PURPORT

Srila Sanatana Gosvami has advised us to hear about Krsna from a Vaisnava. He has explicitly forbidden us to hear from an avaisnava.

avaisnava-mukhodgirnam
putam hari-kathamrtam
sravanam naiva kartavyam
sarpocchistam yatha payah

Thus quoting from Padma Purana, Srila Sanatana Gosvami warns that one should not hear anything about Krsna from an avaisnava, however great a mundane scholar he may be. Milk touched by the lips of a serpent has poisonous effects; similarly, talks about Krsna given by an avaisnava are also poisonous. However, because a Vaisnava is surrendered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his talks are spiritually potent. In Bhagavad-gita the Supreme Lord says,

tesam satata-yuktanam
bhajatam priti-purvakam
dadami buddhi-yogam
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 Vaisnava speaks, he speaks perfectly. How is this? His speech is managed by Krsna Himself from within the heart. Srila Ramananda Raya accepts this benediction from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu; therefore he admits that whatever he was speaking was not derived from his own intelligence. Rather, everything was coming from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. According to Bhagavad-gita:

sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto
mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam 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 Supersoul 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 Godhead and comes under the influence of yogamaya. Consequently there is a gulf of difference between statements made by a devotee and those made by a nondevotee.