Kurma Purana — Uttara Bhaga, Shloka 28
Vānaprastha-Dharma: Forest Discipline, Vaikhānasa Austerities, and Śiva-Āśrama as the Liberative Refuge
ग्रीष्मे पञ्चतपाश्च स्याद् वर्षास्वभ्रावकाशकः / आर्द्रवासास्तु हेमन्ते क्रमशो वर्धयंस्तपः
grīṣme pañcatapāśca syād varṣāsvabhrāvakāśakaḥ / ārdravāsāstu hemante kramaśo vardhayaṃstapaḥ
في الصيف فليؤدِّ نسك «الخمسة نيران» (pañcatapa)؛ وفي موسم الأمطار فليمكث في العراء تحت السحب؛ وفي الشتاء فليلبس ثيابًا رطبة—وهكذا، موسمًا بعد موسم، يزداد التَّقشّف (tapas) تدريجًا.
Traditional puranic narrator (instructional voice within the Kurma Purana’s dharma-tapas teaching context)
Primary Rasa: vira
Secondary Rasa: shanta
FAQs
Indirectly: it frames tapas as a disciplined means of inner purification, by which the practitioner becomes fit for Self-knowledge—mastery over bodily comfort supports steadiness for realizing the Atman beyond heat, cold, and rain.
It highlights tapas as an aṅga of yogic sādhana: pañcatapa in summer, open-sky exposure in the rains, and damp-cloth endurance in winter—forms of sensory restraint and endurance used to intensify concentration and spiritual resolve in Pashupata-leaning practice.
Not by naming them, but by reflecting a shared puranic ideal: the same yogic-tapas discipline is upheld across Shaiva and Vaishnava streams, aligning with the Kurma Purana’s synthesis where devotion and yoga converge in one dharma.