A spiritual master should not be accepted as a matter of fashion. Somebody thinks that, "Everyone gets a spiritual master, so I may also have some spiritual master." Or "I may keep some spiritual master as my pet." Just like somebody keeps some pet dog or pet cat. So they want also, "Somebody must be my spiritual master, and whatever I order him, he'll carry." So such kind of fashionable spiritual master is useless.
A spiritual master, it is defined in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, who requires a spiritual master. That is stated: tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta (SB 11.3.21).
Tasmād. Tasmād means "therefore." "Therefore one should approach a spiritual master." What is that "therefore"? Jijṣāsuḥ śreya uttamam. If one is actually inquisitive to understand about the spiritual existence, then he requires a spiritual master. A spiritual master does not mean that he'll teach you how to keep your body fit, how you can reduce your fat, how you can remain a young man, and so many nonsense. This is not the duty of the spiritual master.
However you may try to keep your body fit, how long you shall keep your body fit? As soon as you are born, the death is also born along with you. Suppose one man is twenty-five years old. That means he has already died twenty-five years. So you cannot protect yourself from death, however you may become very strong, stout.
Therefore actual education, actual spiritual knowledge, begins, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā . . . the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā is that when Arjuna surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, He immediately said that, "My dear Arjuna, you are posing yourself as very learned man but you are fool number one." Why? "Because you are identifying yourself with this body." Aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajṣā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase (BG 2.11).
"My dear Arjuna, you are talking just like very learned man, but you are lamenting on the subject matter of your body." Gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ. Actually one who is learned, he has no necessity for lamenting on the subject, on the body, either living or dead.