Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 1
Madhu–Kaiṭabha, Nārāyaṇa’s Yoga-Nidrā, Rudra’s Manifestation, and the Aṣṭamūrti–Trimūrti Teaching
इति श्रीकूर्मपुराणे षट्साहस्त्र्यां संहितायां पूर्वविभागे नवमो ऽध्यायः श्रीकूर्म उवाच गते महेश्वरे देवे स्वाधिवासं पितामहः / तदेव सुमहत् पद्मं भेजे नाभिसमुत्थितम्
iti śrīkūrmapurāṇe ṣaṭsāhastryāṃ saṃhitāyāṃ pūrvavibhāge navamo 'dhyāyaḥ śrīkūrma uvāca gate maheśvare deve svādhivāsaṃ pitāmahaḥ / tadeva sumahat padmaṃ bheje nābhisamutthitam
Thus, in the Śrī Kūrma Purāṇa, in the Ṣaṭsāhasrī Saṃhitā, in the Pūrvavibhāga, the ninth chapter concludes. Śrī Kūrma said: When the Lord Maheśvara departed to His own abode, Pitāmaha (Brahmā) then took his place upon that very vast lotus which had arisen from the navel.
Lord Kurma (Vishnu)
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
FAQs
By presenting Brahmā’s lotus-seat as arising from the divine navel (implicitly Nārāyaṇa), the verse points to a single supreme source from which creation and cosmic offices proceed—suggesting the Self as the underlying origin beyond changing forms.
No explicit yogic technique is taught in this verse; it functions as cosmological framing. In the Kurma Purana’s broader teaching, such framing supports meditation on īśvara as the causal ground (kāraṇa) of the cosmos, a basis for later Pāśupata-yoga and īśvara-bhāvanā themes.
It places Maheśvara’s transcendence (returning to his own abode) alongside Brahmā’s lotus-seat arising from the navel of the supreme source (implied Nārāyaṇa), reflecting the Purāṇa’s integrative vision where cosmic roles operate harmoniously without denying either Śiva’s supremacy or Viṣṇu’s causal ground.