Padukasahasra 18

Where the relationship of servant and master is directly visible for the bound, the eternal, and the liberated, / as well as for the Supreme Lord—may that sandal accomplish my ends.

O Sovereign of Raṅgam's footwear! The spotless row of pearls shines upon you, / as if it were the good deeds of those who achieved liberation in you, their friend, transferred in due time.

O Sovereign of Raṅgam's footwear! Garlanded with the crops of surrendered souls, / this earth has indeed become ever independent of the rain-god through the torrents of rays from your pearls.

O sandal! Sparkling in the realm of Viṣṇu, with the spotless light of fresh pearls, / you nourish the blessings of men, like the digit of the new moon shining in the sky.

O golden sandal! The row of fresh pearls placed all around you shines / like a succession of reflected moons of the moon-like nails of Murāri resting upon his foot.

O Hari's sandal, constantly overspread with the splendor of your pearls, / the golden river [Kāverī] attains similarity in bodily form with the river of the gods' city [Gaṅgā] sprung from Hari's foot.

O gold sandal of the moon of Raṅgam, your immaculate row of pearls / bears the beauty of new stars approached out of love for the moon-orbs of the nails of his lotus feet.

Cherished by the crown of the moon-crested [Śiva], white with the rays of beautiful pearls, / attached to the lotus foot of Raṅganātha, you look like the river of the gods, O sandal!

Those who revere you, O sandal of the enemy of Madhu, with the Gaṅgā that is the splendor of your pearls, / increase the moonlight of that crescent moon upon their crests.

Surely wishing to make full the moon on his crest with the rays of your pearls, / the great god [Śiva], bowing low, wears you, O foot-protector of the Lord of Raṅga!

Adorned with streams of pearl-rays, you, the protector of Murāri's foot, / become a rescue ship across the ocean of darkness for men tossed about by numerous waves.

Experiencing pleasure at Raṅgeśa's feet, honored with jeweled heads, / pure with pearls, we recognize you, O gem sandal, as the very body of the lord of serpents [Śeṣa].

O foot-protector of Mukunda, by your pearls this whole universe is made of moonlight even by day, / through which the lotus-buds of the folded hands of the celestials do not bloom.

Bestowing flawless purity on those who take refuge, and dispersing their fear, / you bring about our union [with the Lord] through your own pearls, O sandal of Mādhava!

I know you, O foot-protector, strewn with the lofty sprouts of rays from your pearls, / as an imperishable sprout-vessel prepared for Murāri's festival procession.

O sandal of the Lord of Raṅga, with the rays of your pearls you nourish another heavenly river, / charming with countless distinct currents, the cause of auspiciousness for every living being.

O foot-protector of Raṅgeśa's journey, seated near the ocean of beauty, / visible with an array of glittering pearls, they recognize you as a mother-of-pearl burst open in childbirth.

O foot-protector of the Lord of Raṅga, I understand that the matchless pearls upon you / are the very seeds of the stars of other world-ages sown by the Creator of the universe.

As the sky was being traversed by the magical Blessed One, O gem foot-protector, / it appeared for a moment doubled in stars with your auspicious pearls, which looked like large bubbles in the river of the sky.

Appointed to the task of protecting the world by the Blessed One, who delights in sport with Lakṣmī, / you show forth abundantly what is appropriate to it, O foot-protector:

goodness, by means of the diffusing mass of pearl-rays.

When the moon of Śrīraṅga approaches you by placing his foot upon you, / full of pearl-splendor, O foot-protector, you take on supreme brilliance, like a night-lotus pond with blooming white water lilies.

Acting like white plaster upon the terrace of the mansion of the Upaniṣads, with a brilliance modeled on moonlight, / O gem sandal, full of pearls, you dispel, as it were, the ill-fame of the virtuous who resort to the lotus foot of the slayer of Mura with your white color.

As if from the fragrance of the nails of Vaikuṇṭha's feet, O foot-protector, your pearls constantly produce / a flood of nectar under the guise of an orb of light, to quench the unbroken torment of those who take refuge.

Upon Bharata's head, matted in conformity with Rāma, you, the protector of the sovereign of Raṅgam's lotus foot, / having made the three worlds sheltered by a single parasol, created a second new parasol with the rays of your pearls.

O foot-protector, your lovely line of pearls, pouring forth an evident stream of honey in their rays, / gleams like a row of flowers of the heavenly tree in the form of the line grown in the middle of the lotus foot of the Lord of Raṅga.

O gem sandal, with the charming rays of pearls multiplied by the luster of the moon-nails of the slayer of Mura's feet, / you reveal, as it were, his natural, universal, immaculate attachment toward all living beings.

My heart is soiled with boundless mire; when the Lord who dwells in Raṅgam wishes to mount it, / O Mother, O gem foot-protector, the rays of your pearls instantly turn it into a crystal palace!

The Lord's dark form has attained starlight; you are moonlight, beautiful with spotless pearls. / Fittingly, O gem foot-protector, this pair instantly brings our intellect-night-lotus to blossom!

