Choose Your Guru CAREFULLY!

Swami Sivaya Subramaniam, "Choose your guru carefully by observing the devotees around him and what they have accomplished. If he has a preparation of training prior to initiation, qualifications to meet---such as vegetarianism, scriptural study, the performance of certain disciplines over a selective period of time---if he receives NO fee for the initiation other than a GRATUITOUS dakshina afterwards---the amount left to the discrimination of the devotee, a love offering, or a contribution towards the payment of a puja in a temple to the priest---and if he provides ongoing, more intensive training and education, scripturally and culturally, after the initiation, preparing the devotee for the next stage of initiation, then you have a traditional satguru.

The above has been taken from Swamiji's book entitled Merging with Siva (pg. 356)