TEXT 1



I offer my respectful obeisances unto the best of the sages, Parasara, who mercifully composed the gem of the Puranas (Visnu Purana) and in that book taught the truth about the nature of matter, spirit, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, material sense gratification, liberation and the means of attaining liberation.



TEXT 2



Sri Nammalvar, the origin of our disciplic succession, is the object of great respect for all Sri Vaisnavas and for us he is our father, mother, wealth, sons, daughters and everything. Bowing my head, I offer my respectful obeisances to his feet, which are as beautiful as blossoming bakula flowers.



TEXT 3



I shall now glorify lotus-eyed Lord Krsna's lotus feet, which are splendidly manifest on my head and on the heads of all the Vedas, which are the place where all the pathways of my desires converge and which are the Deity and the great treasure of our family.



TEXT 4



I am so proud and shameless that I shall now offer respectful obeisances to myself, a poet intent on praising the Supreme Personality of Godhead whose glories are like a great ocean, even a drop of which cannot be properly understood by Brahma, Siva and all the demigods.



TEXT 5



Now, even though I am weak and incompetent, as far as I have any knowledge or intelligence, I shall glorify the Lord until I must stop from exhaustion. The Vedas and the Brahma's many mouths always glorify the Lord. What is the difference between a great mountain and a speck of dust when both are plunged in the depths of the ocean?



TEXT 6



O lotus-eyed Lord, this poet does not expect to earn Your mercy by a display of powerful eloquence. His intelligence is dull and these prayers were composed with great labour.



TEXT 7



O Lord, if You had not glanced on them, these worlds would not exist. Without Your glance how can anything happen? O Lord, it is not surprising that although You are everyone's friend, You especially love they who take shelter of You.



TEXT 8



O Lord Narayana, what learned Vedic scholar will not accept You as the all-powerful and unlimited Personality of Godhead? Brahma, Siva, Indra and the liberated residents of Vaikuntha are but drops in the ocean of Your transcendental glory.



TEXT 9



What is the splendour of the goddess of fortune? Who is the shelter of the pure devotees? Who is the Supreme Person? In a fraction of a fraction of a hundred-million-millionth part of whom is this world, filled with wonderful spiritual and material variety, manifested?



TEXT 10



Who, by giving the most precious gifts and by removing a host of calamities, such as the troubles brought by the demons, the theft of the Vedas and a host of heavy sins, protects Brahma and Siva? The water from whose feet does auspicious Siva carry on his head?



TEXT 11



In whose abdomen is this material world, headed by Brahma and Siva, manifested? Who protects this world? From whose navel was this world born? But for You, who jumps over the world, devours it and then spits it out? Who can be considered greater than You?



TEXT 12



O my Lord, those influenced by demoniac principles cannot realize You, although You are clearly the Supreme by dint of Your exalted activities, forms, character and uncommon power, which are confirmed by all the revealed scriptures in the quality of goodness and the celebrated transcendentalists in the divine nature. *



TEXT 13



O my Lord, everything within material nature is limited by time, space and thought. Your characteristics, however, being unequaled and unsurpassed, are always transcendental to such limitations. You sometimes cover such characteristics by Your own energy, but nevertheless Your unalloyed devotees are always able to see You under all circumstances. *



TEXT 14



This material universe, everything moving within it, the ten coverings around it, the modes of nature, the unmanifested stage of matter, the purusa-avatara, the supreme spiritual world and the Supreme Brahman, are all Your opulences.



TEXT 15



You are controlled by the love of Your devotees. You are generous, virtuous, straightforward, honest, pure, gentle, merciful, charming, steadfast, equal to all, blissful, wise and saintly. You are a nectar ocean of all auspicious transcendental qualities.



TEXT 16



Desiring to measure one of Your transcendental qualities, the words of the Vedas again and again multiply by a hundred the qualities of the demigod Brahma. Although eternally engaged in this way, they cannot cross beyond even one of Your qualities.



TEXT 17



The creation, maintenance and destruction of the material universes, the granting of liberation from the cycle of birth and death, a host of other actions You playfully perform and the words of the Vedas, which are the thoughts sheltered deep in Your heart, are all meant for the benefit of they who take shelter of You.



TEXT 18



Obeisances, obeisances to You, who are beyond the power of words and mind! Obeisances, obeisances to You, the only proper object for the voice's words or the mind's thoughts! Obeisances, obeisances to You, the master of limitless powers and opulences! Obeisances, obeisances to You, who are a limitless ocean of mercy!



