Question
I would like to ask a question about qualifications of a guru. I always thought that guru must be a self-realized person because to liberate others from material nature someone has to be above its influences. I was taught that a guru is a self-realized person free from material gunas.
Answer
A guru must be successfully practicing Krishna consciousness and able to properly teach others to practice. Prabhupada always said that his disciples who followed strictly were liberated souls.
In the first verse of Upadesamrta, Rupa Goswami says that one who can ‘tolerate’ the various impulses ‘can teach the whole world.’
We are all eternal servants of Krishna and a devotee who dedicates himself or herself fully to serving Krishna has understood this point. That is practical self-realization, as Krishna explains in the Gita 4.24.
