The true devotee prays to God to give Himself to himself. "Give me my own nature" 'madeeyam eva svaroopam dehi' In the last analysis, since each man's true nature is God Himself, 'Give me to myself means 'give Thyself to me'.
This truth is wonderfully brought out in another prayer that Sri Sankara sang in his saundaryalahri. The prayer starts with the words.
'Bhavanit twam daase mayi vitara drshtim Sakarunaam' .
Addressing the Mother of the universe as bhavaani, Sri Sankara prays: ‘Be pleased to cast Thy gracious look on me' Thy servant'. The interesting words here are 'bavaani twam" which means 'Oh Bhavani! Thou, (mayest be pleased to shed" The gracious look on me.)
Here 'Bhavaani' is the vocative case; it apostrophises the Supreme Mother With one of Her names. 'Twam' means Thou and in the sentence functions as the grammatical subject of what is to follow. But, 'Bhavaani' is also a verb in the first person singular future tense which means 'may I become' and tvam means ‘Thou’. The first two words of the prayer can also mean 'May I beome Thou'. Sri Sankara says that as soon as the Supreme Mother hears these first two words of Her devotee's prayar, with out waiting for what was to follow she immediately (tadaiva) bestows on him identify with Herself nijasaayujyapadaveem.
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