QUESTION FROM SINCERE DEVOTEE
How do we get the right Guru ?
It is not possible for a conditioned soul to directly meet Krishna -- the Supreme Personality of Godhead -- but if one becomes a sincere devotee and seriously engages in devotional service, Lord Krishna sends an instructing spiritual master to show him favour and invoke his dormant propensity for serving the Supreme. The preceptor appears before the external senses of the fortunate conditioned soul, and at the same time the devotee is guided from within by the Caitya-Guru -- Krishna -- who is seated as the spiritual master within the heart of the living entity.
Chaitanya Charithaamarutha, Adi Leela, 1.58
Meena Devi Dasi Yes. This is the actual process. The actual path. Lord Krishna makes the arrangement. Sincerity is our only qualification. The guru awakens the dormant love in the heart of the disciple. The disciple may be situated anywhere within society. They may be found in any position. That does not matter for devotional service. We do not have to "become" something else. When we begin to taste the ecstasy of devotional service that is no longer even a consideration. Chaitanya lila helps to understand these these things.
There was one very poor devotee, Sridhara, a maker of banana leaf cups. Very poor. He would give half of his earning for worship of the Ganges and was a pure devotee of Lord Chaitanya. The Lord would visit Sridhara and argue over the price of the banana leaf cups saying Sridhara was asking too much money. It was great fun haggling over the price. Finally Sridhara would just give Him the cups. Ha Ha. What ecstatic fun! Sridhara was very dear to Sri Chaitanya.
There is a pastime with Sridhara. Right after the Lord had the huge march on the Kazi's house. There were millions in the march, Vrndavan das writes that there were so many people no one knew where they were coming from. There were not that many people in all of Navadvip. It was an unlimited ocean of devotees in that march. A great miracle. And the Lord conducted the philosophical discussion with the Kazi, right after that He and all the marchers went to Sridhara's hut, with holes in the roof and the walls.
The Lord asked a drink of water from Sridhara who kept his water in the only vessel he could afford, an iron pot... He drank the drank the water with great relish and Sridhara became completely overwhelmed in ecstatic love for the Lord.
It is all ecstatic pastimes. The more we hear them and remember them the more ecstatic we become. No need to change our lives at all. Association of devotees who are absorbed in hearing and chanting like this is the express route back to Godhead.
Mostly people think of guru as someone who teaches rules and regulations. That can be helpful for smooth running of society. But it is not the path Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is giving. Srila Prabhupada laid the foundation for a smooth running society. His mission has that aspect. But it is possible to get caught up in rules and regulations and miss the goal, love of Godhead.
It is possible to circumvent all the formalities and just surrender. Srila Prabhupada said, "You can surrender in a second."