SB 7.7.17
bhavatam api bhuyan me
yadi sraddadhate vacah
vaisaradi dhih sraddhatah
stri-balanam ca me yatha
Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
Prahlada Maharaja continued: My dear friends, if you can place your faith in my words, simply by that faith you can also understand transcendental knowledge, just like me, although you are small children. Similarly, a woman can also understand transcendental knowledge and know what is spirit and what is matter.
Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
These words of Prahlada Maharaja are very important in regard to knowledge descending by the disciplic succession. Even when Prahlada Maharaja was a baby within the womb of his mother, he became fully convinced of the existence of the supreme power because of hearing the powerful instructions of Narada and understood how to attain perfection in life by bhakti-yoga. These are the most important understandings in spiritual knowledge.
yasya deve para bhaktir
yatha deve tatha gurau
tasyaite kathita hy arthah
prakasante mahatmanah
“Unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master, all the imports of Vedic knowledge are automatically revealed.” (Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.23)
atah sri-krsna-namadi
na bhaved grahyam indriyaih
sevonmukhe hi jihvadau
svayam eva sphuraty adah
“No one can understand Krsna as He is by the blunt material senses. But He reveals Himself to the devotees, being pleased with them for their transcendental loving service unto Him.” (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.234)
bhaktya mam abhijanati
yavan yas casmi tattvatah
tato mam tattvato jñatva
visate tad-anantaram
“One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.” (Bg. 18.55)
These are Vedic instructions. One must have full faith in the words of the spiritual master and similar faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then the real knowledge of atma and Paramatma and the distinction between matter and spirit will be automatically revealed. This atma-tattva, or spiritual knowledge, will be revealed within the core of a devotee’s heart because of his having taken shelter of the lotus feet of a mahajana such as Prahlada Maharaja.
In this verse the word bhuyat may be understood to mean “let there be.” Prahlada Maharaja offers his blessings to his class friends, saying, “Also become faithful like me. Become bona fide Vaisnavas.” A devotee of the Lord desires for everyone to take to Krsna consciousness. Unfortunately, however, people sometimes do not have staunch faith in the words of the spiritual master who comes by the disciplic succession, and therefore they are unable to understand transcendental knowledge. The spiritual master must be in the line of authorized disciplic succession, like Prahlada Maharaja, who received the knowledge from Narada. If the class friends of Prahlada Maharaja, the sons of demons, were to accept the truth through Prahlada, they would certainly also become fully aware of transcendental knowledge.
The words vaisaradi dhih refer to intelligence concerning the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is extremely expert. The Lord has created wonderful universes by His expert knowledge. Unless one is extremely expert, he cannot understand the expert management of the supreme expert. One can understand, however, if one is fortunate enough to meet a bona fide spiritual master coming in the disciplic succession from Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Mother Laksmi or the Kumaras. These four sampradayas, or disciplic successions of knowledge and transcendence, are called the Brahma sampradaya, Rudra sampradaya, Sri sampradaya, and Kumara sampradaya. Sampradaya-vihina ye mantras te nisphala matah. The knowledge of the Supreme received from such a sampradaya, or disciplic succession, can give one enlightenment. If one does not take to the path of disciplic succession, it is not possible for one to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If one understands the Supreme Lord through devotional service with faith in the disciplic succession and then advances further, he awakens his natural love for God, and then his success in life is assured.