The guru is a person who gives us the understanding of how, in a very practical way in day to day life, we can offer everything we do in the service of God, for the pleasure of God; and how everything we do, everything we say, everything we think brings us closer to God.

You must find someone who can bring you to God. Only a humble servant of the Lord can bring you to the Lord. A mystic cannot bring you to God. A mystic can only train you to be a mystic. Right? An intellectual cannot bring you to God. An intellectual can only help you to be an intellectual. It is only the humble servant that can bring you to God. There are no frills. He doesn’t need any frills. He’s just a humble servant. He can bring you to God. You have to find that person who is a humble servant. He can train you. He can teach you. He can guide you to the Lord within your heart. You have no obligation to follow someone who cannot bring you to the Lord. Sometimes it’s like a staircase. You have to go from one step to the next. You can’t stay in that step forever, but the humble servant of the Lord is like an elevator— one step and he’ll take you all the way to the top. If somebody is not a humble servant, he’s like one of the steps in the staircase. He can take you a little higher, but you have to go to the next. If the person has ever helped you at all in your spiritual life, no matter what he does after that, you should never condemn him. You should never feel bad towards him. You should be grateful to him, but you should not follow him unless he’s in a position where he can take you back to Krishna (God). You should seek out someone who can.