ଶ୍ରୀ ଶାରଦା ଦଶକମ୍

Ten verses to Śāradā by the Śṛṅgeri Jagadguru Sacchidānanda Śivābhinava Nṛsiṃha Bhāratī, and the first three are questions rather than praise, put by a head of a monastery about his own office. What shall I do, Vāṇī, for the spreading of the way of dharma in the world? Tell me quickly and I will do it night and day; do not make me doubt. Then, more sharply: having counted up the wrongs I have done, what is the use of the rosary you hold — is that why your lotus hand stays motionless, the telling still unfinished? And third, the difficulty of the position itself: people come to me from far off with all kinds of hopes; how am I to fulfil them quickly, mother? Only at the fourth verse does the hymn become conventional praise, saluting her whose gait defeats the swan's pride and whose feet the lord of ascetics serves.