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Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers
tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham
A  guru  must come in a disciplic succession, and he must have heard thoroughly about the  Vedas  from his spiritual master. Generally a  guru 's symptom is that he is a perfect devotee, that's all. And he serves Kṛṣṇa by preaching His message.
BOB:  Lord Caitanya—He was a different type of  guru  than you are?
ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA:  No, no.  Gurus  cannot be of different types. All  gurus  are of one type.
BOB:  But He was—was He also an incarnation at the same time?
ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA:  Yes, He is Kṛṣṇa Himself, but He is representing the  guru .
BOB:  I . . . I see.
ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA:  Yes.
BOB:  And then . . .
ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA:  Because Kṛṣṇa was God, He demanded:
sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me.” But people misunderstood Him. Therefore Kṛṣṇa again came as a  guru  and taught people  how  to surrender to Kṛṣṇa.
ŚYĀMASUNDARA:  Doesn't He say in  Bhagavad-gitā , “I am the spiritual master”?
ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA:  Yes, He is the original spiritual master because He was accepted as spiritual master by Arjuna. So what is the difficulty?  Śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