The year 2025 has concluded one month ago, marking a significant shift in my spiritual journey. After a decade as a pujari, first as an assistant and then for the past five years as head pujari, it’s time to relinquish this identity.
Leaving behind our designations and identities can be challenging, but it is necessary – or rather crucial – on our path to self-realisation.
Upon initiation, we receive a spiritual name and are trained to understand that we are servants of Lord Krishna. As we continue our devotional service, we assume various responsibilities, sometimes involving high societal positions, prominent managerial roles within temples, or spiritual leadership roles like becoming spiritual masters, swamis, or mentors. However, due to attachments and a tendency to control others, we often forget our role as servants of Lord Krishna and become drawn to the benefits of these positions and titles.
Everything in this material world has a beginning and an end, and so do our societal roles.
Have you ever encountered a devotee, friend, or community leader who, due to attachment to their position, refuses to relinquish it? This could be because of the benefits they gain from their high status or simply because they’ve become so accustomed to it that they forget the true purpose of any position: to learn to become a servant of devotees and Lord Krishna.
For a sincere devotee eager for spiritual advancement, it’s essential to have a spiritual master, friend, well-wisher, or mentor who can guide us when it’s time to let go and move on.
I call such a person a soul guard. While bodyguards protect us from physical threats, soul guards play a far more crucial role; they shield us from becoming entangled in the material world, help us detach from fleeting identities and remind us of our original position as servants of the servants of the servants of Lord Krishna.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.10.36 purport: Therefore, in all actions, the experienced guide, the spiritual master, who is the manifested mercy of the Lord, should always be consulted, and the path of progress will be assured.
Ananta Gopal Das
01.02.2026
Bhakti Wisdom 