Shiva Purana — Vayaviya Samhita, Shloka 38
त्रिमूर्तिसाम्यं तथा महेश्वरस्य परमार्थकारणत्वम् | Equality of the Trimūrti and Maheśvara as the Supreme Cause
कूर्मोंगानि यथा पूर्वं प्रसार्य विनियच्छति । विकारांश्च तथा ऽव्यक्तं सृष्ट्वा भूयो नियच्छति
kūrmoṃgāni yathā pūrvaṃ prasārya viniyacchati | vikārāṃśca tathā 'vyaktaṃ sṛṣṭvā bhūyo niyacchati
Just as a tortoise first extends its limbs and then withdraws them again, so too the Unmanifest (Avyakta) projects the evolutes (vikāras) in creation and then, once more, reabsorbs them back into itself.
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pasha
Role: creative
Cosmic Event: cyclic emanation and reabsorption (sṛṣṭi–laya)
FAQs
It teaches detachment through cosmology: all manifested states arise from the unmanifest and return to it; likewise, the seeker should withdraw the mind from changing appearances (vikāras) and rest in Shiva, the stable Pati beyond manifestation.
The Linga symbolizes the unmanifest source and the reabsorption of the manifest world; worshiping Saguna Shiva through the Linga trains the devotee to see all forms as emanations that finally resolve into the formless ground.
A practical takeaway is pratyāhāra (sense-withdrawal) with japa of the Panchākṣarī “Om Namaḥ Śivāya,” contemplating that thoughts and worlds arise and subside in Shiva—like limbs drawn back by the tortoise.
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