Smarana: Remembrance as Spiritual Practice

Smarana means remembrance or recollection. In bhakti practice, smarana is not passive nostalgia but active, devotional remembrance—the conscious calling to mind of the beloved (divine or human) as a spiritual discipline. Mirabai's songs are acts of smarana; she remembers Krishna deliberately, repeatedly, as a way of keeping the relationship alive and deepening her devotion. In grief, you naturally remember; smarana invites you to sanctify this remembering, to make it intentional and creative. Rather than waiting for memories to ambush you, you can practice deliberate remembrance: sitting with a photograph, telling stories, creating work that resurrects specific moments. This transforms memory from something that happens to you into something you do, from passive suffering into active love. When you practice smarana through creativity—writing about the person, painting their face, composing a song about a specific day you shared—you are not dwelling in the past but keeping them present in a way that nourishes both of you. Remembrance becomes medicine and art simultaneously.