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THE SCIENCE OF SELF-REALIZATION
necessities, but to deliver the fallen, conditioned souls—the souls, or entities, who have come here to the material world with a motive of enjoyment by the mind and the five organs of sense perception. He appears before us to reveal the light of the  Vedas  and to bestow upon us the blessings of full-fledged freedom, after which we should hanker at every step of our life's journey.
The transcendental knowledge of the  Vedas  was first uttered by God to Brahmā, the creator of this particular universe. From Brahmā the knowledge descended to Nārada, from Nārada to Vyāsadeva, from Vyāsadeva to Madhva, and in this process of discipline succession the transcendental knowledge was transmitted by one disciple to another till it reached Lord Gaurāṅga, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, who posed as the disciple and successor of Śrī Īśvara Purī. The present Ācāryadeva is the tenth discipline representative from Śrī Rūpa Goswami, the original representative of Lord Caitanya who preached this transcendental tradition in its fullness. The knowledge that we receive from our Gurudeva is not different from that imparted by God Himself and the succession of the  ācāryas  in the preceptorial line of Brahmā. We adore this auspicious day as Śrī Vyāsa-pūjā-tithi because the Ācārya is the living representative of Vyāsadeva, the divine compiler of the  Vedas , the  Purāṇas , the  Bhagavad-gītā , the  Mahābhārata , and the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam .
One who interprets the divine sound, or  śabda-brahma , by his imperfect sense perception cannot be a real spiritual guru, because, in the absence of proper disciplinary training under the bona fide  ācārya , the interpreter is sure to differ from Vyāsadeva (as the Māyāvādīs do). Śrīla Vyāsadeva is the prime authority of Vedic revelation, and therefore such an irrelevant interpreter cannot be accepted as the guru, or  ācārya , however equipped he may be with all the acquirements of material knowledge. As it is said in the  Padma Purāṇa :
sampradāya-vihīnā ye mantrās te niṣphalā matāḥ
“Unless you are initiated by a bona fide spiritual master in the discipline succession, the mantra that you might have received is without any effect.”
On the other hand, one who has received the transcendental knowledge by aural reception from the bona fide preceptor in the discipline chain, and who has sincere regard for the real  ācārya , must needs be enlightened with the revealed knowledge of the  Vedas . But this knowl-