Answer
See, here there are three words: “as it is.” That is our path. It is correct because it is as it is.
It is not Prabhupada's path. It is not my path. It is not your path. It is Krishna's path, as it is.
Recently, I was reading a conversation where an outsider was talking to Prabhupada. Prabhupada preached to him, and he went away. Then Prabhupada told one devotee who was with him that he should become his disciple. Prabhupada said, “No. Everybody is a disciple of Krishna.”
The guru is like a postman. Krishna is the focus, and the guru simply delivers His message as it is.
That is why Prabhupada did not name the institution after himself. You see Ramakrishna Mission, named after Ramakrishna. The guru's name is used. But what did Prabhupada name it? International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Krishna was presented to the whole world. So many people know Krishna, but they don't know Prabhupada. That is why we are now writing biographies—Acharya..., Yogi..., Maha-sadhaka—these books are coming out to help people understand who the person was who took Krishna to the whole world, as it is.
Now we can take part in this by distributing Prabhupada's books.
At least, nobody challenges the principle of as it is. Nobody says, “I am also as it is.” They say, “No, this is my understanding.” There is no competitor to as it is, because nobody wants to follow something as it is. Everybody wants to give what his own mind understands. They don't want to say what Krishna told.
For example, Krishna says, “Surrender unto Me.” Essentially, someone may interpret “surrender unto Me” to mean that he doesn't believe Krishna's body is spiritual. He thinks there is something inside Krishna that is different from His body, and that Krishna's body is like my body or your body.
But when Krishna says, “Surrender unto Me,” He is saying to surrender to Him—not to something else inside Him or in His heart.
This is where the contention comes.
As it is, Krishna has told us, “Surrender.” He is looking before us, visually present, and we are to surrender to Him.
Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Whenever He comes down into the material world, He comes in His transcendental form. Those who do not understand the transcendental nature of Krishna's form do not understand Him.
That is why Krishna says that only those who are devotees can understand Him. Others will have their own understanding.
