Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 38
Solar Rays, Planetary Nourishment, Dhruva-Bondage of the Grahas, and the Lunar Cycle
सोमपुत्रस्य चाष्टाभिर्वाजिभिर्वायुवेगिभिः / वारिजैः स्यन्दनो युक्तस्तेनासौ याति सर्वतः
somaputrasya cāṣṭābhirvājibhirvāyuvegibhiḥ / vārijaiḥ syandano yuktastenāsau yāti sarvataḥ
सोमपुत्राचा रथ जलज, वायुवेगाने धावणाऱ्या आठ अश्वांनी युक्त आहे; त्या रथाने तो सर्वत्र संचार करतो।
Purana narrator (Suta/Vyasa tradition) describing cosmic astronomy and divine vehicles
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: shanta
FAQs
Indirectly: by presenting the orderly, all-pervading motion of a graha through a divinely governed chariot, the verse points to a cosmos ruled by an underlying intelligence—consistent with the Purana’s view that the Self/Ishvara is the inner regulator of all movements.
No explicit practice is taught in this line; its yogic value is contemplative—using cosmic order as an aid to dhyāna, where the practitioner reflects on disciplined motion and governance (niyati/ṛta) as signs of Ishvara, a theme aligned with later Kurma Purana teachings on devotion and inner control.
The verse is cosmological rather than sectarian; it supports the Kurma Purana’s non-competitive synthesis by portraying the grahas’ movement as part of a single sacred order upheld by the Supreme—compatible with both Shaiva and Vaishnava theological readings.