Devotee: What if someone tries to serve his guru in this way and then later on the guru falls down?
Śrīla Gaura Govinda Svāmī Mahārāja: That’s a bogus guru, not a bona fide guru.
Devotee: In that case one’s surrender and service count for nothing?
Śrīla Gaura Govinda Svāmī Mahārāja: Nothing, zero! They are of no value, because that guru was not bona fide, he was a hypocrite, a follower of Kali, only outwardly posing as a vaiṣṇava guru.
You should be careful before accepting a guru. That’s your responsibility. Don’t be superfluous. You should be very serious and don’t follow gaḍḍalikā-srota-nyāya. “Gaḍḍalikā” means a flock of sheep. Sheep move in a flock and one is at the head, leading. If that sheep jumps into a ditch the whole flock will jump into the ditch. They never think, “Why should we jump into a ditch?” If the leader jumps, they think, “That is a nice path. We should also go that way.” You should use your intelligence. Don’t follow this sheep logic. That is your responsibility. You should desire to get Kṛṣṇa. That is the perfection of human life.
This morning I talked about how consciousness should be fully blossomed, cent percent pūrṇa-vikacita-cetana. That is the perfection of human life. If someone can get Kṛṣṇa then he’ll have obtained supreme perfection. That means cent percent Kṛṣṇa. Not twenty-five percent, thirty percent or fifty percent Kṛṣṇa. No! Cent percent Kṛṣṇa. Who can give cent percent Kṛṣṇa? Only the person who has it can give. If someone has only twenty-five percent Kṛṣṇa, how can he give you cent percent Kṛṣṇa? He doesn’t have the balance in his account. This is your responsibility. You should find such a person and don’t follow this gaḍḍalikā-srota-nyāya. “Oh, everyone is accepting so and so as a paramahaṁsa, mahā-bhāgavata. Everyone says so.” All right. Don’t think anything. Fall into the ditch.

— Śrīla Gaura Govinda Svāmī Mahārāja
The Process of Inquiry, (Gopal Jiu Publications, Bhubaneswar India 1998)
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