TEXT 19



I am not a virtuous person, fixed in the principles of religious conduct, and neither am I a great transcendentalist, awakened to spiritual knowledge. In addition to this, I have not the slightest trace of devotion for Your lotus feet. O refuge of the devotees, although I am so unqualified, please permit me to take shelter under Your lotus feet, for I am now lost in this material world, I do not possess anything of value, and I have no place to turn.



TEXT 20



In this world there is not a single abominable deed I have not done thousands of times. Now that my sins are bearing fruit, and I have no place to turn, I come before You. I weep and cry out, " O Mukunda! "



TEXT 21



Drowning for a long time in the limitless ocean of repeated birth and death, I have now attained You, who are like a safe shore. And You, O Lord, have now attained the perfect object for Your mercy.



TEXT 22



What unprecedented calamity has not already fallen on me? I always suffer. Suffering has become second-nature to me. O Lord, it is not right that they who have taken shelter of You be defeated in this way.



TEXT 23



O Lord, even if You push me away, I cannot leave Your lotus feet. Even if angrily pushed away, an infant can never leave his mother's feet.



TEXT 24



How can my heart wish anything else now that it is placed at Your lotus-feet, which are overflowing with nectar? In the presence of a honey-filled lotus a bee does not even see a thorny, dried up iksuraka flower.



TEXT 25



Placed by anyone, at any time, or even only once, palms folded at Your feet dispel all inauspiciousness and create great good fortune. The benefit obtained from those folded palms will never be lost.



TEXT 26



Quickly extinguishing the forest-fire of repeated birth and death, a single drop from the nectar ocean of love for Your reddish lotus feet brings great transcendental bliss.



TEXT 27



When, with my own eyes, will I see Your lotus feet, which playfully stepped from the bottom to the top of the material world, which quickly remove the sufferings of the surrendered souls and which are my only treasure?



TEXT 28



O Lord Trivikrama, when will Your lotus feet, which bear the marks of the conchshell, disc, kalpavrksa tree, flag, lotus, elephant-goad and thunderbolt, adorn my head?



TEXT 29



O Lord dressed in splendid yellow garments, O Lord as dark as a smiling atasi flower, O Lord whose navel is deep, O Lord whose waist is thin, O tall Lord, O Lord whose broad chest bears a splendid mark.



TEXT 30



O Lord splendid with four arms that are handsome with marks of the bowstring, that reach to Your knees and that praise the touch of Your beloved's garland, lotus, earrings, loosened hair and ornaments.



TEXT 31



O Lord whose conchshell-neck is handsome with wavy locks of hair and earrings hanging over Your broad shoulders. O Lord the splendour of whose face shames the splendour of the lotus and the spotless full moon.



TEXT 32



O Lord whose eyes are as handsome as charming, newly-blossomed lotuses, O Lord who has graceful eyebrow-vines, O Lord whose lips are glorious, O Lord who smiles splendidly, O Lord whose cheeks are delicate and soft, O Lord who has a raised nose, O Lord whose wavy locks of hair touch Your forehead.



TEXT 33



O Lord splendid with glistening crown, bracelets, necklace, Kaustubha gem, belt, anklets, many ornaments, disc, conch, sword, club, bow, glorious garlands of tulasi and forest flowers.



TEXT 34



O Lord who made a home for Her between Your arms, O Lord whose dear transcendental abode is Her place of birth, O Lord whose sidelong glance is the resting place of all the worlds, O Lord who churned the ocean for Her sake.



TEXT 35



O Lord who, with the eternal vision of Your supreme handsomeness, pastimes and virtues, fills the goddess of fortune with unprecedented wonder.



TEXT 36



O Lord seated with Her on the coils of Ananta, which are the abode of great knowledge and strength and which are resplendent with the many glittering jewels on the serpent's hoods.



TEXT 37



O Lord for whose sake Ananta assumes many shapes to become Your residence, bed, throne, sandals, garments, pillow, umbrella, parasol and many other objects and in this way has become known to the people as Your sesa (paraphernalia).



TEXT 38



O Lord before whom stands Garuda, who bears Your splendid footprints and who is Your servant, friend, carrier, throne, flag, canopy, fan and three Vedas.



TEXT 39



O Lord who with merciful glances approves every request made by the dear general of Your army, who eats the remnants of Your food and to whom You have given complete authority.



TEXT 40



O Lord appropriately served in many ways by a host of companions free from all troubles and filled with the nectar of love for You.



