ஶ்ரீ க்ரு'ஷ்ண ஶரணாஷ்டகம் ௧

Eight verses by Harirayacharya, each ending Shri Krishna is my refuge, and what is unusual is that not one of them describes him. Every line before the refrain describes the reciter instead, in a long accumulating genitive, and it is unsparing: destitute of every means and dependent on all sides, gross with sin; turned outward, set on getting the happiness of the world; always wanting the objects of sense, at home in the body, crooked by nature; bitten by the serpent of samsara and fallen from his own law; forgetful of his duty, his mind bewildered by works, empty of any knowledge of what he is; sunk in the sea of becoming with his feeling broken. The hymn is a self-accusation with one door left open in it, and its stated fruit is the end of exactly that wretchedness, given to whoever serves at his own acharya's feet.