Guest (2): What are the reasons why one should not hear from one who has got sufficient knowledge on Lord Kṛṣṇa if he is not outwardly a Vaiṣṇava? That means he's not having śikhā or kunti, like that.
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Hari-śauri: He says, "What's wrong with hearing from someone if he has some knowledge of Kṛṣṇa even if he doesn't have a śikhā and tilaka and what have you?"
Prabhupāda: That is the injunction of authority. Avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ pūtaṁ hari-ka..., śravaṇaṁ na kartavyam. We have to abide by the orders of the superiors. "Why?"—there is no question. Authority says; you have to accept. You cannot say "Why?" Vedic injunction. Therefore Kṛṣṇa was accepted as guru by Arjuna. Śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam (BG 2.7). Because as friend and friend the reply and argument will go on, to stop this argument Kṛṣṇa is accepted as guru, not as friend. Similarly, when you accept a guru, you must accept guru according to the Vedic principle. So here guru, Sanātana Gosvāmī, he is giving the injunction that avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtaṁ śravaṇaṁ na kartavyam. Exceptional case is different, the paramahaṁsa stage. But a guru, although he is paramahaṁsa, because he is teaching, he come down as madhyama-adhikārī. There are three kinds of Vaiṣṇava: kaniṣṭha adhikārī, madhyama adhikārī and uttama adhikārī. Uttama adhikārī may be without kunti, without śikhā, without Vaiṣṇava symptoms. He's paramahaṁsa. But when he comes to the preaching platform he must become a madhyama adhikārī, not to imitate uttama adhikārī, because he has to teach. He cannot deviate from the teaching principles. So what you are speaking, that "Without śikhā without kunti, one can become guru," that is fact for the paramahaṁsa, not for the preacher. Preacher must behave very nicely.