Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 42
Sūrya-vaṃśa Genealogy and the Supremacy of Tapas: Gāyatrī-Japa, Rudra-Darśana, and Śatarudrīya Upadeśa
कश्यप उवाच सहस्त्रनयनो देवः साक्षी स तु प्रजापतिः / प्रसीदति महायोगी पूजितस्तपसा परः
kaśyapa uvāca sahastranayano devaḥ sākṣī sa tu prajāpatiḥ / prasīdati mahāyogī pūjitastapasā paraḥ
कश्यप म्हणाले—सहस्रनेत्र देव साक्षीस्वरूप आहे; तोच प्रजापती आहे. तो परम महायोगी श्रेष्ठ तपाने पूजिला असता प्रसन्न होतो।
Sage Kaśyapa
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
FAQs
By calling the deity “sākṣī” (the Witness), the verse points to the inner, all-seeing consciousness that observes all beings and acts—an Upaniṣadic marker of the Self/Iśvara as the witnessing principle.
The verse emphasizes tapas—disciplined austerity and sustained spiritual practice—as a highest form of pūjā. In Kurma Purana’s yogic frame, tapas supports steadiness, purity, and contemplative absorption befitting a “mahāyogī.”
Rather than sectarian contrast, it uses shared yogic-theological language—Witness (sākṣī), Supreme (paraḥ), Great Yogi (mahāyogī)—terms applicable to both Śiva and Viṣṇu in Purāṇic synthesis, stressing one supreme reality honored through tapas.