Dear Richard

Who can know what is an acharya? Well for starters, the Gaudiya Matha made deviants into acharyas after 1936, which Srila Prabhupada described in detail as a deviation. And the GBC did the same thing after 1977, with support from the self same Gaudiya Matha deviants. Srila Prabhupada says, these people are not acharyas. The acharya is one in purity and message, hence all the acharyas are pure. So it does not matter if you say an acharya, the acharya, the acharyas (plural) or the parampara chain, or Krishna's successors, or whatever, when you refer to the bona fide acharya singular or plural, either he or they, must be as pure as Krishna -- shaksat hari tven samasta shatra, all the shastra says the acharya or (s) are as pure as God. So it does not matter singular or plural, what matters is the quality and qualification of the acharya(s). ys pd