Question: Is it true that each person has a guardian angel?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes. It is absolutely true. In the West, you call this protecting being a guardian angel, while in India, we call it the family deity or the deity of the individual soul. Again, the protecting guardian can be one deity or many deities. Normally, however, one person is connected with only one deity, apart from God. God is all-Protection for everyone, far above and far beyond any guardian angel. But each individual soul will usually have a spiritual guardian angel. And there are some souls of whom God, so to speak, is very fond; they have more than one guardian angel. These guardian angels try their best to protect the individual soul.

Do you remember the children’s opera Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck, where Hansel sings, “When at night I go to sleep, fourteen angels watch do keep.” Now, these deities also try to illumine the consciousness of the human being. They do not have the omnipotent power, however. Therefore, in spite of the very fact that the guardian angel tries hard to protect or to save the human being, the angel may fail. But the angel has considerable power, abundant power, and very often we see the miraculous success of an angel or angels.

It is only the Will of the Supreme, only the power of the Supreme that can protect us at every moment, no matter what kind of danger we are in. Something more, unlike all other protection, the Protection of the Supreme is always unconditional. But for our intimate, individual care and protection, it is absolutely true that each human being has at least one guardian angel who has a particular connection with him and hovers over him to protect and guide him.