Shloka 38: मुख्यतस्तु महत्कृपयैव भगवत्कृपालेशाद्वा॥ ३८॥

mukhyataḥ-tu mahat-kṛpayaiva bhagavat-kṛpāleśād-vā.

मुख्यतः - primarily, तु - indeed; महत् कृपयैव - through the grace of great souls only; भगवत् कृपा लेशात् - through a little of the divine grace; वा - or 

The primary way to obtain pure devotion is either through the grace of great souls or with a small amount of divine grace. 

Narad Ji says that this pure bhakti or divine love can be achieved primarily through the grace of the guru. And once we have received that, then only a tiny bit of the divine grace of God is required for succeeding in the path of Bhakti Yoga and achieving Siddha Bhakti. 

It is natural to ask the question ‘why do we need a guru? Why can’t we just receive God’s grace?’. 

When we know from actual experience that many of our efforts do not produce even material success without help from others, how can we expect that spiritual success, which is so rare, can be achieved by just working alone? 

In the Chaitanya Charitamrita, Lord Chaitanya has said (19.151):

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva

guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja

Wandering throughout the universe, some fortunate soul, by the mercy of Guru and Krsna, receives the seed of the devotional creeper.

This is a beautiful verse from the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The verse emphasizes that it is only through the mercy of a guru followed by the mercy of Lord Shri Krishna that one can receive the seed of devotion and begin their spiritual journey towards the ultimate goal of love and devotion to God.

Lord Chaitanya has equated divine love or bhakti to a creeper which will grow once the seed sprouts and that seed itself becomes available through the grace of the guru and the sprouting happens by the tiny bit of grace from God.

One of the reasons why a guru is considered important is that we first need to have the right knowledge. There is a process that we need to follow in order to succeed in bhakti yoga and receive the divine grace of God. We cannot achieve that grace until we have followed the process. And it is the guru who can help us understand the process and impart the required knowledge. There are tens of thousands of scriptures and teachings available and a guru is a person who can impart the relevant knowledge in a manner suitable for the student’s abilities of understanding.

In the Ramcharitmanas it is written:

“Nirmal man jan so mohi pava. mohi kapat chhal chhidra na bhava”

Only the pure hearted ones can attain Me. Anyone indulging in fraudulent acts and deception can never attain my grace.

First, we need a guru to help us understand this fact. Otherwise, all our lives we can keep searching for God but not find Him anywhere. And the guru also can help us understand how to purify our hearts and avoid corrupting our minds.

It is also written in the Srimad Bhagavatam:

SB 11.3.21

तस्माद् गुरुं प्रपद्येत जिज्ञासु: श्रेय उत्तमम् ।

शाब्दे परे च निष्णातं ब्रह्मण्युपशमाश्रयम् ॥ २१ ॥

tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta

jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam

śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ

brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam

Therefore, an inquisitive person seeking the highest good should take shelter of a spiritual guru who is knowledgeable in the scriptures and the Absolute Truth, and who is fixed in detachment from material affairs.