Samsara: The Cycle of Attachment and Loss

Samsara, the Sanskrit term for cyclical existence, teaches that grief and rage arise because we love impermanent things. Everything changes; everyone dies. This is not pessimism but realism. Mirabai, losing her husband early in life, understood samsara intimately. Yet rather than withdraw from love, she intensified it, redirecting her attachment toward Krishna. The rage beneath grief often contains an unconscious demand: This should not have happened. Life should be different. Samsara teaches that this demand, while human, resists reality. The examined heart, through the lens of samsara, asks: What attachment or expectation is fueling my rage? This is not blame but clarity. Understanding that loss is the nature of the world does not erase grief but contextualizes it. Mirabai's freedom came not from detachment but from choosing her devotion knowing full well that loss is inevitable. This transforms rage from a protest against reality into a deepening of love itself.