Spiritual master is not just a person but also a truth

Spiritual master is not that a particular man is spiritual master.
Spiritual master is a truth. So what is that truth? The truth is
samsara-davanala-lidha-loka-tranaya karunya-ghanaghanatvam. The whole world
is in the blaze of material pangs, threefold miseries. And a person who is
authorized to deliver people from that material pangs, he is called
spiritual master.

Sri Vyasa-puja — Hamburg, September 5, 1969