must know the science of Krishna

Whatever he may be, whatever position He may have, if a person is fully conversant with the science of Krishna, Krishna Consciousness, he can become a bona fide Spiritual Master, initiator, or teacher of the science. In other words, the capability of becoming a bona fide Spiritual Master depends on his sufficient knowledge of the science of Krishna, Krishna Consciousness; it does not depend on a particular position in society or of birth. This conclusion of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is not against the Vedic injunction. On the strength of this conclusion, Lord Chaitanya, previously known as Viswambhar, accepted a Spiritual Master, Iswara Puri, who was a sannyasi. Similarly, Lord Nityananda Prabhu also accepted as his Spiritual Master Madavendra Puri, another sannyasi. This Madhavendra Puri is also known as Laksmipati Tirtha. Sri Adwaita Acharya also accepted this Madhavendra Puri as his Spiritual Master. Similarly, another great Acharya, Sri Rasikananda, accepted as his Spiritual Master Sri Shymananda, who was not born of a Brahmin family. So also Ganganarayana-chakravarty accepted as his Spiritual Master Das Gadadhar. In ancient days there was a hunter whose name was Dharma. He also became the Spiritual Master of many persons. There are plain instructions in Mahabharata and Srimad Bhagwatam (Seventh Canto, 11th Chapter [32]) in which it is stated that a person should be accepted-either a Brahmin or a Kshatriya or a Vaishya or a Sudra-by his personal qualification, and not by birth.    (More...)