Longing as Spiritual Practice in Absence

Mirabai's Krishna was absent—embodied in images and memory, never present in flesh. Yet her longing for him was not pathology but her primary spiritual practice. She composed thousands of poems expressing this ache, this yearning, this sweet impossibility. The longing itself was the practice; it kept her heart alive and connected. In collective grief for public figures, longing persists long after the acute shock fades. The absence becomes chronic. Mirabai's model dignifies this longing: it is not something to overcome but something to inhabit as a form of continuing relationship. We can long for what someone represented, what their presence meant, how their life spoke to us. This longing is not attachment we should release—it is a practice that keeps the examined heart tender, honest, and connected to what matters. Collective grief that honors longing honors the reality that some losses reshape us permanently.