If I disobey the law that has come down to me through the chain of preceptorial succession, the offense due to omission to carry out the command of the guru will sever me from the lotus-feet of Sri Gurudeva. If in order to carry out the command of the Vaishnava guru I have to be arrogant, to be brutish, to suffer eternal perdition, I am prepared to welcome such eternal damnation and even sign a pact to that effect. I will not listen to the words of other malicious persons in lieu of the command of the Gurudeva. I will dissipate with indomitable courage and conviction the currents of thought of all the rest of the world, relying on the strength derived from the lotus feet of Sri Gurudeva. I confess to this arrogance. By sprinkling a particle of the pollen of the lotus-feet of my preceptor, crores of people like you will be saved. There is no such learning in this world, no such sound reasoning in all the fourteen worlds, in no man-gods, that can weigh more than a solitary particle of the dust of the lotus-feet of my Gurudeva. Gurudeva in whom I have implicit trust can never spite me. I am by no means prepared to listen to the words of anyone who wants to hurt me or to accept such a malicious person as my preceptor.
Lecture by Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, “Assuming Responsibility of Being Guru”