ଶ୍ରୀ ଵିଷ୍ଣୁ ହୃଦଯ ସ୍ତୋତ୍ରମ୍

A short text whose viniyoga names Sankarshana as its seer and which opens on the verse people know it by: Vishnu always in front of me, Keshava behind, Govinda at my right side and Madhusudana at my left. The protection is set out as a compass before anything else is said, and the verses that follow turn to the sacrificial language of the older hymns, saluting him as the god of gods, the refuge of creatures, made of sacrifice, the standing-ground of every world, the sacrifice itself and the giver of what is chosen. It closes not in verse but in prose, listing in the standard series the gravest faults that reciting it is said to purify, and ending with the merit of many thousands of rites.