Dedication

BY KAPILESWAR DAS, M.A.

(Rendered from the original poem in Oriya)

Universal Life! I do not like to call thee the sea of mercy–

for is not but a drop of thy grace equal to the seas?

I cannot hold the rosary of prayer–for who can count the beads

which are thy millions of spheres?

I have not the strength to take the dust of thy feet on my head–

for have not the innumerable heavenly bodies gathered
as the dust of thy feet?

Thou hast infinite wisdom to dive into my heart. Deign to accept,

O Lord, the devotion that is there.

There is no place in my heart to enshrine thy form. Can the

majestic Himalayas be contained in the fragment of a tiny seed?

What can I offer thee? Whatever I see is thine. And is it not a sin to

make a gift to thee of what belongs to thee?

But I am not free to say that this ‘self’ of mine is not mine. And this I dedicate,

from this immeasurable distance, at thy lotus feet. Deign to accept it.
O Lord of the Universe!