Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 1
Meru-Topography: Cities of Brahmā and the Dikpālas; Descent of Gaṅgā; Varṣa-Lotus and Boundary Mountains
इति श्रीकूर्मपुराणे षट्साहस्त्र्यां सहितायां पूर्वविभागे त्रिचत्वारिशो ऽध्यायः सूत उवाच चतुर्दशसहस्त्रणि योजनानां महापुरी / मेरोरुपरि विख्याता देवदेवस्य वेधसः
iti śrīkūrmapurāṇe ṣaṭsāhastryāṃ sahitāyāṃ pūrvavibhāge tricatvāriśo 'dhyāyaḥ sūta uvāca caturdaśasahastraṇi yojanānāṃ mahāpurī / merorupari vikhyātā devadevasya vedhasaḥ
Thus, in the Śrī Kūrma Purāṇa, in the Pūrvabhāga, the forty-fourth chapter. Sūta said: Above Mount Meru is renowned the great city of the God of gods, Vedhas (Brahmā) the Creator, extending fourteen thousand yojanas.
Suta
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: vira
FAQs
This verse is primarily cosmographical, describing Brahmā’s famed city above Meru; it does not directly teach Ātman-doctrine, but it frames the ordered universe in which higher realms are associated with greater subtlety and dharmic governance.
No explicit yoga practice is taught in this verse; its role is contextual—mapping sacred geography that later Purāṇic teaching links with sādhana, pilgrimage, and contemplation of cosmic order (ṛta) as a support for steadiness of mind.
It does not mention Śiva or Viṣṇu directly; it highlights Brahmā (Vedhas). In the Kurma Purāṇa’s broader synthesis, such cosmology functions within a unified theistic frame where the supreme reality is approached through multiple divine forms.