Shloka 8
Īśvara-gītā (Adhyāya 2) — Ātma-svarūpa, Māyā, and the Unity of Sāṅkhya–Yoga
न प्राणे न मनो ऽव्यक्तं न शब्दः स्पर्श एव च / न रूपरसगन्धाश्च नाहं कर्ता न वागपि
na prāṇe na mano 'vyaktaṃ na śabdaḥ sparśa eva ca / na rūparasagandhāśca nāhaṃ kartā na vāgapi
मी प्राण नाही, मन नाही, अव्यक्तही नाही. मी शब्द नाही, स्पर्शही नाही; रूप-रस-गंधही नाही. मी कर्ता नाही, वाणीही नाही.
Lord Kurma (Vishnu) teaching the Ishvara Gita to the sages (contextually including Indradyumna’s inquiry tradition)
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
FAQs
By systematically negating prāṇa, mind, the unmanifest prakṛti, the sense-objects, doership, and even speech, the verse points to the Atman/Ishvara as pure consciousness beyond body-mind and beyond the guṇas—known through direct yogic realization rather than sensory description.
The verse supports a Pashupata-Yogic contemplative method akin to neti-neti: withdrawing identification from prāṇa and manas (pratyāhāra), dissolving the sense-field (śabda–sparśa–rūpa–rasa–gandha), and relinquishing kartṛtva (doership) to abide in the witnessing Self—core to the Kurma Purana’s Ishvara Gita orientation.
Though not naming them directly, the teaching reflects the Kurma Purana’s synthesis: the supreme reality taught by Lord Kurma is the same non-dual Ishvara realized in Shaiva (Pashupati) and Vaishnava (Narayana) idioms—one consciousness beyond prāṇa, mind, and doership.