Worship Of The Spiritual Master

Lord Sri Krsna Himself proclaims that worship of His pure devotee is higher than worship of Himself. In the Padma Purana there is a statement praising the service of Vaisnavas or devotees in which Lord Siva tells Parvati: "My dear Parvati, there are different methods of worship, and out of all such methods the worship of the Supreme Person is considered to be the highest. But even higher than the worship of the Lord is the worship of the Lord's devotees." (NOD, 103) A similar statement is found in Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhag. 3.7.19): "Let me become a sincere servant of the devotees because by serving then one can achieve unalloyed devotional service unto the lotus feet of the Lord. The service of devotees diminishes all miserable material conditions and develops within one a deep devotional love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead." (NOD, 103)

Worship of the spiritual master goes directly to Lord Sri Krsna, and this is the method of the disciplic succession. Everything, for instance, offered to the spiritual master is offered by the spiritual master to Lord Sri Krsna through his spiritual master. For instance, whatever is offered with love and devotion to Srila Prabhupada is offered by Srila Prabhupada to his spiritual master, who offers it to his spiritual master, etc., on to the Supreme Person, the Original Spiritual Master, Lord Sri Krsna. This is the method of approaching the Supreme Lord, and this is the purpose of parampara, disciplic succession. Thus it is stated: "The attitude of the disciple should always be to satisfy the bona fide spiritual master. Then it will be very easy for him to understand spiritual knowledge. This is confirmed in the Vedas, and it will be further explained by Rūpa Gosvami that, for a person who has unflinching faith in God and the spiritual master, everything becomes revealed very easily." (NOD, 59)