Devotion and dissent, the two principal ideas around which this volume is organized, seem at first sight to indicate opposite attitudes: while the former brings to mind pictures of loyalty and voluntary submission, the latter points to contrasting images of disagreement and opposition. However, on a closer look, the difference may not be so stark; both these postures denote forms of agency, for devotion too is positive action for the subject even though acts of devotion can often be self-effacing. The word ‘agency’ in English, interestingly, contains a sense of these contrarieties: although derived from the Latin word agere which means ‘to act’ and used often in the sense of a full capacity for action, the word ‘agent’ in ordinary usage often refers to contexts where the subject acts on behalf of someone else, under an authority that is located outside. Agency does not always point to autonomous and full originators of actions; agents are more accurately described as authorized performers – and not necessarily authors – of actions. This brings questions of authority to the centre of the very conception of agency. The juxtaposition of devotion and dissent as genres of action enable not only a deeper understanding of devotional practice but also a re-evaluation of the nature of agency that finds its expression in acts of dissent. The diverse registers of spiritual and communitarian practice in Sree Narayana Guru's life and writings insistently foreground an interplay between these tropes.