Kurma Purana — Uttara Bhaga, Shloka 5

The True Liṅga as Formless Brahman — Self-Luminous Īśa and the Yoga of Liberation

Devanagari script

एतत्तत्परमं ज्ञानं केवलं कवयो विदुः / अज्ञानमितरत् सर्वं यस्मान्मायामयं जगत्

Transliteration

etattatparamaṃ jñānaṃ kevalaṃ kavayo viduḥ / ajñānamitarat sarvaṃ yasmānmāyāmayaṃ jagat

Translation

ဤအရာတစ်ခုတည်းသာ အမြင့်ဆုံး ဉာဏ်ပညာဖြစ်ကြောင်းကို ရှင်မြတ်ကဗျာဆရာ-ဋိကာရ်တို့ သိကြသည်။ အခြားအရာအားလုံးသည် အဝိဇ္ဇာဖြစ်၏၊ အကြောင်းမှာ လောကသည် မာယာဖြင့် ဖွဲ့စည်းထားသောကြောင့် ဖြစ်သည်။

Word by Word

• etat: this
• etat: Viśeṣaṇa/Anuvṛtti (विशेषण/अनुवृत्ति)
• Type: Noun
• Root: etad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया एकवचन

• tat-paramam: that supreme
• tat-paramam: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: tad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक) + parama (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया एकवचन; तत्पुरुष (तत्-परम = that-supreme) used adjectivally

• jñānam: knowledge
• jñānam: Karma/Viṣaya (विषय)
• Type: Noun
• Root: jñāna (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा एकवचन

• kevalam: only
• kevalam: Kriyā-viśeṣaṇa (क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: kevala (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: क्रियाविशेषणरूपेण अव्ययीभूतम् (adverbial accusative)

• kavayaḥ: the seers/poets
• kavayaḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kavi (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा बहुवचन

• viduḥ: know
• viduḥ: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √vid (विद् धातु; 'to know')
• Form: लिट्-लकार (Perfect), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष, बहुवचन

• ajñānam: ignorance
• ajñānam: Viṣaya/Predicate-noun (विधेय)
• Type: Noun
• Root: a-jñāna (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा एकवचन

• itarat: other (than that)
• itarat: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: itara (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा एकवचन; विशेषण (of sarvam)

• sarvam: everything
• sarvam: Karta/Viṣaya (कर्ता/विषय)
• Type: Noun
• Root: sarva (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा एकवचन

• yasmāt: because
• yasmāt: Hetu (हेतु)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: yasmāt (अव्यय/सर्वनाम-तसिल्)
• Form: हेतु-अव्यय (causal: 'because/since'); etymologically ablative of yad

• māyā-mayam: made of illusion
• māyā-mayam: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: māyā (प्रातिपदिक) + maya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा एकवचन; तत्पुरुष (मायया मयम् = made of māyā)

• jagat: the world
• jagat: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: jagat (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा एकवचन

Speaker

Lord Kurma (Vishnu) instructing King Indradyumna (Ishvara Gita context)

Verse Rasa

Primary Rasa: shanta

Secondary Rasa: raudra

Characters & Entities

• Kurma
• Vishnu
• Maya
• Kavi (Rishi/Seer)

More Details (3 sections)

FAQs

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

It defines true (supreme) knowledge as the direct recognition of the highest reality beyond māyā; all merely worldly or appearance-bound cognition is classed as ajñāna.

What Yoga or Meditative practices are highlighted here?

The verse foregrounds viveka (discrimination) as a core yogic discipline: discerning the Real from māyā. In the Ishvara Gita frame, this supports inward contemplation and detachment that culminate in God-realization (Īśvara-jñāna).

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

By stressing one supreme knowledge beyond māyā, it aligns with the Kurma Purana’s non-sectarian synthesis: the highest reality taught by the Purana is one, whether approached through Shaiva-Pashupata or Vaishnava devotion and yoga.