other Indian gurus

Krsna said to Arjuna, "My dear Arjuna, this Bhagavad-gita philosophy, or yoga system, first of all I spoke to the sun-god. And then he spoke to his son, Manu. Then Manu spoke to his son Iksvaku." In this way the knowledge comes down from the spiritual master to the disciple or from the father to the son. So unless one comes in this disciplic succession, he cannot become guru. Therefore... I do not know all of them. All the svamis and yogis who came here, they do not belong to this parampara system, so therefore they are not bona fide guru. They are presenting themselves as guru, but they are not guru. Therefore people are misled. People are misled. And this is the first time that we presented India's traditional philosophy and life as it is understood by the parampara system. Therefore it is being so well received. Vivekananda came here, as you said, 1893, before my birth. I was born in 1896. But they have worked for, say, eighty-five years. What they have done? But I have worked here for seven or eight years, and it is now worldwide movement. Why? Because we presented the things as they are. Evam parampara-praptam [Bg 4.2]. Therefore it is effective. So if the things are presented as they are, the customers will automatically come.    (More...)