Padukasahasra 22

I praise the sandal of auspicious nature, possessing the splendor of gold,
worthy of the foot of Śauri, and placed precisely upon his foot.

Desiring to grant security to the clouds
that steal the lustre of Madhujit’s body,
you shine, golden sandal, resorting to his foot,
like a flash of lightning.

Having the lovely dark gem turned into a touchstone,
you reveal your wealth of gold,
O sandal, whose very sight instantly fosters in us
the state of regarding a clod of earth and gold as equal.

Fragrant through the Vedas, having every desire fulfilled,
possessing the excellence of gold, O foot-protector,
you, having attained the splendour of Mādhava,
continually grant us the blossoming majesty of the Aśoka tree [freedom from sorrow].

Though gold possesses the excellence of color,
its ill fame in the world for lack of fragrance
you, O foot-protector of Śauri, have dispelled
with your own gold that possesses the fragrance of the Śruti.

With your own pure gold,
which has assumed the splendour of a peacock's neck,
you, O foot-protector, adorn that gem [the Kaustubha],
worthy of adorning Kamalā's breasts.

With your brilliance you are able to make the Supreme Person
golden right up to his toenails, O golden footwear;
you who bestow from afar an unprecedented wealth of cassia clusters
upon the moon-crested [Śiva] who bows down.

How did you, having the moon’s form,
fashion early morning sunshine for the lotus faces
of the beloved wives of the gods dwelling in their aerial chariots,
with your own radiance spread out at the time of the strides, O sandal of the crusher of Bali?

Surely from that time forth this daughter of Kavera
attained the state of being a golden river through your brilliance,
when, golden foot-protector of Mukunda’s feet,
you adorned her holy sandbank.

O foot-guard, as Śauri, accompanied by the lotus-dwelling [Lakṣmī],
desires to make garments fit for wearing,
it is wondrous that the mind-lotuses of those devoted to meditation
instantly blossom by the moonlight of your radiance.

When the Lord, placing his foot on you alone, O foot-protector,
sets out to behold the fresh flood [of the river],
you, with your own golden lustre, make
the golden river appear as if filled with golden lotuses.

When your companion, Raṅganātha, disports upon the sandbanks,
this golden river, O sandal, through your golden radiance,
assumes a condition tawny with the turmeric paste from the jar-like breasts
of the Cola women’s inner apartments, washed off during water sports.

Possessing the fragrance of the sweet-smelling Vedas, situated on the lovely lotus-like foot,
you are seen, O sandal, like a golden lotus-pond;
and the wielder of the Śārṅga bow, dark as a sapphire,
engaging in various pastimes, attends upon you constantly like a bee.

Possessing a brilliant golden color, O sandal,
the river born from the Sahya [Kāverī], wife of the king of oceans,
here stands close by of her own accord, and with affection serves you,
who are united with her handsome son-in-law, out of the proud love for a daughter, like Śrī.

You are seen at every moment to be the source of life for the gods;
you wear the state of a crest upon the head of the destroyer of the three cities [Śiva];
resorting to the foot at every step, you have reached the pinnacle,
and yet, O foot-guard, you have the form of the full moon.

Those free from passion who deem even gold to be straw
come to know through your radiance that even grass is gold;
since, O queen, foot-guard of the enemy of Madhu,
you transform into gold the sprouts of dūrvā grass offered for your sake.

Gold attains purity by contact with fire,
and the worlds know this; indeed, it is never otherwise.
Yet how is it, O golden sandal, that when the lotus-eyed [Lord] is witness,
the purity of fire itself is brought about by you alone?

Raṅganātha, mounted upon you whose majesty is proclaimed by the touch of pearls,
who possess the lovely splendour of gold, and are worshipped by the gods,
assumes a comparable state worthy of being seen
by a lordly elephant in rut standing upon the moving slope of Mount Meru.

Lovely as gold [like Mercury/planet-sheen], praised in poetry [like Venus], fit for moving slowly [like Saturn],
resorting to Jupiter and Mercury, radiant in form [like the Sun], served by Garuḍa and the best of the twice-born [like the Moon],
your majesty ever established in the abode of Viṣṇu, O jewelled sandal,
you are for all of us an auspicious circle of planets in the great [sky].

May Jātavedas, who has ignited the five weapons,
who is worthy of dissolving gold,
ever bring you, the golden one, to us, O sandal,
just as [he brings] Śrī.

Thus ends the twenty-second section, the Section on Gold,
in the Thousand Verses on the Sandals of the Glorious Raṅganātha, composed by the Lion among poets and logicians, the master of all systems, the venerable Veṅkaṭanātha, the venerable Vedānta Teacher.

23. The Section on the Servant (10)