Lord Caitanya is no other than Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, but He has appeared as a devotee just to deliver love of Kṛṣṇa to everyone. Kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te. Kṛṣṇa-prema, love of Godhead, love of Kṛṣṇa, one who delivers, one who gives in charity the love of Godhead, he is called mahā-vadānya, the greatest of all munificent persons. Namo mahā-vadānyāya.
So there is a program of Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes He comes Himself, sometimes He comes as a devotee, sometimes He leaves behind Him instruction like Bhagavad-gītā, and sometimes He authorizes somebody to preach this cult. Of course, anyone who is a sincere devotee, he is authorized. That Kṛṣṇa, as Lord Caitanya, has said personally, āmāra ajñāya guru hañā tāra ei (CC Madhya 7.128). Our only business is to follow the superior. Just like a faithful servant, if he simply follows the instruction of the master, then he is perfect. If he does not adulterate the instruction of the master, then he's perfect.
It is not that those who are preaching this Kṛṣṇa cult, they are all perfect. There may be many deficiencies. Any conditional soul has got four deficiencies naturally. He is to commit mistake. However great man he may be, surely, because he is conditional soul, he'll commit mistake. You know. In our country Mahatma Gandhi, he was a great man undoubtedly, but he also committed mistake, so what to speak of us? A conditioned soul must commit mistake.
And he must be illusioned. To accept something as something else, that is called illusion. Just like illusion, best example of illusion, is given that māyā-marīcika, to accept water in the desert. An animal sees that there is water in the desert, and being thirsty, he goes after the water, but the water also makes progress, and he also makes progress. In this way he dies. That is called illusion. Actually there is no water, but he is fleeing after water.
So for conditioned soul these are the defects: he is to commit mistake, he is illusioned, and he has got a cheating propensity also. Everyone is thinking in transaction that, "I have cheated that man very nicely. In business transaction I have gained, he has lost." And of all the deficiency, most important deficiency is that our senses are imperfect. We say: "I want to see God," but we forget that our eyes are so imperfect that I cannot see in the nearest eyelid. As soon as I close my eyes, I do not see the eyelid. This is the power of my seeing. Therefore we should not be so much proud of our seeing power that we'll say that, "I want to see the God. Can you show me God?" This is not possible.
So these four deficiencies of conditioned soul are there; therefore we cannot have perfect knowledge by our mental speculation. That is not possible. We have to receive knowledge from authorities. That is the process. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). If we receive knowledge . . . our process is that we are trying to receive knowledge from Kṛṣṇa, the greatest mahājana, the greatest authority, and if we follow the instruction of Kṛṣṇa, then we are perfect. The same example, as Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu says:
- āmāra ajñāya guru hañā tāra ei deśa
- yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa
- (CC Madhya 7.128)
This is necessary. It is not that you have to become completely perfect by following certain process. If you simply perfectly follow the instruction of Kṛṣṇa, then you become perfect. That is required. Don't adulterate. Then you'll never become perfect. Other processes—yoga, dhyāna, karma, jñāna . . . there are many processes to make oneself perfect, but even becoming perfect, you cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. Yoginām . . . manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). Siddhaye means perfection. Yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścid vetti māṁ tattvataḥ. Even you become perfect, still, it is doubtful whether you have understood Kṛṣṇa. This is the position.
Therefore the conclusion is that if you simply follow the perfect instruction of Kṛṣṇa, then automatically you become perfect, however imperfect you may be. That is our duty. It is not very difficult. Just like a child, a boy, a child, he's asking father, "My dear father, what is this?" An intelligent child questions like that. The father explains, "This is this," and the child accepts. Then his knowledge is perfect. Why the child should endeavor to understand little things as it is? It will take long, long years. And it may not be perfect. But if he accepts the instruction of the father or mother, immediately he becomes perfect.
There are many other examples. Just like a child wants to know who is father. The mother says: "My dear child, this gentleman is your father"—that is perfect knowledge. But if the child wants to research who is his father, it is impossible to find out. Similarly, if we want to know the supreme father, Kṛṣṇa, or God, we have to take instruction from the supreme father, not speculating, just like by speculating we cannot understand our ordinary father without the instruction of mother. If you go on speculating, "He may be my father. He may be my father. He may be father," go on speculating, but you will never understand who is your father. But you accept the authoritative statement of your mother that, "He is your father"—that is perfect knowledge.