Kurma Purana — Uttara Bhaga, Shloka 23
Prākṛta-pralaya, Pratisarga Doctrine, and the Ishvara-Samanvaya of Yoga and Devotion
कूटस्थश्चिन्मयो ह्यात्मा केवलः पञ्चविंशकः / गीयते मुनिभिः साक्षी महानेकः पितामहः
kūṭasthaścinmayo hyātmā kevalaḥ pañcaviṃśakaḥ / gīyate munibhiḥ sākṣī mahānekaḥ pitāmahaḥ
कूटस्थ, चिन्मय आत्मा एकाकी व परात्पर आहे—तोच पंचविसावा तत्त्व. मुनी त्याला ‘साक्षी’ म्हणून गातात—तो महान, एक असूनही अनेक, आद्य पितामह.
Lord Kūrma (Vishnu) teaching in a syncretic Shaiva–Vaishnava philosophical frame
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
FAQs
It defines the Ātman as kūṭastha (unchanging) and cinmaya (pure consciousness), the sākṣī (witness) beyond the twenty-four evolutes—i.e., the transcendent twenty-fifth principle.
The verse supports sākṣī-bhāva (witness-attitude) meditation: discerning the immutable conscious Self from prakṛti and its evolutes—an inner discipline aligned with Pāśupata-oriented renunciation and contemplative knowledge taught in the Kurma Purana’s later philosophical sections.
By presenting one supreme Witness-Self that is “one yet appearing as many,” it harmonizes sectarian forms: the same ultimate reality can be praised as Īśvara (often Śiva in Pāśupata idiom) and as Lord Kūrma/Vishnu in the Purāṇic narrative voice.