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Elevation to Kṛṣṇa Consciousness
Kṛṣṇa says, “I am the Supreme,” and the spiritual master says, “Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme.” It is not that to be a representative of Kṛṣṇa or to be a spiritual master one has to have any extraordinary qualification. He simply has to carry the message from the authority as it is without any personal interpretation. As soon as there is some personal interpretation, the message is lost and the instructions become offensive. A person who interprets the scriptures according to his own whims should be immediately rejected.
Once Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “You must at least have enough sense to test to find out who is a spiritual master and who is not.” For instance, if we want to purchase something, we must at least have some idea of what that thing is, otherwise we will be cheated. If we want to purchase a mango from the market, we must at least know what type of food a mango is and what it looks like. Similarly, we must have some preliminary knowledge of the qualifications for a bona fide spiritual master.  Bhagavad-gītā  itself gives some information about the succession of spiritual masters. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa says:
imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam vivasvān manave prāha manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt
evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