Every word of Bhagavad-gītā, that is fact, historical, and very nicely composed and spoken by the greatest authority, Kṛṣṇa, who is accepted by all parties as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There are parties of spiritual life in India. Just like Śaṅkarācārya's party, they are coming from very old time. I am speaking of the recent, modern age, say, within two thousand years. Modern means within two thousand years. Śaṅkarācārya age is about one thousand, five hundred years.
Similarly, Rāmānujācārya about eleven hundred years; Madhvācārya about seven hundred years. In this way there are, they are coming from that paramparā system. One paramparā system is coming from Brahmā. Another paramparā system is coming from Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune. Another paramparā system is coming from Lord Śiva. Another paramparā system is coming from the Kumāras—they were unmarried, brahmacārīs, sons of Brahmā.
So those paramparā system, line of disciplic succession, are still existing in India. Practically India's spiritual life is still being controlled by these lines of disciplic succession. So all these ācāryas, according to the Vaiṣṇava ācārya . . . Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, there are four ācāryas: Śrī Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Nimbārka and Viṣṇu Svāmī. And those who are not Vaiṣṇavas, impersonalist, they are represented by Śaṅkarācārya.
Even Śaṅkarācārya, from whom we differ in philosophical discussion . . . not very much different—so far the procedure is concerned, the regulative principles are concerned, they are all the same. The only difference is that Śaṅkarācārya's sampradāya, they take the ultimate Absolute Truth as impersonal, and we Vaiṣṇava, we take the Absolute Truth as person. But Śaṅkarācārya, in his later stage, he also admitted in a different way.