Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 98
Cosmic Manifestation, Mahāmāyā’s Mandate, Varṇāśrama-Dharma, and the Unity of the Trimūrti
चतुर्णामाश्रमाणां तु प्रोक्तो ऽयं विधिवद्द्विजाः / आश्रमो वैष्णवो ब्राह्मो हराश्रम इति त्रयः
caturṇāmāśramāṇāṃ tu prokto 'yaṃ vidhivaddvijāḥ / āśramo vaiṣṇavo brāhmo harāśrama iti trayaḥ
အို ဒွိဇာတို့၊ အာရှ్రమ လေးပါးနှင့် ပတ်သက်၍ ဤနည်းဥပဒေကို မှန်ကန်စွာ ကြေညာထားသည်—အမျိုးအစား သုံးမျိုးရှိသည်၊ ဗိෂ္ဏဝ အာရှ్రమ၊ ဘြဟ္မ (ဘြဟ္မာနှင့် ဆက်နွယ်) အာရှ్రమ၊ နှင့် ဟရ (ရှီဝ) အာရှ్రమ ဟူ၍။
Suta (narrator) conveying the Kurma Purana’s dharma-teaching in the discourse-context
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
FAQs
It does not directly define Ātman; instead, it frames spiritual life through dharma by classifying āśrama-orientation as Vaiṣṇava, Brāhma, or Hara—implying multiple sanctioned pathways for realizing the highest principle.
No specific practice is listed; the verse sets the institutional context—āśrama-discipline—within which practices like mantra-japa, pūjā, tapas, and (in later Kurma Purana sections) Pāśupata-oriented sādhana are undertaken.
By naming both Vaiṣṇava and Hara āśramas as valid categories under one rule, it reflects the Kurma Purana’s integrative stance—Śiva and Viṣṇu-oriented disciplines are treated as legitimate dharmic modes rather than mutually exclusive.