Padukasahasra 24

I take refuge in the two parts of the Praṇava which have assumed the form of sandals, / on which this very foot of the Infinite One is woven and measured.

May the pair of gem-encrusted sandals of Murāri ever bring me blessings— / as though they were an incarnation of compassion and forgiveness, taking up the protection of the moving and unmoving.

O gem-encrusted sandals of Murāri! As you resort to his two feet to protect those who bow down, / we perceive you pair to be the remedy for disasters here, both divine and human.

O gem-encrusted sandals of the slayer of Mura! This mutual division between you two was surely made / so that there would be no conflict between the lords of gods and demons who worship him, not dear to one another.

For crushing the foes of those who seek refuge, / whether through sight or through sound, / the discus and the Pāñcajanya conch in the hands of the slayer of Madhu, / and those two sandals upon his feet, are fully capable.

O two sandals of the foe of Madhu! For us who have disregarded the path of the virtuous and are indolent, / you two seem to have assumed mutual partnership, just like divine fate and human effort.

If Sarasijā and Vasundharā at the two sides, / and you two gem-encrusted sandals at the feet, / do not draw the foe of Madhu close, / what will the host of sinners do?

O two sandals! I contemplate the union of you two who are opposed to the fear of worldly existence, / attached to the foot of the demon's foe, as if you were the two kinds of knowledge, the higher and the lower.

Within the borders of Raṅgam, I think of the two golden sandals of the One marked by the discus / as a pair of cakravāka birds settled upon his foot to dispel the fault of a curse.

O gem-encrusted sandals of Mādhava dispelling the darkness of the world! / I honor you two as the two courses of the sun, garlanded with rays, / suited to the succession of the southern and northern movements.

The pair of golden sandals shines as an ornament for the two feet of Raṅganātha, / like his two realms which, matching each other, have assumed an equal division of their own accord.

Directly revealing the supreme abode of the slayer of Madhu, fixed by authority and reason, / I perceive you two gem-encrusted sandals to be his command, consisting of Śruti and Smṛti, whose practice is established through mutual concordance.

O gem-encrusted footwear! At times of sport, stepping forward one before the other / for the benefit of the universe, / you two resemble that very divine couple served by the celestials.

O queen! O gem-encrusted sandal! Where the Supreme Person has only two feet, / there you exist in two forms; / and where he reveals himself as having a thousand feet, / there too you have surely revealed yourself in just as many forms.

O gem-encrusted footwear! Changing in turn the rule of front and back by the power of walking, / shining in the vast sky, the realm of Viṣṇu, / I deem you two to be the morning and evening twilights, worthy of adoration by the whole world.

O gem-encrusted footwear of the lord of the Raghus! Bestowing freshness upon his two lotus feet / when they wander tirelessly, by your own contact, / I contemplate you two, worthy of honor, as the two mystic knowledges Balā and Atibalā.

O two sandals! For us who, through inner delusion, do not properly know the truth of the self / and have thus become acquainted with the path in this world of sin, / you two who constantly worship the Master's foot in conformity with devotion / are directly the two steadfast disciplines, consisting of knowledge and action.

Bearing here the great foot of Viṣṇu by your own glory, / making your own unhindered command, known as the Vedas, prevail, / fulfilling for those who are near the path of affection by your very selves— / in the sovereign realm of the worlds, yours is the splendor of a dual rule.

O sandals! You two bring about the acquisition of riches not yet acquired, / and strive personally to preserve what has been acquired; / bringing about the supreme station of the Lord of Raṅga's realm directly before us, / you are, through our good deeds, acquisition and preservation embodied.

O golden sandals! The pair of you, clasping the pair of feet of Hari, / releases those who seek refuge from the pair of chains consisting of merit and demerit.

Thus ends the twenty-fourth section, the Section on the Pair, 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.

25. The Section on the Formation (20)