Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 14
Divine Abodes on the Mountains — A Sacred Survey of Jambūdvīpa
Kailāsa to Siddha Realms
तत्र देवर्षयो विप्राः सिद्धा ब्रह्मर्षयो ऽपरे / उपासते सदा देवं पितामहमजं परम्
tatra devarṣayo viprāḥ siddhā brahmarṣayo 'pare / upāsate sadā devaṃ pitāmahamajaṃ param
そこでは、神仙たるリシたちと婆羅門の聖賢—シッダたち、また他の大いなるブラフマリシたち—が、宇宙の祖「ピターマハ」、不生にして至上なる神を常に礼拝している。
Narrator (Purāṇic narrator describing a sacred locale and its worshippers; traditionally framed through Sūta’s narration to the sages)
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
FAQs
By calling the deity “unborn” (aja) and “supreme” (param), the verse points to a transcendent principle beyond ordinary birth and change, worthy of continual contemplation (upāsanā) by realized sages.
The key practice is upāsanā—steady worship/contemplative devotion performed “always” (sadā). In the Kurma Purana’s spiritual idiom, this aligns with disciplined remembrance and meditation on the Supreme Lord as the inner ruler, a foundation compatible with Pāśupata-oriented devotion and yogic concentration.
Although this verse names the Supreme as the “unborn, supreme” deity and also uses a creator-title (pitāmaha), the Kurma Purana’s broader synthesis treats such supreme epithets as pointing to one highest reality approached through multiple divine forms—supporting a non-sectarian Shaiva–Vaishnava convergence in practice (upāsanā).