TEXT 41



O mighty-armed Lord, pleasing Your queen with charming and clever pastimes that awaken the sweet nectars of many kinds of transcendental love, and make many ages seem like a moment.



TEXT 42



O inconceivable, glorious, wonderful, eternally youthful Lord, O nectar ocean of transcendental handsomeness, O splendour of the goddess of fortune, O life and soul of the devotees, O powerful Lord, O friend in times of need, O kalpa-vrksa tree to they who offer prayers.



TEXT 43



By serving You constantly, one is freed from all material desires and is completely pacified. When shall we engage as Your permanent eternal servant and always feel joyful to have such a perfect master? *



TEXT 44



Fie on me! I am unclean, proud, merciless and shameless! O Supreme Person, I still yearn to become Your companion, an attainment Brahma, Siva, the four Kumaras and the best of the yogis consider far beyond their reach.



TEXT 45



O Lord Hari, please mercifully accept this person who is a storehouse of thousands of offenses, who has fallen into the terrible ocean of repeated birth and death, who has no place to go and who now begs shelter from You.



TEXT 46



O Lord, O infallible one, please glance on me, from the right path fallen into the calamity of repeated birth and death, where all directions are darkened with clouds of ignorance and filled with a constant monsoon of sufferings.



TEXT 47



Let us submit one piece of information before You, dear Lord. It is not at all false, but it is full of meaning. It is this: If You are not merciful upon us, then it will be very, very difficult to find more suitable candidates for Your mercy.*



TEXT 48



Without You I have no master and without me You have no suitable candidate for Your mercy. This is our eternal relationship, ordained by fate. O Lord, please protect me. Do not reject me.



TEXT 49



Whatever I possess in terms of this body and its paraphernalia and whatever I have from the modes of nature, today I offer at Your lotus feet.



TEXT 50



An enlightened person prays, "My Lord, O husband of the goddess of fortune, my self and everything I own is already eternally Your property. How, then, is it possible for me to offer anything to You?”



TEXT 51



I know that I am eternally Your property. O Lord, please kindly give me pure devotional service.



TEXT 52



Let me take birth, even as an insect, in the home of they whose only happiness is Your service. Let me not take birth, even as a Lord Brahma, in the home of any other people.



TEXT 53



Please place me within the sight of the great souls from whom You cannot bear even a moment's separation and who, yearning for a single glimpse of Your transcendental form, consider both impersonal liberation and the most intense sense pleasure worthless as a blade of straw.



TEXT 54



O Lord, I cannot tolerate for a moment my body, it's breathing, the happiness everyone wants, my self, or anything else kept apart from You. Let them perish hundreds of time. O Lord Madhusudana, this is my actual wish. This is my request to You.



TEXT 55



O ocean of mercy, O limitless ocean of fatherly love, even though I am misbehaved, animalistic and a storehouse of great limitless, beginningless sins, because I meditate again and again on the great host of Your transcendental virtues, I am able to desire in this way without any fear.



TEXT 56



Although I have no such desire to praise You, as if I did desire to praise You, I have written these prayers that are only a trick of passion and ignorance. O maintainer of the earth, please kindly accept these words and please teach my heart what is right.



TEXT 57



You are my father. You are my mother. You are my beloved son. You are my well-wisher. You are my friend. You are my master. You are the shelter of the universes. I am Your property. I am Your servant. I am Your follower. I have You as the goal of my life. I am surrendered to You. I am Your dependent.



TEXT 58



Even though I was born in a great family of pure brahmanas famous in this world, engaged in Your service, fully aware of the truth about the Supreme Person and the modes of matter and their hearts by nature placed only at Your lotus feet, still, O giver of shelter, I have become the most sinful person, sinking lower and lower into the darkness of ignorance.



TEXT 59



How will I, uncivilized, degraded, fickle, a breeding-ground of envy, ungrateful, proud, overcome by lust, addicted to cheating, cruel and sinful, be able to cross this shoreless ocean of pain and serve Your feet?



TEXT 60



O Lord Raghuvara, You were kind to a crow that bowed down to offer You respect. O Lord Krsna, You granted sayujya-mukti to Sisupala, who offended You in every birth. O Lord, please tell me: What offense will You not forgive?



TEXT 61



Do You remember Your promise that if a person once surrenders to You and says, "O Lord, I am Yours," You will give Your mercy to him? Why am I excluded from Your promise?



TEXT 62



Not thinking of what I have done, but looking instead at my grandfather, Natha Muni, a great saint full of sincere love for Your lotus feet, please be kind to me.