Disciplic Succession from Kṛṣṇa

Since the Vedas are potential sources of perfect knowledge which can show us the path of deliverance from all the troubles of temporary material life, we will not want to spoil their message by submitting them to the interpretation of our defective conditioned minds. Such a speculative approach would insure misunderstanding of the message and consequent loss of spiritual benefit. However, if one goes into a big bookstore anywhere in the West, he will often find twenty or more translations and commentaries on Bhagavad-gita written by scholars, yogis, poets, proclaimed incarnations, etc. If he then reads in a few of these, he will simply become bewildered because they all proclaim different meanings. Each commentator contradicts the others and often himself as well, and how can one know who if any among these authors has access to the real meaning of Bhagavad-gita?

The real meaning of the Gita is the one intended by Lord Krsna when He spoke it, and therefore only one who can actually represent Krsna can authoritatively explain this book of transcendental knowledge. Now, we cannot hear the Gita and understand it directly from the lips of the Lord as Arjuna did on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra, but we may be able to hear it as it is from a bona fide spiritual master coming down in a line of disciplic succession from Lord Krsna. One should hear the message of the Lord from a perfect master who has become perfect by understanding and following the instructions of his spiritual master; if one goes back in this way, master by master, the original master is Lord Krsna Himself.

If we have a mango tree, the most luscious mangos will be found at the very top, and if we want to distribute these most perfect mangos to others, we have to find some way to get the delicate fruits down from the top of the tree without damaging them. If we put them in a bag they will be bruised, and if we drop them they will smash, so the best method is that several men should climb the tree, one above the next, and then gently pass the mangos down hand-to-hand to the ground.

The disciplic succession is like that: the perfect fruit is the association of Krsna, the Supreme, and if one attains perfection by the grace of perfect instruction, he will be very anxious to pass on the instructions as they are, without unnecessary tampering, to his followers, so that they can also taste association with the Supreme. This is the descending process-receiving knowledge of spiritual life coming down from the source of all knowledge. If one can get access to a bona fide spiritual master in a line coming down from the Supreme Lord, he can understand the real meaning of Bhagavad-gita and all the Vedas without flaw.