Volume 3 - Prabhupada Books

Text 200] Talks Between the Lord and Ramananda Raya 213
PURPORT
Srila Sanatana Gosvami has advised us to hear about Kr��a from a Vai��ava. He
has explicitly forbidden us to hear from an avai$Qava.
avai$Qava-mukhodgirQaril
putaril hari-kathamrtam
sravaQaril naiva kartavyaril
sarpocchi$taril yatha payaf)
Thus quoting from Padma PuraQa, Srila Sanatana Gosvami warns that one should
not hear anything about Kr��a from an avai$Qava, however great a mundane
scholar he may be. Milk touched by the lips of a serpent has poisonous effects;
similarly, talks about Kr��a given by an avai$Qava are also poisonous. However, be­
cause a Vai��ava is surrendered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his talks
are spiritually potent. In Bhagavad-gita the Supreme Lord says,
te$arh satata-yuktanaril
bhajataril priti-purvakam
dadami buddhi-yogaril tam
yena mam upayanti te
"To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the
understanding by which they can come to Me." (Bg. 10.10) When a pure
Vai��ava speaks, he speaks perfectly. How is this? His speech is managed by Kr��a
Himself from within the heart. Srila Ramananda Raya accepts this benediction
from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu; therefore he admits that whatever he was speak­
ing was not derived from his own intelligence. Rather, everything was coming
from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. According to Bhagavad-gita:
sarvasya caharil hrdi sannivi$tO
mattaf) smrtir jfianam apohanaril ca
vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedanta-krd veda-vid eva caham
"I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge
and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas I am to be known; indeed I am the compiler of
Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas." (Bg. 15.15)
All intelligence emanates from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Super­
soul within the heart of everyone. Nondevotees want to ask the Supreme Lord for
sense gratification; therefore nondevotees come under the influence of maya, the
illusory energy. A devotee, however, is directed by the Supreme Personality of