Balarama means guru-tattva. Balarama represents guru. Yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasadah. If we want to understand Caitanya Mahaprabhu, if we want to understand Krsna, then we must take shelter of Balarama. Nayam atma bala-hinena labhyah. This bala-hinena labhyah, this Vedic injunction, means “Without the mercy of Balarama you cannot understand, you cannot realize your spiritual identification.”

Srila Prabhupada; Lord Nityananda Prabhu’s Avirbhava Appearance Day Lecture — Bhuvanesvara, February 2, 1977