Paramahamsa: The Bible has gone through so many interpretations and so many changes in the last two thousand years. I’ve talked to professors who know the original Hebrew and the original tongues that the Bible was written in. And they say that is has changed so much that you can hardly…

Prabhupada: Yes, they are changing. Just like he said, “Thou shall not kill.” They are now changing, “Thou shall not commit murder.” They are doing that.

Paramahamsa: Yes. They have a modern Bible, using all modern terminology.

Prabhupada: So when you change, then the authority is lost. Therefore we should advocate that Bhagavad-gita is not like that. It is coming in the same form as it was taught to Arjuna. If you challenge that “How you know that it has not been changed?” the acaryas are there. The acaryas are there, and they are accepting; therefore it is correct. We have to follow the acarya. So when we see the acaryas have accepted, then we accept. All the acaryas — Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, before that, other acaryas also — they accept. They never say that “This was not in the original scripture. It has been changed.” You don’t find any such statement of the acaryas. The best thing, therefore, if you want a religious system, Bhagavad-gita is coming without any contradiction, change, for the last five thousand years. You accept it. Other scriptures are newly introduced, and there are so many doubts, so many interpretations. So if you want real religious system, this is the scripture spoken directly by God and accepted by all the acaryas, so take it. If you are really after God, so you take enlightenment from this perfect scripture. If you want truth, it doesn’t matter wherefrom it is coming; I must accept the truth.

(May 10, 1975, Perth, Australia)