The Meta-Ethics of Viraha Bhakti: The Philosophical Writings of J. L. Mehta

Abstract

Thomas B. Ellis’ article explores the intense emotional and philosophical dimensions of viraha bhakti—devotion in separation—through the lens of Indian-German philosopher J. L. Mehta, who interpreted religious longing as a mode of existential truth. Ellis argues that viraha (separation) is not merely an emotional trope in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism but a meta-ethical paradigm, revealing a profound alignment between longing, subjectivity, and ethical awareness. Drawing from Heideggerian existentialism, continental hermeneutics, and bhakti theology, Ellis shows how Mehta's writings elevate viraha into a mode of being where the absence of the Beloved awakens deeper presence, vulnerability, and moral self-disclosure. The article critiques Advaita’s emphasis on transcendental detachment, asserting instead that relational absence—as in Rādhā’s longing for Kṛṣṇa—constitutes a genuinely ethical stance, one that affirms otherness and difference as essential to divine love. In bridging Western philosophy and bhakti aesthetics, Ellis uncovers viraha as a space of radical openness and spiritual risk, where the yearning heart becomes a site of ethical truth.