Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 20
Virocana–Bali, Aditi’s Tapas, and the Vāmana–Trivikrama Episode
नमो विष्णवे कालरूपाय तुभ्यं नमो नारसिंहाय शेषाय तुभ्यम् / नमः कालरुद्राय संहारकर्त्रे नमो वासुदेवाय तुभ्यं नमस्ते
namo viṣṇave kālarūpāya tubhyaṃ namo nārasiṃhāya śeṣāya tubhyam / namaḥ kālarudrāya saṃhārakartre namo vāsudevāya tubhyaṃ namaste
Salutations to You, Vishnu, whose very form is Time. Salutations to You as Narasiṃha, and to You as Śeṣa. Salutations to You as Kāla-Rudra, the agent of dissolution. Salutations to You as Vāsudeva—obeisance to You.
A devotee/supplicant offering a stuti (hymn) within the Kurma Purana narrative frame (addressing the Supreme as Vishnu manifesting Rudra-śakti)
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: shanta
FAQs
It presents the Supreme as one reality appearing in multiple cosmic functions—Time (kāla), protection (Vishnu/Vāsudeva), and dissolution (Kāla-Rudra)—implying a single Lord beyond changing names and forms.
The verse supports īśvara-smṛti and ekāgratā: meditating on one Supreme through many divine epithets, a Kurma Purana-friendly approach aligned with Pāśupata-influenced devotion and contemplative absorption on the Lord as the cosmic regulator (kāla).
By saluting Kāla-Rudra within the same stream of salutations to Vishnu/Vāsudeva, it frames Rudra and Vishnu as unified expressions of the one Ishvara, emphasizing non-sectarian synthesis.