?r? Guru Pada Padma ?r? ?r?mad Gour Govinda Swami Mah?r?ja presents a very profound view of the bona-fide guru, s?dhu-sa?ga and the offences to the s?dhu; who to accept as a guru and who to reject as a guru, and the necessity to associate with a s?dhu, the living s?dhu, the living guru. ?r?la A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhup?da describes in his purport of ?r?mad-Bh?gavatam 3.23.54 that, �Association with a great personality is most important. In Caitanya-carit?m?ta Lord Caitanya says that s?dhu-sa?ga [Cc. Madhya 22.83], the association of a great saintly person, is very important, because even if one is not advanced in knowledge, simply by association with a great saintly person one can immediately make considerable advancement in spiritual life. "k???a-bhakti-janma-m?la haya �s?dhu-sa?ga"  " k???a-prema janme, te?ho puna? mukhya a?ga" �The root cause of devotional service to Lord K???a is association with advanced devotees. Even when one�s dormant love for K???a awakens, association with devotees is still most essential. (Cc. Madhya 22.83)