Shloka 1
Measure of the Three Worlds, Planetary Spheres, and Sūrya as the Root of Trailokya
इति श्रीकूर्मपुराणे षट्साहस्त्र्यां संहितायां पूर्वविभागे अष्टात्रिंशो ऽध्यायः सूत उवाच अतः परं प्रवक्ष्यामि संक्षेपेण द्विजोत्तमाः / त्रैलोक्यस्यास्य मानं वो न शक्यं विस्तरेण तु
iti śrīkūrmapurāṇe ṣaṭsāhastryāṃ saṃhitāyāṃ pūrvavibhāge aṣṭātriṃśo 'dhyāyaḥ sūta uvāca ataḥ paraṃ pravakṣyāmi saṃkṣepeṇa dvijottamāḥ / trailokyasyāsya mānaṃ vo na śakyaṃ vistareṇa tu
So beginnt im Śrī Kūrma-Purāṇa, in der Saṃhitā von sechstausend Versen, im ersten Teil (Pūrva-bhāga) das achtunddreißigste Kapitel. Sūta sprach: „Nun werde ich, o Beste der Zweimalgeborenen, in Kürze das Maß und die Ausdehnung dieser drei Welten darlegen; denn es ist nicht möglich, es euch in voller Einzelheit zu schildern.“
Sūta
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
FAQs
This verse does not directly define Ātman; it serves as a narrative transition where Sūta introduces a cosmological teaching (trailokya-māna), preparing the listener for a structured description of the world-system within a dharmic-Purāṇic framework.
No specific yoga practice is taught in this verse. Its relevance for yoga-oriented reading is methodological: it emphasizes saṃkṣepa (concise instruction), a common Purāṇic teaching style that later supports systematic exposition of dharma, devotion, and (elsewhere in the text) Pāśupata-oriented disciplines.
This verse does not explicitly mention Śiva or Viṣṇu; it frames a cosmological section. In the Kurma Purāṇa’s broader Shaiva–Vaishnava synthesis, such cosmography typically functions as shared sacred knowledge underpinning later teachings where sectarian identity is harmonized through a single dharmic worldview.