parampara vicara

[Guest guest]

Regarding your question about the disciplic succession coming down from

Arjuna, it is just like I have got my disciples, so in the future these many

disciples may have many branches of disciplic succession. So in one line of

disciples we may not see another name coming from a different line. But this

does not mean that person whose name does not appear was not in the

disciplic succession. Narada was the Spiritual Master of Vyasadeva, and

Arjuna was Vyasadeva's disciple, not as initiated disciple but there was

some blood relation between them. So there is connection in this way, and it

is not possible to list all such relationships in the short description

given in Bhagavad-gita As It Is. Another point is that disciplic succession

does not mean one has to be directly a disciple of a particular person. The

conclusions which we have tried to explain in our Bhagavad-gita As It Is is

the same as those conclusions of Arjuna. Arjuna accepted Krishna as the

Supreme Personality of Godhead, and we also accept the same truth under the

disciplic succession of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Things equal to the same thing

are equal to one another. This is an axiomatic truth. So there is no

difference of opinion of understanding Krishna between ourselves and Arjuna.

Another example is that a tree has many branches, and you will find one leaf

here and another leaf there. But if you take this leaf and the other leaf

and you press them both, you will see that the taste is the same. The taste

is the conclusion, and from the taste you can understand that both leaves

are from the same tree.

 

Srila Prabhupada's Letter to: Kirtanananda -- Los Angeles 25 January, 1969