162
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 2, Ch. 3]
Manu (a man);  tulasyāḥ —leaves of the tulasī tree;  śvasan —while breathing;  śavaḥ —still a dead body;  yaḥ —who;  tu —but;  na veda —never experienced;  gandham —the flavor.
TRANSLATION
The person who has not at any time received the dust of the feet of a pure devotee of the Lord upon his head certainly is a dead body. And the person who has never experienced the flavor of the tulasī leaves from the lotus feet of the Lord is also a dead body, although breathing.
PURPORT
According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākur, the breathing dead body is a ghost. When a man dies, he is called dead, but when he again appears in a subtle form not visible to the present vision and yet acts, such a dead body is called a ghost. Ghosts are always very bad elements, always creating a fearful situation for others. Similarly, the ghost-like nondevotees who have no respect for the pure devotees, nor for the Viṣṇu Deity in the temples, create a fearful situation for the devotees at all times. The Lord never accepts any offering by such impure ghosts. There is a common saying that one should first love the dog of the beloved before one shows any loving sentiments for the beloved. The stage of a pure devotee is attained by sincerely serving a pure devotee of the Lord. The first condition of devotional service of the Lord is therefore to be a servant of a pure devotee, and this condition is fulfilled by the statement “reception of the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee who also served another pure devotee.” That is the way of pure discipline succession, or devotional  paramparā .
Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa inquired from the great saint Jaḍbharata as to how he attained such a liberated stage of a  paramahaṁsa , and in answer the great saint replied as follows:
rahūgaṇaitat tapasā na yāti na 
    cejyayā nirvapaṇād gṛhād vā 
    na cchandasā naiva jalāgni-sūryair 
    vinā mahat-pāda-rajo 'bhiṣekam
“O King Rahūgaṇa, the perfectional stage of devotional service or the  paramahaṁsa  stage of life cannot be attained without being blessed by  the