O gem foot-protector, placed upon the crowns of the lords of the gods, with pearl-rays mixed with the nail-radiance of the slayer of Mura / that quench the deep mire, you bathe, as it were, those seekers of the Lord's abode with sacred waters.

Having obtained an anointing of nectar from the nail-moons of Raṅgeśa's feet, / your pearls, O gem foot-protector, like pills of alchemical power, are capable of reviving the worlds afflicted by the high fever of cyclic existence.

Attained by the foremost like Bharata who are elevated by devotion, strewn with flowers under the guise of inlaid pearls, / you, O charming gem sandal, are indeed like a dance stage for the Lord of Raṅga dancing upon you.

O foot-protector of Mukunda, I think that when Śiva bows down and places you, O goddess, on his head, / those in charge bring the crescent moon on his crest to the state of having stars by means of the multitudes of your pearls.

Doing what is pleasing to the Lord of Padmā as he strolls, / I think, O golden foot-protector, you scatter the bulbous roots of lotus ponds in the temple lakes with the heaps of pearl-rays scattered before him.

Surely wishing flawless growth for the moon, born from the ocean along with her, / the moonlight resorts to you, the constant nurse at Mukunda's feet, under the guise of the row of pearls, O gem foot-protector!

Whatever fortunate people crown you for a moment upon their heads bowed low in humility, / O gem foot-protector of the King of Raṅgam, they attain purity in this world, secured by the mass of your pearls.

O goddess, with your pearls that produce the beauty of buds for the sprout-like toes that are daily charming, / O sandal, you reveal to people the birth of Pāñcajanya from the lines of the lotus foot of the Lord of Raṅga.

O goddess, O foot-protector, at the time of the subduing of Bali, the purifying honey of Viṣṇu's lotus foot pervading [the worlds], / namely the Jāhnavī [Gaṅgā], surely carries the fragrance of your pearls attached to it at the time of her birth.

As if to pacify the moon's enmity with the lotuses that are friends to the foot of Madhu's foe, / the stars, serving you for a long time, / having floods of copious rays, O sandal, / are pearls that seem to wash away all sins of the Kali age for those who take refuge in you.

I honor you, O sandal, who cause the agony of living beings to close like a bud, / and who, through your own pearls, milk forth nectar, as it were.

Relying upon you, who uproot fear even for those who bow but once, / and who are worthy of honor by the three worlds, / the pearls, O sandal of the Lord of Raṅgam, / surely do not lose their own luster in the presence of the gems of his toenails.

For you, O sandal, who support this lotus foot / of the Lord of Raṅgam, who upholds this entire world, / the pearls attain the splendor of droplets of sweat / gathered from the fatigue of wandering long.

Of the pearls upon you, O sandal of the Lord of Raṅgam, whose fame is manifested / and who redouble the radiance of the moon of his nails, / this eternal moonlight soothes the burning pain / of this living soul terrified at the time of the dissolution of the senses.

Among your pearls, O sandal of Madhujit, / that attain the divine, unchanging abode, O queen, / is placed that inner Self of yogins whose darkness has been dispelled by the light of the self, / placed continually upon you to reveal his multitude of qualities.

Ever firmly established in the pure realm of Viṣṇu, O queen, / I consider you, O sandal, to be that royal assembly hall of boundless glory, / through whose approach the liberated, having completely pervaded the entire world with their visions like a lamp, / bear purity, free from all fear.

Attained to Śauri's lotus foot, O sandal, / and brought to the crest to ward off some misfortune of the devotees / by the god with a thousand eyes, you display, / through the lusters of your pearls, the beauty of the veil placed on the head of Airāvata, king of elephants.

O sandal of Hari, O mother! The rays arising from your large pearl gems, / sharing the nature of the surging waves of the river of the immortals, / make grey the crest of the bowing lord of gods; / how is it that they bestow upon the virtuous an undecaying and immortal state?

Upon the braided hair of someone, who is protecting the foot of that mountain, / the luster of your pearls likewise pours forth another Gaṅgā again and again, / just as the hand-cavity of the trunk of a young elephant with a hanging belly / continually sprinkles the frontal globes in a vain, ungrounded endeavor.

O foot-protector of Mukunda, your pearl-clusters of abundant luster / pour forth an indescribable cascade of nectar, / touching which, even slightly, wise men instantly cast off, alas, / the threefold suffering, jagged with old age and death.

“The Lord stands above you marked with the lac-dye from Śrī's foot; / a rich red sap of Gaurī's lotus foot is observed at the base!” / When the maidservants of Murabhid's inner apartments chatter thus in foolish delusion, / you, O jeweled sandal, seem to burst into laughter under the guise of the rays of your pearls.

May that foot-protector of the Lord of Raṅgam bestow eternal purity upon me, / by whose pearl-luster the island born of the Sahya mountain / becomes like the White Island.

Thus ends the eighteenth section, the Section on Pearls, in the Thousand Verses on the Sandals of Śrī Raṅganātha, composed by the venerable Vedānta teacher, the venerable Veṅkaṭanātha, the Lion among poets and logicians, the master of all systems.

19. The Section on Emeralds (20)