Shloka 24
Prāyaścitta for Mahāpātakas: Liquor, Theft, Sexual Transgression, Contact with the Fallen, and Homicide
गत्वा दुहितरं विप्रः स्वसारं वा स्नुषामपि / प्रविशेज्ज्वलनं दीप्तं मतिपूर्वमिति स्थितिः
gatvā duhitaraṃ vipraḥ svasāraṃ vā snuṣāmapi / praviśejjvalanaṃ dīptaṃ matipūrvamiti sthitiḥ
यदि कोई ब्राह्मण अपनी पुत्री, या अपनी बहन, अथवा बहू के पास (अधर्म से) गया हो, तो पूर्ण होश में निश्चय करके प्रज्वलित अग्नि में प्रवेश करे—यही विधान है।
Sūta (narrating the Kurma Purana’s dharma injunctions to the sages at Naimiṣāraṇya)
Primary Rasa: bibhatsa
Secondary Rasa: raudra
FAQs
This verse is not a metaphysical teaching on Ātman; it establishes dharma through prāyaścitta for a grave transgression, implying that spiritual life (including self-knowledge) is grounded in ethical restraint and purification.
No yogic technique is taught here directly; the focus is expiation (prāyaścitta). Within the Kurma Purana’s wider spiritual framework, such purification supports eligibility for higher disciplines like devotion, mantra, and Pāśupata-oriented sādhana.
It does not explicitly address Śiva–Viṣṇu unity; it belongs to the dharma/prāyaścitta layer that undergirds the Purana’s later synthetic theology, where ethical order supports devotion to the one Supreme revered through Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava forms.