Devotee: Gurudeva, if your doing navadha-bhakti but it’s not under the direction of a bona-fide spiritual master, then is it svarupa-siddha-bhakti?
Srila Gurudeva: No. If there is no bona-fide Vaisnava or Guru association, without this, bhakti cannot be pure. They will not know all these things. How will they know all these things?
Devotee: Then that sravanam, kirtanam, visnu smaranam is like aropa-siddha-bhakti?
Srila Gurudeva: Yes. It may give Svarga, heaven, or it may give you wealth and reputation and all these things. So it is not pure bhakti. Some may think that, “If I will take initiation from this Guru, then wealth may come because so many rich people are with them.” We have seen so many disciples of our Guru Maharaja, they intentionally took initiation from him only to have the wealth of their mother because his mother was a disciple of Gurudeva. They had no bhakti, but yet, what is this called? Nothing. Only perhaps, anyhow he will be in the association of very good, qualified Vaisnavas and he will come to practice vaidhi-bhakti.
Any Guru who is unqualified, not realized, not unattached, he will not be able to give all these things. What is sadhana-bhakti? When all our activities are done to achieve rati, then it will be sadhana, otherwise not. If anyone has no aim and object of rati, bhava-bhakti, then he is actually not a sadhaka. When he will have this firm desire to have that rati and he is doing sravanam, kirtanam or the five limbs, being quite absorbed in that, then he is sadhaka. Like Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami. Then it will be sadhana-bhakti. Especially of raganuga-sadhana-bhakti.
Devotee: Then Gurudeva gave the example of Bilvamangala Thakura, that he is an example of one who is a sadhaka.
Srila Gurudeva: Why I could not give example of Sad-Gosvamis? Because they were associates of Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself. They were not only a sadhaka. They showed the path, how we should try to do sadhana-bhajana. Gaura premanande! If anyone has no ruci for hearing all these things and he is always upset, upset, anyone cannot help them. Understand? If he is always lusty, always upset, always worried, then anyone cannot help that person. Gurudeva can tell you, “You should walk this way,” but you will have to walk yourself. He will not walk for anyone. He will only show you the path. He can give his hand and say, “Oh, you can take my hand and come with me,” but he will not walk for you.
[Spoken by Srila Gurudeva on February 5th, 1998, Malaysia, published as part of the Bhakta Bandhav Anthology, Volume 25]