Impermanence as Teacher in Mass Loss

Every public tragedy is a teaching about impermanence. Mirabai, immersed in Bhakti devotion, understood that everything we love—even the divine form we adore—is ultimately unreachable in its earthly form. This is not nihilistic; it is liberating. When we mourn a public figure or sudden tragedy, we are forced to confront the transient nature of all things. This is painful but also clarifying. If we can accept that everyone we love will eventually be lost—that no earthly form is permanent—we can love more freely and grieve more completely in the present. The Bhakti approach to impermanence is not detachment but deepened love precisely because time is limited. Collective grief becomes an opportunity to teach this wisdom: that mortality is universal, that loss is inevitable, and that this very fact makes love precious.