There were two other Chowkidars. The First among Chowkidars, if you will. They were (are) Jayan and Vijayan, the dwarapalaks at Vaikunth, the abode of Lord Vishnu. It is a position earned through great merit and millennia of good karma, it is indeed the greatest honour to be a Chowkidar to God. In essence, it is a ceremonial position, for God doesn’t need protection and importantly, God’s doors are always open to those who seek him. But as it often happens, Jayan and Vijayan grew arrogant and cocky and decided that they controlled access to God. Instead of being humble and ready to serve as chowkidars must be, they became quite god-like themselves.
One day the diminutive eternals, the Sanakadi Munis decided to pay a visit to Lord Vishnu. Thinking that these were little children rather than uber powerful Rishis, the drunk-with-power dwarapalaks refused them entry, in fact they actively mocked the wizened sages, for whom even Vishnu would be an upstart and therefore His chowkidars less worthy of their attention than insects. In their ire, the Sanakadikas cursed Jayan and Vijayan to lose their lofty rank and be born on earth over and over as mere humans. At this point Lord Vishnu himself rushed out and begged forgiveness on behalf of his errant staff. He was thus able to mutate the punishment to three evil births instead of a hundred ordinary human ones.
And so Jayan and Vijayan were born on earth as consummate evil: first as Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, then as Ravana and Kumbhakarna and finally as Sishupala and Dandavakra. And each time Vishnu had to incarnate on earth as well to extinguish the evil, for he as the Lord of Vaikunth was morally responsible for extrajudicial behaviour of his watchmen.
Chowkidars are there for our bidding, they are the safekeepers of our trust and faith, but they are not above it. We are the nation, we are the seekers of Truth. Nobody can thwart our access, indeed define the access to our Truth, our culture, our religion and our God. If they go over their job description, they can and must be taken down as we’ve done to past gatekeepers, as did the rishis, as did Lord Vishnu, three times over.
We, we must watch our watchmen.