣad, in Mahābhārata, in Bhāgavata.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: How are the references made?
Prabhupāda: Hmm?
Ātreya Ṛṣi: What references are given, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: You will find all this in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, references from Upaniṣad, from Bhāgavata. Caitanya Mahāprabhu never said that "I am Kṛṣṇa." But the devotees . . . you know Sanātana Gosvāmī corroborated. You know that? You have read that?
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes, I have. Yes.
Prabhupāda: So sādhu śāstra guru vākya. So we have to accept the authority of śāstra, guru and sādhu. So those who are sādhu, they accept Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The guru in the . . . they accept. And śāstra, there is acceptance. So therefore it is confirmed. Not only He; any avatāra, He must be confirmed by these three sources: sādhu, śāstra, guru. I accept Caitanya Mahāprabhu because my Guru Mahārāja accepted.
He accepted Caitanya Mahāprabhu as Kṛṣṇa; his Guru Mahārāja accepted. And the śāstra is there. When guru says that Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Kṛṣṇa, he quotes śāstra. The śāstra, guru, and those who are actually devotees, sādhu, they also accept. This is the evidence.
Lady devotee (1): Prabhupāda, is Lord Caitanya always carrying on saṅkīrtana in the spiritual world?
Prabhupāda: Yes. He is the father of the saṅkīrtana movement. Saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi sumedhasaḥ (SB 11.5.32). This is the statement in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This Lord, incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, is worshiped by saṅkīrtana yajña, and those who are intelligent, sumedhasaḥ, sharp brain, they worship this Lord by saṅkīrtana. This is the statement in the Bhāgavata. And therefore we worship Him with saṅkīrtana.
This picture, He is being worshiped by saṅkīrtana. Yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti (SB 11.5.32). And they are, big men—Śrī Advaita, Śrī Gadādhara, Śrīvāsa and others, followers. That is the proof. Kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇam. He is fair complexioned, but He is always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-varṇam iti. He is describing the science of Kṛṣṇa. These are the statement, and He is doing exactly the same thing. His accepting sannyāsa order is also mentioned in the śāstra.
So everything we have to accept through three channels: sādhu, śāstra, guru. Saintly person, they you should accept; guru should accept; and it must be mentioned in the śāstra. Guru cannot manufacture something.
He must quote from the śāstra and then tell to his disciple. So disciple, as soon as he receives a message from guru corroborated by the śāstra, then he should take it as fact. This is the way. Why there should be any more doubt? What is your argument?
Ātreya Ṛṣi: There is no argument, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. (chuckles)
Ātreya Ṛṣi: It's just the conditioning of the mind, the trouble of the mind.
Prabhupāda: That is different. That is different. Manodhara. Manodhara means those who are conditioned by the mind, their statement is not accepted, according to our philosophy. Because he has no value.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: They have to be cured.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Ātreya Ṛṣi: They have to be cured.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Crazy.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So a crazy man's statement is not accepted. Child's statement, crazy man's statement, unauthorized person's statement, blind man's statement we cannot accept.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: A woman's statement?
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Ātreya Ṛṣi: A woman's statement?
Prabhupāda: If a woman is perfect in Kṛṣṇa consciousness . . . just like Jāhnavā-devī, Lord Nityānanda's wife, she was ācārya. She was ācārya. She was controlling the whole Vaiṣṇava community.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Lord Nityānanda?
Prabhupāda: Wife. Jāhnavā-devī. She was controlling the whole Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava community.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Do you have references about that in any of your books, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: I don't think. But there are many ācāryas. Maybe somewhere I might have mentioned. It is not that woman cannot be ācārya. Generally, they do not become. In very special case. But Jāhnavā-devī was accepted as, but she did not declare.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Women today . . . there is a very popular topic amongst women: they speak of liberation. And their desire . . . their desire to be liberated is sane, but they do not understand. And they object very strongly . . . I've spoken to some of these so-called liberated women, and they object strongly to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, because they think we discriminate against women. So I have been taking advantage of opportunities to describe to them that the only means to liberation for men and woman is through Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa does not make any discrimination. Kṛṣṇa does not make. Whatever difference is there, it is bodily difference. But as soul, their equal. So whatever difference we make, that is bodily difference. So when one is above the bodily concept of life, there is no difference.
Why woman? Even cats and dogs. Woman is human being. Even cats and dogs, they have got the same spirit soul. So a learned scholar will see from the spiritual platform. Then there is equality.