Hari's Name: Invocation as Anchoring Practice

Mirabai sang Hari's name—Krishna's name—constantly, in all circumstances. This was not escapism but a form of anchoring: in moments of abandonment, rage, grief, and fear, the name became a tether to something constant. The practice of nam-japa (name repetition) in bhakti tradition serves multiple functions: it focuses the scattered mind, it invokes the presence of the beloved, and it creates a container for overwhelming emotion. When rage threatens to become destructive or when grief feels bottomless, the name practice offers return to center. For contemporary practitioners navigating grief with its underlying fury, invocation need not be theistic; it might be a word, a phrase, a felt sense, a breath—something that calls us back to what matters most when we are unmoored. Mirabai's devotion to Hari's name demonstrates that repetition is not mechanical but transformative: the more we invoke, the more we are invoked. The name becomes not an escape from anger but a companion to it, a reminder of a larger context in which even rage has meaning.