Śrī Vasudevāshṭakam
(1) So comfortably attired in Thy saffron robes of silk;
So tired from Thy constant work as cosmos’s Upkeeper;
Supine upon Thy serpent couch across the sea of milk…
O Vasudeva, waken in my heart, Thou sacred Sleeper!
(2) Thou danced on Kāliya’s snake heads & with each pretty Gopi,
And claimed the three worlds with Thy strides, the universe’s Leaper,
So why so still within my heart, just dreaming, drooping dopey?
O Vasudeva, waken in my heart, Thou sacred Sleeper!
(3) Oh how to rouse Thee, lolling Lord? I’ll ring the altar bell;
I’ll sing & shout Thy Names in tantrums like a child weeper;
I’ll beat mṛḍanga drums & blow the clarion conch shell!
O Vasudeva, waken in my heart, Thou sacred Sleeper!
(4) So long Thy slumber, sluggish Lord, like Kumbhakarna snoring…
I must shout louder Hari Hari! with devotion deeper
To rouse the God Who shook the worlds with Narasimha’s roaring—
O Vasudeva, waken in my heart, Thou sacred Sleeper!
(5) Through his pure love of Thee the persecuted boy Prahlada
Did wake Thee from the pillar as the demon king’s Grim Reaper.
Please don’t play coy with me as with Thy poor sweet lovesick Rādhā—
O Vasudeva, waken in my heart, Thou sacred Sleeper!
(6) Lord Śiva woke from trance when Kāma’s arrow pierced His heart;
Oh, had I arrows of such love to open third eye’s peeper!
I’ll shoot Aum’s bow to pierce Thy lotus foot like Jara’s dart!
O Vasudeva, waken in my heart, Thou sacred Sleeper!
(7) Oh slack-limbed Lord, I lack the faith & discipline to wake Thee;
And Kāma’s flower arrows lure me from devotion’s creeper…
I’ll madly stray in māyā’s nightmare if Thou dost forsake me—
O Vasudeva, waken in my heart, Thou sacred Sleeper!
(8) The starless darkness of my heart hath caused Thee, God, to doze
And covered Thee from me in māyā’s thickly misty vapor.
The Light Divine would dawn within if only Thou arose!
O Vasudeva, waken in my heart, Thou sacred Sleeper!
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