The Paradox of Loving What Is Lost

Mirabai's radical bhakti involved loving Krishna impossibly—a deity, a memory, an absence. Yet her longing created extraordinary devotional art and spiritual insight. This paradox illuminates collective grief: we are told to love the dead less over time, to 'move on,' to let them go. But Mirabai teaches that sustained love for what is lost—honoring memory, keeping stories alive, remaining faithful to their significance—does not trap us in despair. Instead, it transforms loss into ongoing relationship. When we continue loving public figures or grieving tragedies months later, we keep them alive in collective consciousness. This fidelity has spiritual and social value. We resist the commodification of tragedy, the quick news cycle that erases. Ongoing love, held with the examined heart, honors what was precious without denying the reality of absence. This paradoxical practice sustains both grief and meaning-making.