Lecture Excerpt Prabhupada: …society. Lokanam hita-karinau. So loka-hitam. Variyan esa te prasnah [SB 2.1.1]. Variyan means glorify; esa, this; prasnah, question; krtah, what you have done; loka-hitam, the best welfare activities. This kind of question and answer. And not only that. One may say that “In your society, you are talking something of Krsna. That is your hobby. You may take pleasure.” Because everyone has got some, his hobby. But it is not like hobby. Not only loka-hitam, it is said atmavit-sammatah. It is approved by the transcendentalists. Just like in the Bhagavad-gita Arjuna says that “You are accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna. Not that because I am Your friend, out of my whims or affection I am talking of You as the Supreme Personality. You are accepted by such great sages like Narada, Vyasa, Asita.” Great stalwarts, Vedic scholars. So Krsna is accepted by all Vedic scholars. Not only in the bygone ages, just like Narada, Vyasa, but in the recent ages, within, say, one thousand years. Within one thousand years, there happened to be many great scholars, just like Madhvacarya, Ramanujacarya, Visnu Swami, Lord Caitanya. They were very, very learned scholars. They have accepted Krsna the Supreme Person… Even Sankaracarya. Sankaracarya is more than one thousand years ago. Sankaracarya’s time is just after Buddha’s age. Buddha, 2,500. Sankaracarya, about 1,500 years ago. He also accepted. Although he was impersonalist, he accepted, sa bhagavan svayam krsna. “Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has come, has descended as the son of Vasudeva and Devaki.” He has clearly mentioned. Because one may not misunderstand, “This Krsna may be different.” But he has specif… Just like identification. If you go to the court, you give your identification by your father’s name. So Sankaracarya has given identification of Krsna by His father’s name, by His mother’s name. Devaki vasudevasya. We also say Devaki-nandana, Vasudeva. So atmavit-sammatah. It must be approved by great acaryas. We are pushing on this Krsna consciousness not by whims. It is approved by great acaryas. We are following their footsteps. That’s all. That is our business. Atmavit tattva, atmavit-sammatah. And then pumsam, for the people in general, srotavyadisu yah parah. They have got many subject matter for hearing, ordinary people. But this subject matter, hearing of this Krsna consciousness, is the, srotavyadi… Whatever subject matter you have got for hearing, this is the topmost. This is the topmost. Srotavyadisu yah parah. So he’s beginning, Sukadeva Gosvami is beginning to talk about Krsna, and this book is The First Step in God Realization. How, for ordinary common men, how one can realize God, these things will be described. We shall describe. Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. (end)
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
New York, April 11, 1969