Text 186]
The Lord Travels to Vṛndāvana
105
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (6.3.20) states that there are twelve  mahājanas : Brahmā, Nārada, Śambhu, Kumāra, Kapila, Manu, Prahlāda, Janaka, Bhīṣma, Bali, Śukadeva and Yamarāja.
To select our  mahājanas  in the Gauḍīya-sampradāya, we have to follow in the footsteps of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His representatives. His next representative is Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, and the next are the six Gosvāmīs—Śrī Rūpa, Śrī Sanātana, Bhaṭṭa Raghunātha, Śrī Jīva, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa and Dāsa Raghunātha. The follower of Viṣṇusvāmī was Śrīdhara Svāmī, the most well known commentator on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He was also a  mahājana . Similarly, Caṇḍīdāsa, Vidyāpati and Jayadeva were all  mahājanas . One who tries to imitate the  mahājanas  just to become an imitative spiritual master is certainly far away from following in the footsteps of the  mahājanas . Sometimes people cannot actually understand how a  mahājana  follows other  mahājanas . In this way people are inclined to fall from devotional service.
TEXT 186
তর্কোহপ্রতিষ্ঠঃ শ্রুতয়ো বিভিন্না
নাসার্ষিষ্ঠ্য সতং ন ভিন্নম্ ।
ধর্ম্য তত্ত্বং নিহিতং গুহায়াং.
মহাজনে যেন গতঃ স পন্থাঃ ॥ ১৮৬ ॥
tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo vibhinnā nāsāv ṛṣir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyāṁ mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ
SYNONYMS
tarkaḥ—dry argument; apratiṣṭhaḥ—not fixed; śrutayaḥ—Vedas; vibhinnāḥ—possessing different departments; na—not; asau—that; ṛṣiḥ—great sage; yasya—whose; matam—opinion; na—not; bhinnam—separate; dharmasya—of religious principles; tattvam—truth; nihitam—placed; guhāyām—in the heart of a realized person; mahā-janaḥ—self-realized predecessors; yena—by which way; gataḥ—acted; saḥ—that; panthāḥ—the pure unadulterated path.
TRANSLATION
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu continued, “Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great personality whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a great sage. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated self-