Srila Gurudeva: In sastra, it has only been recommended to have sadhu-sanga with a niraga bhakta. It has not been said to associate with any saraga bhakta. A saraga bhakta can imitate that, “I am sadhu, I am a
bona-fide Guru.” But really he is not a bona-fide Guru. He is not a niraga bhakta. If anyone is lucky to have the association of a niraga bhakta, a niraga Gurudeva, a niraga Vaisnava, then his devotional activities will be permanent and gradually they will develop.
If they will have any question, Gurudeva will remove the doubts and by seeing the life of that Gurudeva, the disciple will learn proper Vaisnava etiquette. They will make no offenses and gradually all kinds of anarthas may be removed and they will not fall down. But those who are only imitating and not actually being a niraga bhakta, a niraga Gurudeva, his disciples will fall down. What will happen to the disciples of a saraga bhakta or saraga Gurudeva? That bhakta will fall down and that Gurudeva will also fall down.
We are seeing this happen even today. So try to be very careful about this.
If anyone has been initiated by a saraga bhakta, then he should try to give up that saraga bhakta and Guru and take initiation again from a niraga Guru or bhakta. If anyone has a Guru but that Guru cannot resolve our doubts and if he is not perfectly realized, but yet he is a madhyama-adhikari, then we should respect him but we will have to search for any very high class siksa-guru. We have left everything and we are practicing bhakti-yoga to attain pure bhakti, to develop our bhakti and to give our heart to Krsna. So if
anyone is not qualified to give this to us, then what is the use of accepting Guru and taking initiation?
So we must try to have a bona-fide, niraga Guru. Then we should learn all these things and try to develop our Krsna consciousness. If you have the good fortune to be with a niraga bhakta, a niraga Gurudeva, but you are not following the orders, the rules and regulations taught by Gurudeva, then you can still fall down. Only taking initiation is not enough. You will have to do hard labor for this. What is Gurudeva telling you to do? He is telling you to give up all kinds of offenses. “Oh, certainly, from today, I promise that I will give all these things up.” We should give up all kinds of bad association, those who have not left all these anarthas and aparadhas.
[Spoken by Srila Gurudeva on February 2nd, 1998, Malaysia, published as part of the Bhakta Bandhav Anthology, Volume 25]