Shloka 8
Narmadā-tīrtha-māhātmya — Bhṛgu-tīrtha to Sāgara-saṅgama
Pilgrimage Circuit, Gifts, Fasting, and Imperishable Merit
वृषोत्सर्गं ततो गच्छेच्छाश्वतं पदमाप्नुयात् / न जानन्ति नरा मूढा विष्णोर्मायाविमोहिताः
vṛṣotsargaṃ tato gacchecchāśvataṃ padamāpnuyāt / na jānanti narā mūḍhā viṣṇormāyāvimohitāḥ
വൃഷോത്സർഗം നടത്തി പിന്നെ മുന്നോട്ട് പോയാൽ ശാശ്വത പദം ലഭിക്കും; എന്നാൽ വിഷ്ണുവിന്റെ മായയിൽ വിമോഹിതരായ മൂഢർ ഇതറിഞ്ഞുകൂടാ।
Sūta (narrator) conveying the Purāṇic teaching on dharma and its fruit
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: karuna
FAQs
It implies that the highest, “eternal abode” is real and attainable, but ordinary people fail to recognize the liberating principle because Māyā veils right knowledge—pointing to liberation as a matter of true discernment, not mere worldly perception.
This verse foregrounds dharmic action (vṛṣotsarga as dāna) as a purifier leading toward the eternal goal; by contrast, it warns that without clarity beyond Māyā—cultivated through sādhana such as devotion, discipline, and contemplative discrimination taught elsewhere in the Kurma Purana—people miss the intended spiritual fruit.
While explicitly invoking Viṣṇu, it uses the shared Purāṇic theme of Māyā as the power that veils truth—compatible with the Kurma Purana’s broader Shaiva–Vaishnava synthesis where liberation requires piercing divine Māyā through right knowledge and disciplined practice.