We should never consider the spiritual master to be an ordinary person. He is not simply an advisor, equal in power with our own mind’s desires. We should not think of the spiritual master as someone whose instructions we can accept or reject at will. If we think like this, we have not actually accepted a spiritual master. Srila Prabhupada says that instead we have accepted a pet guru. Keeping the guru as a pet is not recommended. A guru is not someone to be taken around and displayed. We are not meant to use the spiritual master to serve our own purposes. We should be careful, therefore, when we accept initiation, to understand the spiritual master properly. He is Krishna’s representative, and His instructions come from Krishna Himself.
(Lecture- Novosibirsk, 10.13.94)