Longing as Spiritual Practice

In bhakti tradition, longing (viraha) is not a problem to solve but a spiritual practice in itself. Mirabai did not seek to end her longing for Krishna; she deepened it, refined it, lived within it. This challenges the modern therapeutic goal of resolution and closure. When you grieve a lost identity, longing may persist: longing for the simplicity of that identity, for the belonging it provided, for the person you were in others' eyes. Rather than treating longing as a sign that you haven't truly moved on, Mirabai's practice suggests that longing itself can be transformative. You can hold both grief and forward movement, both loss and emergence. Longing keeps you honest—it prevents false acceptance or premature closure. When you practice longing consciously, you stay in relationship with your former self without being trapped by it. You acknowledge what you miss while also recognizing that the person you were is gone and that is appropriate. This sustained, conscious longing becomes a bridge between who you were and who you're becoming, a way of honoring transformation rather than denying it.