Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 92

Invocation, Purāṇa Lakṣaṇas, Kurma at the Samudra-manthana, and Indradyumna’s Liberation Teaching

Iśvara-Gītā Prelude

Devanagari script

परात्परतरं तत्त्वं परं ब्रह्मैकमव्ययम् / नित्यानन्दं स्वयञ्ज्योतिरक्षरं तमसः परम्

Transliteration

parātparataraṃ tattvaṃ paraṃ brahmaikamavyayam / nityānandaṃ svayañjyotirakṣaraṃ tamasaḥ param

Translation

အလွန်မြင့်မြတ်သည့်အရာထက်တောင် ထပ်မံမြင့်မြတ်သော တတ္တဝ—တစ်ပါးတည်းသော အမြင့်ဆုံး မဖျက်ဆီးနိုင်သော ဘြဟ္မန်—သည် နိစ္စအာနန္ဒ (ထာဝရပျော်ရွှင်မှု) ဖြစ်၍ ကိုယ်တိုင်တောက်ပသော အလင်း၊ မပျက်မယွင်းသော အက္ခရ၊ အမှောင် (အဝိဇ္ဇာ) ကိုလွန်ကဲသော အရာဖြစ်သည်။

Word by Word

• parāt: than the high/supreme
• parāt: Apadana (Separation/Comparison)
• Type: Noun
• Root: para (पर)
• Form: Neuter, Ablative (5th/पञ्चमी), Singular

• parataram: higher/superior
• parataram: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: paratara (परतर)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular

• tattvam: reality/principle
• tattvam: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tattva (तत्त्व)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular

• param: supreme
• param: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: para (पर)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular

• brahma: Brahman (Absolute)
• brahma: Predicate
• Type: Noun
• Root: brahman (ब्रह्मन्)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular

• ekam: one/single
• ekam: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: eka (एक)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular

• avyayam: imperishable/unchanging
• avyayam: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: avyaya (अव्यय)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular

• nityānandam: eternal bliss
• nityānandam: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: nityānanda (नित्यानन्द)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular

• svayañjyotiḥ: self-luminous
• svayañjyotiḥ: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: svayañjyotis (स्वयञ्ज्योतिस्)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular

• akṣaram: indestructible
• akṣaram: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: akṣara (अक्षर)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular

• tamasaḥ: from darkness
• tamasaḥ: Apadana (Separation)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tamas (तमस्)
• Form: Neuter, Ablative (5th/पञ्चमी), Singular

• param: beyond/transcendent
• param: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: para (पर)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular

Speaker

Lord Kūrma (Viṣṇu) teaching the Īśvara-gītā in a Śaiva–Vaiṣṇava synthesis

Verse Rasa

Primary Rasa: shanta

Secondary Rasa: adbhuta

Characters & Entities

• Brahman
• Tattva
• Tamas

More Details (4 sections)

FAQs

How does this verse explain the nature of the Supreme Self (Atman)?

It defines the Supreme as the one imperishable Brahman—self-revealing (svayaṁ-jyotis), immutable (akṣara), and experienced as eternal bliss—beyond all limiting categories and beyond tamas (ignorance).

What Yoga or Meditative practices are highlighted here?

The verse supports Pāśupata-oriented contemplation: meditate on the Supreme as self-luminous consciousness beyond tamas, using viveka (discernment) and inner absorption (dhyāna/samādhi) to transcend ignorance and abide in the akṣara Brahman.

How does this verse depict the relationship between Shiva and Vishnu?

By presenting the highest truth as one non-dual Brahman, it aligns with the Kurma Purana’s synthesis where sectarian forms (Śiva/Viṣṇu) converge in the same supreme, self-luminous Reality taught in the Īśvara-gītā.