Page 50 - History of Tirupathi Balaji and comparison of Sri Vaishnava

nanyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya [Bg. 7.7], “Nobody or no principle is greater than
Me.” Then who can be God? God is great. Here the great says, “There is no more
greater principle than Me.” Then who can be God? People generally know God
is great. Krsna says, mattah parataram nanyat [Bg. 7.7]. Not only He says but
it is confi rmed by great authorities like Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Visnu
Svami, all the big, big acaryas, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Vyasadeva, authorities.
Krsnas tu bhagavan svayam [SB 1.3.28]. So how you can deny?

Prof. Hopkins: You refer to Ramanujacarya as an important person. Where
does he... Where does he fi t into your, the Caitanya tradition? He’s accepted as
an authority. His, the Sri Bhasya is studied, accepted...

Prabhupada: Ramanujacarya has written comment on Bhagavad-gita. You
know that?

Prof. Hopkins: No.

Prabhupada: Eh?

Prof. Hopkins: No.
Prabhupada: In the Bhagavad-gita Caitanya philosophy is discussed.

Prof. Hopkins: So you would see no basic difference between Ramanuja’s
position and...
Prabhupada: They cannot be different because both of them are Vaisnava.
So this is the common point, that Caitanya Mahaprabhu is preaching Krsna as
the Supreme Lord. Ramanujacarya was preaching Krsna as the Supreme Lord.
So where is difference?

Prof. Hopkins: Well, I don’t see a difference, but...

Prabhupada: People know it. Things equal to the same thing are equal to
one another.

Prof. Hopkins: What about certain other traditions; Ishnamadeva(?),
Tukarama, some of the poet saints of Maharastra. Where...

Prabhupada: Yes, Tukarama accepted Visnu as the Supreme. He accepted
the process of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He accepted Caitanya Mahaprabhu as his
guru so there is no difference between Tukarama and Caitanya.
Prof. Hopkins: So Tukarama, you would say, is teaching the same thing as
Caitanya?

Prabhupada: Yes, sankirtana. And Krsna is teaching the same thing. Satatam
kirtayanto mam yatantaS ca drdha-vratah [Bg. 9.14].

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