Ritual as Returning

Mirabai's devotional practice was deeply ritualistic—daily songs, prayer, the repetition of the beloved's name. Ritual, in her tradition, is not mechanical but a returning: each day a fresh encounter with longing and love. Collective grief rituals—whether annual memorials, candlelit vigils, or shared readings—serve a similar function. They create containers where we return together to feel what might otherwise be buried under distraction. These rituals are not meant to 'move on' or 'achieve closure' but to maintain connection across the breach of death. By returning regularly to our grief, we honor the ongoing presence of those we have lost in our memories and commitments. Ritual practice also restores us to our capacity for vulnerability and communion—reminding us that we are the kind of beings who love, who mourn, who continue together. In this way, ritual becomes a living link between the dead and the living.