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THE SCIENCE OF SELF-REALIZATION
nothing. We must accept the guru just as Arjuna accepted his guru, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself:
kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ pṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharma-saṁmūḍha-cetāḥ yac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṁ brūhi tan me śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam
“Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me clearly what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.” [ Bhagavad-gītā  2.7]
This is the process for accepting a guru. The guru is Kṛṣṇa’s representative, the former  ācāryas ’ representative. Kṛṣṇa says that all  ācāryas  are His representatives; therefore the guru should be offered the same respect one would offer to God. As Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākura says in his prayers to the spiritual master,  yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ : “By the mercy of the spiritual master, one receives the benediction of Kṛṣṇa.” Thus, if we surrender to the bona fide guru, we surrender to God. God accepts our surrender to the guru.
In the  Bhagavad-gītā  [18.66] Kṛṣṇa instructs:
sarva-dharmān parityajya māṁ ekaṁ śaraṇāṁ vraja ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.” Someone may argue, “Where is Kṛṣṇa? I shall surrender to Him.” But no, the process is that we first surrender to Kṛṣṇa’s representative; then we surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is said,  sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstraiḥ : the guru is as good as God. When we offer respects to the guru, we are offering respects to God. Because we are trying to be God conscious, it is required that we learn how to offer respects to God through God’s representative. In all the  śāstras  the guru is described to be as good as God, but the guru never says, “I am God.” The disciple’s duty is to offer respect to the guru just as he offers respect to God, but the guru never thinks, “My disciples are offering me the same respect they offer to God; therefore I have become God.” As soon as he thinks like this, he becomes a dog instead of God.