(Click to enlarge photo of Srila Prabhupada throwing flower petals)
"The Vedic injunction is that one cannot understand the Absolute Truth simply by mental speculation or logical argument. One has to follow the authorities. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). Great authorities should be followed; otherwise, if we simply depend on the scriptures, we are sometimes misled by rascals, or else we cannot understand or follow the different spiritual injunctions. The best path is to follow the authorities."
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.16.23, Purport)
.