मोहि मूढ़ मन बहुत बिगोयो। याके लिये सुनहु करुनामय, मैं जग जनमि-जनमि दुख रोयो॥ १॥ सीतल मधुर पियूष सहज सुख निकटहि रहत दूरि जन खोयो। बहु भाँतिन श्रम करत मोहबस, बृथहि मंदमति बारि बिलोयो॥ २॥ करम-कीच जिय जानि, सानि चित, चाहत कुटिल मलहि मल धोयो। तृषावंत सुरसरि बिहाय सठ फिरि-फिरि बिकल अकास निचोयो॥ ३॥ तुलसिदास प्रभु! कृपा करहु अब, मैं निज दोष कछू नहिं गोयो। डासत ही गइ बीति निसा सब, कबहुँ न नाथ! नींद भरि सोयो॥ ४॥
My foolish mind has greatly ruined me. Hear me, Compassionate One: because of it I have been born again and again in the world and wept in sorrow. (1) Cool, sweet nectar—the innate happiness—dwells very near, yet this person lost it as though it were far away. Laboring in many ways under delusion, my dull understanding churned water in vain. (2) Though my heart knew action to be mud, I steeped my mind in it and crookedly sought to wash filth with filth. Thirsty, I abandoned the Gaṅgā and, distraught, repeatedly wrung out the sky. (3) Lord, show Tulsidas compassion now; I have concealed none of my faults. The whole night passed merely in spreading the bedding, and never, Lord, did I sleep my fill. (4)