Srila Prabhupada states in a letter to Hayagriva dasa in 1969 that he was lonely in the USA before he came to meet up with the young sincere hippies who helped him establish ISKCON.
Does loneliness exist then in spiritual life?
We know of spiritual loneliness - the desire to meet with Krsna and His devotees - and the pleasure/pain of being apart.
But what of devotees being lonely in their spiritual paths?
Does this denote a lack of spiritual attachment?
Not chanting deeply enough?
Poor sadhana?
Some elements are there but we can also feel lonely as we extricate ourselves from the material world and naturally attach ourselves to the spiritual world.
We no longer have anything in common with our peers, family, work colleagues...
We can also feel we have nothing in common with our spiritual colleagues as we feel some progression.
This can make us feel lonely.
We should not become superior as a result of this but always seek to try and understand and bring out the best in others.
One senior devotee told me that loneliness is like an intense emotion and this has to be given to Krsna. That longing, that aching, that emotion can all be Krsna - nized through the chanting of the holy names, through the reading of His books and through His services.
