Prabhupāda: In Calcutta. And accidentally, I was born in a very rich family. You have seen that picture in my Calcutta, dancing. In that, there is a Kashi Mullik's family.
Indian woman: Kashi Mulliker? Okhane gechhi.
Prabhupāda: They are very aristocratic family. I do . . . I did not belong to that family, but I was born in that family, you see? And from the very beginning the Kashi Mullik, they have got nice Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa temple. So I was standing before the Deity, and I was seeing, "Oh, He is Kṛṣṇa. Oh, people say He is dead. How He is dead?"
Like that I was thinking. And then my . . . I asked my father, "Oh, I shall worship Kṛṣṇa. Give me." So my father gave me Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, so I, whatever I was eating, I was offering Them. So the statement of the śāstra and my practical experience corroborates.
So we have to take instance like that, you see? Sādhu śāstra guru vākya. We have to test everything from three position: the spiritual master, scripture and holy man. Scripture means, just like Bible. What is Bible? Scripture. Why it is scripture? It is fully contains the instruction of sādhu, holy man, or spiritual master, Lord Jesus Christ; therefore is scripture.
The scripture means the statement of liberated holy man. That is sādhu. Therefore, scripture should be tested through the holy man and spiritual master. Spiritual master should be tested through scripture and holy man, and holy man should be tested through spiritual master and scripture.
Allen Ginsberg: What is the difference between holy man and spiritual master?
Prabhupāda: No difference, but one has to test whether he is holy man. Then you have to . . . he has to corroborate with the statement of the scripture. A spiritual master is to be tested whether he is holy man, and whether there is corroboration in the statement of the scripture. Sādhu śāstra guru vākya tinete koriya aikya (Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura).
Just like the law court, the experienced lawyer's speaking and giving evidence. Sādhu-śāstra. And the judge is giving judgment, "Here is a statement, here is this law book." He has the judgment, you see. So he is also testing. The judge is also testing how the lawyer is speaking, and how it is corroborates to the law book.
So similarly, everything has to be tested in that way. The scripture should be consulted, and we should have to see whether it is corroborated. So we should not accept any man as spiritual master or holy man if he does not corroborate with the statement of the scripture. He's at once rejected.