Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 6
Nine Creations (Sarga), Guṇa-Streams of Beings, and Brahmā’s Progeny in Cyclic Time
यस्मात् तिर्यक् प्रवृत्तः स तिर्यक्स्त्रोतस्ततः स्मृतः / पश्वादयस्ते विख्याता उत्पथग्राहिणो द्विजाः
yasmāt tiryak pravṛttaḥ sa tiryakstrotastataḥ smṛtaḥ / paśvādayaste vikhyātā utpathagrāhiṇo dvijāḥ
Weil ihr Lauf schräg verläuft, werden sie daher als „tiryak-srotas“ erinnert — Wesen, deren Strom seitwärts fließt. Sie sind als Tiere und dergleichen wohlbekannt, o Zweimalgeborene, denn sie folgen einem abweichenden Pfad.
Sūta (narrator) conveying the Purāṇic teaching to the assembled sages (dvijas)
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: bibhatsa
FAQs
Indirectly: by classifying embodied beings as moving in various “currents” (srotas), the verse implies the Atman is distinct from these conditioned modes of embodied movement; the Self is the witness beyond the oblique, erring tendencies attributed to animal embodiment.
This verse is diagnostic rather than prescriptive: it frames animal embodiment as “utpatha” (deviation), which supports Yoga-shastra’s aim of reversing such outward or sideways tendencies through discipline (yama-niyama, sattva-purification) so consciousness turns toward right knowledge and liberation.
Not explicitly; however, within the Kurma Purana’s Shaiva–Vaishnava synthesis, such cosmological taxonomy is treated as a shared doctrinal ground—creation and its conditioned “currents” are explained in a way compatible with devotion to either Lord Shiva (Pashupati) or Lord Vishnu (Kurma/Narayana) as the liberating Lord beyond prakriti.