This is excerpted from Prabhupader Upadesamrta, a collection of the teachings of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati compiled by Sri Bhakti Mayukh Bhagavata Maharaja, and published in Bengali. The book is in the form of a series of questions composed by the compiler, with answers extracted from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta’s teachings.

How will I be able to recognize someone as a bona fide spiritual master?

When you make judgments based on your own intelligence, that such and such a person is guru, you are in fact projecting the qualities of guru on him. Such a person is never truly the guru. In such cases, you are thinking that the guru is somehow under your control, or within the purview of your sensory knowledge. When Krishna himself decides to send you someone to act as your spiritual master, that person will be manifest before you as the mahanta-guru. 

How will I find a bona fide guru?

The Supreme Lord acts as guru in two ways: as the caitya-guru within the heart, and externally as the mahanta-guru, or pure devotee. If I am sincere, then the Lord reveals the mahanta-guru to me. We can go to a thousand different people with a petition in hand, but until the one person who can approve our application approves it, we get nowhere. The Supreme Lord is that person. Why He does or does not approve our request is something we cannot fathom. He is not a field laborer working in our personal garden. We have to be patient and wait. In the meantime, we should prepare ourselves by cultivating a service attitude and trying to eliminate extraneous desires. If we pray sincerely for the Lord’s blessing, then He will graciously bless us. Through His grace we will find a bona fide spiritual master.

krsna yadi krpa kare kona bhagyavane
guru-antaryami-rupe sikhaya apane

When Krishna decides to be kind to some fortunate soul, then He personally directs that person from within as the Supersoul and from without as the spiritual master. (Cc. madhya 22.47)

Who is the genuine guru and how can we find him?

The road to auspiciousness begins with taking shelter of a bona fide spiritual master. In accordance with God’s plan, everyone on this earth finds a teacher that meets his or her particular needs and qualifications. Thus, the Christians have their Jesus and the Muslims their Mohammed. Some less fortunate individuals think that some materialistic individual with formal traditional ties to the family is their guru, with the result that they become embroiled in householder life themselves. If we are fortunate, if we truly seek out a genuine guru with complete sincerity and persistence, and if we pray feelingly to the Lord to encounter such a spiritual master, then the Lord will surely lead us in this lifetime to a genuine guru by taking shelter of whom we will be able to attain the greatest blessings.

(Article is completed in the printed booklet)

Bibliography

— Sri Bhakti Mayukh Bhagavata Swami. Prabhupader Upadesamrta. Excerpts translated into English by Jan Brzezinski from www.granthamandira.org.
— Sri Bhakti Mayukh Bhagavata Swami. Prabhupader Upadesamrta. Bengali. Gaudiya Mission. Baghbazar, Calcutta.1938.