After some of his Godbrothers fell from their positions as sannyāsīs and gurus, Śrīla Gour Govinda Mahārāja presented this paper to the GBC members (of ISKCON) in 1989 for the sole purpose of establishing the absolute conception of (sad-) guru and to console Śrīla Prabhupāda’s grand-disciples so that they would not lose faith in devotional service and Kṛṣṇa consciousness.