Padukasahasra 23

Created on earth by Ananta
through the constant contemplation of servitude,
I honour you, O sandal,
as my very own self.

O sandal, the foremost among teachers, the descendant of Yamuna [Yāmuna],
declared you to be one manifestation of Śeṣa,
who desires to attain another experience of enjoyment
from the contact with the foot of the Lord of Raṅgam than the embrace of Padmā.

O Mother, if the king of serpents thoroughly assumes servitude
by taking on your manifestation,
that [servitude] has reached its culmination here, O footwear of Keśava,
for those who bear you on their heads bowed low in devotion.

Thinking, 'Let not this [Earth] be troubled by bearing
the bearer of the universe whose feet rest perpetually upon me,'
you, O jewelled sandal, through your own form as Śeṣa
endowed with exceeding strength, bear the Earth.

Śeṣa, whose fame is established by such strength of his own,
is an exceptional transformation of yourself alone,
because formerly, by Rāma of true speech, you were appointed
to bear the Earth which could be borne by no other.

The sacred scriptures, O jewelled footwear,
like young sons [leading] a daughter-in-law of the family,
place you, who are confined to the limit of servitude,
as a footstool for the Supreme Person
who reclines on Śeṣa in your own form.

Lakṣmaṇa, who was himself an embodiment of Śeṣa, bowed from afar
to you attached to Bharata's head, though you were his own body;
what wonder is there in this, when Raṅganātha,
having become the son of Daśaratha, constantly served his own self?

In whose ocean of will, repeatedly calm and agitated,
these [gods] such as Brahmā and Īśāna assume the status of bubbles—
for that beginningless Lord, at the end of an aeon,
another manifestation of yours, O sandal, fashions an indescribable play-couch suitable for yogic sleep.

Being the Serpent himself, yet devoid of flaw, O foot-protector of the Lord of the realm of Raṅgam,
your majesty as a sacrificial session is proclaimed through your constant protection of the virtuous;
you also attain the status of a single day's rite in dispelling the night of ignorance;
you are the object of worship of all sacrifices, and you are indeed every sacrifice for us.

By those endowed with manifold enjoyments and hoods,
who have attained purity through being liberated and sloughing their skin,
you, whose nature is Śeṣa,
are served as the ultimate servant, O foot-protector.

Thus ends the twenty-third section, the Section on the Serpent Servant, in the thousand verses on the sandals of the glorious Raṅganātha, composed by the glorious Vedānta teacher, the Venerable Veṅkaṭanātha, the Lion among poets and logicians, the master of all systems.

24. The Section on the Pair (20)