Srila Prabhupada - Vedic Teachings

  „Everything is there in the śāstra. Ācārya does not invent anything. That is not ācārya. Ācārya simply points out, "Here is the thing." Just like in the darkness of night we cannot see anything perfectly or cannot see anything, but the, when there is sunrise, the sunrise, effect of sunrise is that we can see things as they are. The things are not manufactured. There is already... The things are al... The houses, the town and the everything is there, but when there is sunrise we can see everything nicely. Similarly, ācārya, or incarnation, they do not create anything. They simply give the light to see things as they are. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu pointed out this verse from Bṛhad-nāradīya Purāṇa. The, the verse was already in the Bṛhad-nāradīya Purāṇa. harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma iva kevalaṁ kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā [Cc. Ādi 17.21] This verse was already there in the Bṛhad-nāradīya Purāṇa, the indication of our activities in the age of Kali...

  „They are mahājanas. So we have to follow Prahlāda Mahārāja. He is our guru, pūrva-ācārya. Nārada is pūrva-ācārya. He is disciple of Nārada. Therefore he is ācārya, and his disciplic succession... There are sampradāyas: Brahma-sampradāya, Kaumāra-sampradāya... Anyone who is bona fide ācārya, he can create his own disciplic succession, but one disciplic succession and the other disciplic—they are not different. They are of the same conclusion. The Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, just like our Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, and Nimbārka, and who that? Rudra-sampradāya? Viṣṇu Svāmī. They are all of the same movement. Ārādhyo-bhagavān vrajeśa-tanayaḥ, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28]. That is their conclusion. There is no different conclusion. Although they have got varieties of methods—śuddhādvaita, dvaitādvaita, vaśiṣṭādvaita, like that—they present the same philosophy in clear way. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu presented the same philosophy, that acintya-bhedābheda. That is ācārya. Ācārya gives som...

  "So  Prahlāda   Mahārāja , a great devotee, he's in the line of disciplic succession. He's considered one of the great  ācāryas.  An authority,  ācārya .  And who is  ācārya ? Ācārya  means one who knows the intricacies of Vedic knowledge and he personally behaves in terms of that knowledge and teaches his disciple in terms of that knowledge.  Ācārya  means the person whose behavior is to be followed. Not that as we follow somebody according to our taste. Not like that. That  ācārya   comes in the standard disciplic succession. So  ācārya .  So this  Prahlāda   Mahārāja , we are discussing the instruction of  Prahlāda   Mahārāja  because he happens to be one of the stalwart  ācāryas.  And the names of such  ācāryas,  authorized  ācāryas,  are also mentioned in the  Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam ." (Lectures - Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.6.1 — New York, April 9, 1969)