Madhava Bahuta Minati Kari Toya

O Madhava, with this offering of a tulasi leaf and sesame seeds I beseech You and pledge my body in Your service. I know Your compassion is such that You will not reject me.

While considering this appeal, You will only be able to count my faults. You will not find even a trace of good qualities in me. You are known throughout the creation as Jagannatha (master of the universe). Therefore do I, a worthless soul living within this universe, not have the right to accept You as my master?

Birth after birth, as a result of my karma, I repeatedly come and go, sometimes as a human, sometimes as an animal and sometimes as a bird, worm or insect. But in whatever birth I take may my mind always remain fixed on Your narrations.

With great remorse, the poet Vidyapati humbly prays, “O Madhava, O friend of the fallen, please give this insignificant person shelter at the tender leaf of Your lotus feet. In this way, I may cross over this ocean of material existence.”