Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 2
Solar Rays, Planetary Nourishment, Dhruva-Bondage of the Grahas, and the Lunar Cycle
तस्य ये रश्मयो विप्राः सर्वलोकप्रदीपकाः / तेषां श्रेष्ठाः पुनः सप्त रश्मयो ग्रहयोनयः
tasya ye raśmayo viprāḥ sarvalokapradīpakāḥ / teṣāṃ śreṣṭhāḥ punaḥ sapta raśmayo grahayonayaḥ
O brāhmaṇas, those rays of his—the Sun’s rays—are the illuminators of all the worlds. Among them, the seven most excellent rays are said to be the sources, the wombs from which the planets arise.
Sūta (narrating to the assembled sages, describing Purāṇic cosmology)
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: shanta
FAQs
Indirectly: it presents cosmic order as arising from a single luminous principle (the Sun as a manifest power), a Purāṇic way of pointing to one underlying source behind multiplicity—often read as reflecting the One Reality that supports all worlds.
No direct practice is taught in this verse; it supplies cosmological contemplation (dhyāna on cosmic order and light), which later supports disciplined meditation in the Kurma Purana’s broader yoga-śāstra and Pāśupata-oriented teachings.
It does not mention Śiva or Viṣṇu explicitly; however, in the Kurma Purana’s synthetic theology, such cosmological functions are ultimately grounded in the one Īśvara—understood through both Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava frames—whose powers appear as orderly creation.