Kurma Purana — Uttara Bhaga, Shloka 1
Ācamana-vidhi, Śauca, and Conduct Rules for Study, Eating, and Bodily Functions
इती श्रीकूर्मपुराणे षट्साहस्त्र्यां संहितायामुपरिविभागे द्वादशो ऽध्यायः व्यास उवाच भुक्त्वा पीत्वा च सुप्त्वा च स्नात्वा रथ्योपसर्पणे / ओष्ठावलमोकौ स्पृष्ट्वा वासो विपरिधाय च
itī śrīkūrmapurāṇe ṣaṭsāhastryāṃ saṃhitāyāmuparivibhāge dvādaśo 'dhyāyaḥ vyāsa uvāca bhuktvā pītvā ca suptvā ca snātvā rathyopasarpaṇe / oṣṭhāvalamokau spṛṣṭvā vāso viparidhāya ca
Thus ends the twelfth chapter in the latter division of the Śrī Kūrma Purāṇa, in the Ṣaṭsāhasrī Saṃhitā. Vyāsa said: After eating and drinking, after sleeping, after bathing, when going out into the public street, after touching the lips and the lower opening (anus), and after putting on or changing garments—
Vyasa
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: karuna
FAQs
This verse does not directly teach Ātman metaphysics; it establishes śauca (purificatory discipline) as a supportive dharmic foundation that steadies the mind and body for higher practices taught elsewhere in the Upari-bhāga (including the Ishvara Gītā).
No specific meditation technique is named; instead, the verse lists bodily and social contexts (after eating, sleeping, bathing, contact with bodily openings, changing clothes, entering public spaces) where renewed cleanliness is implied—an auxiliary discipline (aṅga) that supports mantra-japa, pūjā, and yogic concentration.
The verse is practical dharma (śauca-vidhi) rather than theology; however, in the Kurma Purana’s Shaiva–Vaishnava synthesis, such purity rules function as common ground for both Śaiva (including Pāśupata-oriented) and Vaiṣṇava worship and yogic observance.