Your glance is merciful glance, let it make my empty heart full

kṛpā-dṛṣṭi-vṛṣṭyāti-dīnaṁ batānu

Your heart is so kind, so deep,
You alone can wake me from illusion’s sleep.
Cast upon me your merciful glands
So this soul can awaken and dance.

(Damodarashtakam — Verse 6, Line 3)

My dear Lord, by your omniscience and by your omnibenevolence, your glance is already on everyone. For those who already have love for you, your glance is love-filled and heart-captivating. For those who do not yet have love but sincerely seek it, your glance is merciful and heart-cleansing—and thereafter, heart-captivating too.

O supreme enchanter, your large, beautiful, lotus-like eyes, shaded by exquisite eyebrows, shine with irresistible charm; as you tilt your head and cast a side glance, streams of nectarian love flow from your eyes—uplifting, enriching, intoxicating—making nothing else in existence matter anymore.

O my beloved Lord, I beg for one such glance. Please bestow it upon me—not because I am qualified, nor because I imagine my lack of qualification itself to be a qualification. I seek it not from ego, nor from self-pity, but simply because of your generosity and my scarcity. Out of your fullness, you desire to give mercy; out of my emptiness, I need it. And in one sense, you have already given me your mercy—or at least its first installment—by which I have come to recognize that need. Please, accept my feeble and faltering prayer as an expression of that need.

May your beautiful, bewitching glance, O merciful Lord, free me from the witches of illusion that now rule and ruin my heart—and restore me to your loving service.