| 72 THE SCIENCE OF SELF-REALIZATION
necessities, but to deliver the fallen, conditioned souls—the souls, or en-
tities, who have come here to the material world with a motive of enjoy-
ment 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 bless-
ings 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
Brahma, the creator of this particular universe. From Brahma the
knowledge descended to Narada, from Narada to Vydsadeva, from
Vydsadeva to Madhva, and in this process of disciplic succession the
transcendental knowledge was transmitted by one disciple to another till
it reached Lord Gauranga, Sri Krsna Caitanya, who posed as the disciple
and successor of Sri ISvara Puri. The present Acdryadeva is the tenth dis-
ciplic representative from Sri Rupa Goswami, the original representative

’ of Lord Caitanya who preached this transcendental tradition in its full-
ness. The knowledge that we receive from our Gurudeva is not different
from that imparted by God Himself and the succession of the dcdryas in
the preceptorial line of Brahma. We adore this auspicious day as Sri
Vydsa-puja-tithi because the Acarya is the living representative of
Vyasadeva, the divine compiler of the Vedas, the Purdnas, the Bhagavad-
gita, the Mahabharata, and the Srimad-Bhdagavatam.

One who interprets the divine sound, or sabda-brahma, by his im-
perfect sense perception cannot be a real spiritual guru, because, in the
absence of proper disciplinary training under the bona fide dcdrya, the
interpreter is sure to differ from Vydsadeva (as the Mayavadis do). Srila
Vyasadeva is the prime authority of Vedic revelation, and therefore such
an irrelevant interpreter cannot be accepted as the guru, or dcarya,
howsoever equipped he may be with all the acquirements of material
knowledge. As it is said in the Padma Purana:

sampradaya-vihina ye
mantras te nisphala matah
‘‘Unless you are initiated by a bona fide spiritual master in the disciplic
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 disciplic
chain, and who has sincere regard for the real dcdrya, must needs be
enlightened with the revealed knowledge of the Vedas. But this knowl-
