[Spoken by Srila Gurudeva on January 17th, 1998, Australia, published as part of the Bhakta Bandhav Anthology, Volume 23]
Srila Gurudeva: Guru-nistha is the backbone of bhakti. If anyone has no guru-nistha, no strong belief in his Guru and actually his Gurudeva is not a bona-fide Guru, then his faith will shake like a pendulum and he will not advance in bhakti. He cannot enter into the realm of bhakti. So a devotee anyhow will have some realization that, “We should do bhakti to Krsna.” He will be fortunate if his Gurudeva is so strong and bona-fide. The symptom that he is bona-fide is that he will be very qualified in all kinds of Vedic grantha, especially in Srimad-Bhagavatam, and he can remove all the doubts in any devotee, disciple. Secondly, he should have realized who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He should be a realized devotee. Especially he will be absorbed in always chanting “Hare Krsna Hare Krsna.” He will be very much attached to chanting and he will always be attached to hearing and speaking the hari-katha of Krsna, of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And thirdly, he should be detached from all worldly desires. If he is like so, then he is Guru. Otherwise, he may fall down at any time. Nowadays we are seeing this. Very famous renounced order sannyasis, so many are falling down. Nowadays, especially in ISKCON we see this. More than seventy-five or ninety percent are falling down. So, anyone is so fortunate to have a very bona-fide Guru. Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami is here doing pranama to all his Gurus, because this is the backbone of bhakti.
So, we should consider that when we are going to any Guru, we should try to test him somewhat, to see whether he is Guru or not. To see if he can remove all doubt or not, if he is detached or attached with worldly desires, lust and all these things. The Guru should also look at the devotees to see if they really want krsna-bhakti or not. If he is in doubt that they really want this, he will wait for some time. After some time, then he will see, “Oh, yes, he wants really krsna-bhakti from the core of his heart. He should be helped.” Otherwise, any Guru will see that, “Oh, he is a very wealthy and famous person. If I will anyhow make him a devotee, if I can initiate him, then I can gain so many things. I can have so much wealth, so much reputation, and so many disciples can come to me through him.” This is not the process. We should not give initiation to anybody for these reasons. If you will see that he really has some interest to have bhakti, that he really wants it, then he should try to help him.