Page 51 - History of Tirupathi Balaji and comparison of Sri Vaishnava

Prof. Hopkins: So by saying that the Gaudiya Vaisnavism is, and Caitanya,
are the central way of... You are not excluding...

Prabhupada: Eh?

Prof. Hopkins: You would not...
Prabhupada: No.

Prof. Hopkins: You are not excluding the Pandarpur tradition of Tukarama,
Ramanitoba, (indistinct), you are not excluding the Alavars and Ramancha, but
you are saying all of these groups, all of these teachers.

Prabhupada: Tukarama accepts Caitanya Mahaprabhu as his guru. Then
where is the difference?
Prof. Hopkins: So that Lord Vitoba and Krsna...

Prabhupada: Is the same.

Prof. Hopkins: You see as the same.

Prabhupada: Vitoba means Visnu. They call Vitoba.
Prof. Hopkins: And the Alavars, the Alavars of Tamil Nadu.

Prabhupada: Alavar.

Prof. Hopkins: Alavar.

Prabhupada: Yes. That is also Vaisnava.

Prof. Hopkins: You would accept their teachings also?
Prabhupada: Oh yes.

Prof. Hopkins: So the real question then is Vaisnavas and others.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Prof. Hopkins: The central teaching...
Prabhupada: Vaisnava and non-Vaisnava.

In this conversation with Professor Hopkins, Srila Prabhupada unequivocally
states that there cannot be any difference philosophically between the Sri
Vaisnavas and the Gaudiya Vaisnavas because both Caitanya Mahaprabhu and
Ramanujacarya preach that Krishna is the Supreme Lord. This is confi rmed by
Ramanujacarya himself in his introduction to his book entitled the “Bhagavad-
gita Bhasya, Commentary to the Bhagavad-gita.” Ramanujacarya writes:
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