Bhava: The Emotional State as Spiritual Practice

Bhava means emotional state or mood and, in bhakti, refers to the inner state cultivated through practice and devotion. Rather than seeing emotions as problems to solve, bhava treats them as doorways to deeper truth. In bhakti practice, you might cultivate a particular bhava—the state of a child before the divine mother, or a lover longing for the beloved. Your grief for a lost identity can similarly be held as a bhava: not as a malfunction but as a legitimate emotional and spiritual state worthy of your full presence. This does not mean wallowing or becoming stuck; it means approaching your grief as a meditation. What does this sadness want to teach you? What textures does it contain? When you inhabit your grief fully rather than trying to escape it, something unexpected happens: the emotion begins to move. Mirabai did not write poetry trying to "get over" her longing for the divine; she inhabited that longing so completely that it became transformative. By bringing this same depth of attention to your grief for your former self, you may find that the emotion itself becomes a path of wisdom and change.