Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 40
Meru-Topography: Cities of Brahmā and the Dikpālas; Descent of Gaṅgā; Varṣa-Lotus and Boundary Mountains
मर्यादापर्वताः प्रोक्ता अष्टाविह मया द्विजाः / जठराद्याः स्थिता मेरोश्चतुर्दिक्षु महर्षयः
maryādāparvatāḥ proktā aṣṭāviha mayā dvijāḥ / jaṭharādyāḥ sthitā meroścaturdikṣu maharṣayaḥ
O ihr zweimal Geborenen, hier habe ich die acht Grenzberge verkündet. Beginnend mit Jaṭhara und den übrigen sind jene großen ṛṣi rings um den Berg Meru in den vier Himmelsrichtungen aufgestellt.
Lord Kurma (Vishnu) instructing the sages
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: vira
FAQs
This verse is primarily cosmographical, not directly Atman-doctrine; it frames a divinely ordered cosmos where Meru and its boundary-mountains function within an intelligible sacred order, a backdrop often used in the Purana to orient dharma and spiritual teaching.
No specific yoga practice is taught in this line; instead it supplies the sacred-geography framework that later supports pilgrimage, ritual orientation, and contemplative visualization of the cosmos—elements that complement Kurma Purana’s broader Shaiva-Vaishnava yogic instruction.
The verse does not mention Shiva explicitly; the synthesis is implicit in the Purana’s method—Vishnu (as Kurma) teaches a cosmos populated by rishis and sacred structures, a shared theological landscape later harmonized with Shaiva teachings (including Pashupata-oriented themes) elsewhere in the text.