Revatīnandana: I have a question. One of my prabhus told me that you once said that your Guru Mahārāja said that Jesus Christ was a śaktyāveśāvatāra. Is that correct?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because he said it, it must be correct. Muhammad also, śaktyāveśāvatāra. Śaktyāveśāvatāra means a living entity is especially empowered to preach the glories of the Lord. Lord Buddha is also śaktyāveśāvatāra. They are not ordinary human being. They are especially empowered personalities.

Devotee (1): Lord Buddha is not an incarnation?

Prabhupāda: Incarnation. Avatāra means incarnation.

Devotee (1): So that means incarnation also?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Śaktyāveśāvatāra means incarnation with special power.

Revatīnandana: It's stated in the Bhāgavatam that there are two kinds of incarnations. One is a plenary portion, and the other is an empowered living entity. They're both incarnations.

Devotee (1): I thought that Lord Buddha was supposed to be incarnation of Viṣṇu.(?)

Prabhupāda: Not viṣṇu-tattva. They are not viṣṇu-tattva. There are jīva-tattva and viṣṇu-tattva. The jīvas are sometimes... Just like Lord Brahmā. He is also not viṣṇu-tattva. Lord Śiva is between viṣṇu-tattva and jīva-tattva. So powers, energies of the Lord exhibited in different categories... The viṣṇu-tattva is full of the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Others, they are not full. And Kṛṣṇa is the fullest, ṣoḍaśa-kalāḥ. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. Ete cāṁśa, aṁśa. Aṁśa means partially present in Kṛṣṇa. Ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (S.B.1:3:28).

(Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam--6:1:27-34-Surat--17th. December, 1970).

So when he was three years or four years old, he took one mango from the Deity room and ate it. So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said, "Oh, you have done a great wrong thing. You have taken the mango of the Deity before offering Him? It is a great offense." The child took it very serious, and my Guru Mahārāja never took mango throughout his whole life. Whenever mango was offered, he would say, "Oh, I am a offender. I cannot take that." You see? So there was a big meeting. What is this sound? Somebody's sleeping? All right. (laughter) In Midnapur district, when he was young man, he was holding meeting. He was a great astrologer, and he opened an astrological school when he was young man. And there are many big students still practicing. They are all students of my Guru Mahārāja. And there was a meeting in Midnapur district. The subject matter "Brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas." So in that meeting Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was invited. At that time he was not very in healthy condition, indisposed. So he asked Sarasvatī Ṭhākura that "You go and speak there." So he spoke on the distinction between brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas, and he defeated so many learned paṇḍitas. Then the whole audience began to take, touch his lotus feet and touch with water and drink it, in this way, when he was young man. That book is also available in Bengali, Brāhmaṇa-Vaiṣṇava.
(His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada`s Appearance Day, Lecture--Los Angeles--7th. february, 1969).

Advaita Ācārya was always absorbed in thoughts of how to deliver the fallen souls of the entire world. "The entire world is full of nondevotees," He thought. "How will they be delivered?"
Śrīla Advaita Ācārya sets the standard for ācāryas in the Vaiṣṇava sampradāya. An ācārya must always be eager to deliver the fallen souls. A person who establishes a temple or maṭha to take advantage of people’s sentiments by using for his livelihood what people contribute for the worship of the Deity cannot be called a gosvāmī or ācārya. One who knows the conclusion of the śāstras, follows in the footsteps of his predecessors and endeavors to preach the bhakti cult all over the world is to be considered an ācārya. The role of an ācārya is not to earn his livelihood through the income of the temple. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura used to say that if one earns his livelihood by displaying the Deity in the temple, he is not an ācārya or gosvāmī. It would be better for him to accept service even as a sweeper in the street, for that is a more honorable means of earning one’s living.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta--3:3:223--translation and purport).