All the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, like Śrī Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Nimbārka, Viṣṇu Svāmī, all of them are Kṛṣṇa worshipers. And the Śaṅkara-sampradāya, they are also Kṛṣṇa sampradāya, but not so seriously as the Vaiṣṇavas. But Śaṅkarācārya has accepted, sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇa.
So, so far we are concerned, followers of the Vedas and the ācāryas, everyone accepts Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And Kṛṣṇa's book, the Bhagavad-gītā, because it is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it is accepted all over the world. There are thousands of editions of Bhagavad-gītā—not only in America; in Europe, in France, in German, in Japan. I have seen all of them. But because they do not follow the principles of ācārya upāsanā, they have commented in a different way. And our this movement is based on the Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without any malinterpretation.
Malinterpretation will not help you to understand what is Bhagavad-gītā. As Śrīmān Haṁsadūta has said, just to understand Bhagavad-gītā, one has to become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa; otherwise there is no scope of understanding. Because in the beginning the Lord says that "This system of disciplic chain of succession is now broken. Therefore I am speaking the same yoga system, Bhagavad-gītā, unto you, Arjuna."
But Arjuna was a warrior; he was a soldier, fighter. He was not expected to be a great Vedāntist or Vedic scholar in Vedic literature. That is . . . (indistinct) . . . besides that, neither he was a Brahmin; he was a kṣatriya. And he still . . . why Kṛṣṇa insisted that, "I shall speak to you this lost yoga system of Bhagavad-gītā"? That is explained by Kṛṣṇa: bhakto 'si, priyo 'si me, "Because you are My dear friend, and you are a devotee."
So . . . and Arjuna, how did you understand Kṛṣṇa at the end of hearing Bhagavad-gītā from Him? He says:
- paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma
- pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān
- (BG 10.12)
"You are paraṁ brahma." Every one of us, being part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, we are brahma. That is nice. But we are not paraṁ brahma. Paraṁ brahma is Kṛṣṇa. Every one of us īśvaras. Īśvara means controller. Just like some of you are here, coming tonight, magistrates, judges, you are controller; but you are not supreme controller. In this way go on finding out who is the supreme controller. Supreme controller means one who hasn't got to obey others' order. He is supreme controller. Otherwise, everyone may be controller, but he has to obey the orders of a superior.