Kurma Purana — Uttara Bhaga, Shloka 57
Naimittika-pralaya and the Theology of Kāla: Seven Suns, Saṃvartaka Fire, Flood, and Varāha Kalpa
अनन्तस्तारको योगी गतिर्गतिमतां वरः / हंसः प्राणो ऽथ कपिलो विश्वमूर्तिः सनातनः
anantastārako yogī gatirgatimatāṃ varaḥ / haṃsaḥ prāṇo 'tha kapilo viśvamūrtiḥ sanātanaḥ
You are Ananta, the Endless; Tāraka, the Deliverer; the Yogin; the supreme Goal and the best refuge of all who seek the Goal. You are Haṃsa, the inner Self moving within all beings; You are Prāṇa, the life-breath; You are Kapila; You are the One whose form is the whole universe—eternal and primeval.
A sage/narrator offering a stuti (hymn) to the Supreme Lord (Hari as Kurma/Narayana), in a Shaiva–Vaishnava synthesis typical of the Kurma Purana
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
FAQs
It portrays the Supreme as both transcendent (Ananta, Sanātana) and immanent (Prāṇa, Viśvamūrti, Haṃsa), indicating the one Reality as the inner Self and the cosmic form sustaining all beings.
The verse frames the Lord as the Yogin and as Haṃsa (linked with the so’ham contemplation), implying inward meditation on prāṇa and the indwelling Self as the direct means to realize the highest gati (liberating goal).
By using universal epithets (Yogin, Tāraka, Viśvamūrti) common to Shaiva and Vaishnava stutis, it reflects the Kurma Purana’s non-sectarian synthesis: one Supreme Ishvara praised through multiple theological lenses.