Let me act on my drop-like devotion and aspire for the ocean of devotion

punaḥ prematastaṁ śatāvṛtti vande

Again and again with love I bow,
To him whom all the saints avow.
A hundred times my heart does bend,
To him my praise shall never end.

(Damodarashtakam — Verse 3, Line 4)

My dear Lord, love is never a one-and-done thing; it is an ever-ongoing offering. When I am very happy to see someone, I may greet or embrace them again and again. Similarly, saintly devotees, feeling joy on seeing your lovableness manifest in your love-filled pastimes, offer their respects by bowing down repeatedly—again and again, hundreds upon hundreds of times.

O all-attractive Lord, at present I barely feel even a drop of devotion in my heart for you. When I perform devotional rituals, they are only occasionally expressions of my devotion and most often expressions of my deliberation. I do intellectually value you as the supreme reality, and I do understand that my life will be most meaningful and joyful when it is centred on loving you. Still, such is my plight that the ocean of emotion seems oceans away from my heart, filled as it is with emotions for worldly things.

In my demanding journey toward purification, O merciful Lord, may I be inspired by the saintly devotees’ expressions of overflowing emotion. Grant me the conviction that if I just keep expressing my tiny, drop-like devotion through acts of worship and service, your undeserved yet unfailing mercy will one day expand my drop-like devotion into an ocean of devotion—an ocean in which I may delight myself and invite others to delight as well.