One who wants to worship the Supreme Lord must first of all take shelter of the lotus feet of Sri Guru. bhajana-sadhana is far removed from one who does not take shelter of the lotus feet of Sri Guru, because this is the gate through which one enters the path of bhakti. This does not only count for the path of bhakti, there is no practice in the world that does not require the shelter of a Guru’s (teacher’s) feet! If it is necesary to take a learned and experienced teacher to learn something in this mundane world, then it is needless to say that one needs a Guru to learn bhakti, which is the highest science in the spiritual world, from. Another special feature of devotional knowledge is that the merciful Sri Bhagavan has personally appeared within this world in the form of the Guru to teach bhakti to the people of the world.
We have briefly discussed the Guru-principle above. When the gravity (gurutva) of the Guru-principle is understood, then there will be no more doubts about the importance of taking shelter of the lotus feet of Sri Guru. What is the intrinsic status of Sri Guru, what is the substance (essence) of Guru and what is the auspicious result of taking shelter of Sri Guru’s feet — the ignorant person has different doubts about these questions regarding taking shelter of Sri Guru’s feet. Knowledge on all these Guru-principles is acquired in the association of the sadhus. Without the company of the devotees of the Supreme Lord, the principle of Guru cannot be understood. Hence the scriptures and the great saints first of all advise the people who wish to do sadhana bhajana and who desire the highest welfare, to associate with the saints. In Srimad Bhagavata, Lord Sri Kapiladeva has told His own mother Devahuti —

satam prasangan mama virya samvido bhavanti hrit karna rasayanah kathah
taj joshanad asvapavarga vartmani sraddha ratir bhaktir anukramishyati

(Bhagavata 3.25.25)

“When one attains the excellent company of the saints, topics that indicate My glories become like nectar for the heart and the ears. Anyone who lovingly relishes these topics, that are the swift pathway to the cessation of ignorance, will gradually develop faith, attachment and devotion for Me.” The purport of this is that by hearing topics on the Supreme Lord from the great saints, one first attains faith, then one attains the shelter of a bona fide Guru and engages in bhajana, as a result of which rati and prema gradually develop. By the Lord’s wish, the living beings have been wandering (reincarnating) through different species of life since beginningless time and by the Lord’s grace they have attained this human body, which is the gateway to liberation from the repetition of birth and death. The most fortunate amongst these human beings will attain the association of the saints. While hearing topics of Sri Krishna from the mouths of the greatly realised devotees of the Lord, the heart, which is polluted by attachment to sense objects, will be somewhat purified and one will realise that the body and everything related to it is temporary, and the ocean of temporary material existence seems impossible to cross. Then, the heart will become eager to cross the impassable and miserable ocean of material existence, that is filled with the crocodiles and sharks of lust and anger, to attain the eternally blissful lotus feet of the Lord and to find a suitable captain for the sturdy ship of the human body — Sri Guru. In Srimad Bhagavata, Sri Krishna has told Uddhava —

nri deham adyam sulabham sudurlabham plavam sukalpam guru karna-dharam
mayanukulena nabhasvateritam puman bhavabdhim na taret sa atma-ha

(Srimad Bhagavata 11.20.17)

“O Uddhava! This human body is the adya, the root cause of all welfare, and sukalpa, expert in accomplishing its goal. The living entity attains this rarely attained human body, which is like an excellent boat that has Sri Gurudeva as its captain. On top of everything I am providing favorable winds to steer it in the right direction. A person who does not endeavour to cross the ocean of material existence despite receiving this body is destroying himself.”
We have already discussed that in the company of the saints one comes to realise that one must take shelter of the feet of a Guru. Thus we must understand that association with the bhaktas has not taken place if one has not realised the necessity of taking shelter of the feet of a Guru. Wherever the association of the devotees is attained or is going on and there is no realisation about the obligation to take shelter of the lotus feet of Sri Guru, or such shelter has not yet been taken, we must understand that the real association of saints has not taken place yet, or that due to some mischief the results of association with the saints are not yet tangible. As long as the shelter of Sri Guru’s lotus feet has not yet been attained, the ultimate fruits of association with the devotees will remain the shelter of Sri Guru’s lotus feet, for only after taking initiation and instructions from the bona fide Guru, bhajana commences.