Mahāṁsa: Oh, yes, we all. . . just two, three days back we went to see that Shankaracharya of Kamakochi(?), and the old Shankaracharya, he was very nice. He said, "Oh, you are doing very nice work," and he liked us very much. But then the young Shankaracharya, he didn't say anything, but he had one paṇḍita near him who started. . . who first questioned us that, "Do you know Sanskrit?" So . . .
Prabhupāda: Why did you not, "Do you know English?" (laughter)
Mahāṁsa: So first of all Acyutānanda . . . I wasn't there, but Acyutānanda and Yaśodānandana said: "No, we don't know much San . . . a little bit. We don't . . ." So he quoted, "Sarva dharmān . . . do you know that verse?" So they said: "Yes." So he said: "Explain what is the meaning of that verse." He started the whole conversation. We didn't want to get into any philosophical argument. So they started explaining what is the meaning, one must surrender to Kṛṣṇa. And then it went on, who is Kṛṣṇa. And then finally Acyutānanda and Yaśodānandana were quoting so many ślokas that they were completely baffled, and the whole crowd that was there, they were appreciating, and we were defeating them. By every śloka we were defeating them, and they were completely baffled. Ultimately he said—he could not fight back—so he said, "Swāmījī, you are right," and he wanted to close the whole conversation because the people were gaining our side. They were being convinced by our ślokas.
Prabhupāda: This is Kṛṣṇa's mercy.
Mahāṁsa: They were completely shocked that they knew so many Sanskrit ślokas from so many different scriptures.
Prabhupāda: The Western learned circle, they are admitting that the greatest contribution of Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is these authentic translation of Vedic literature. (aside) Hare Kṛṣṇa.