Kurma Purana — Uttara Bhaga, Shloka 3

Īśvara-gītā: The Supreme Lord as Brahman, the Source of Creation, and the Inner Self

Devanagari script

मम योनिर्महद् ब्रह्म तत्र गर्भं दधाम्यहम् / मूलं मायाभिधानं तु ततो जातमिदं जगत्

Transliteration

mama yonirmahad brahma tatra garbhaṃ dadhāmyaham / mūlaṃ māyābhidhānaṃ tu tato jātamidaṃ jagat

Translation

ငါ၏ ယောနိသည် မဟတ်ဘြဟ္မ (အကြီးမားသော ဘြဟ္မ) ဖြစ်၏။ ထိုအတွင်းသို့ ငါသည် မျိုးစေ့ကို ထည့်သွင်းတော်မူ၏။ ထိုအမြစ်ကို မာယာဟု ခေါ်ကြပြီး ထိုမှ ဤကမ္ဘာလောက အလုံးစုံ ပေါ်ပေါက်လာ၏။

Word by Word

• मम: my
• मम: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/Genitive)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अस्मद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: षष्ठी (6th/Genitive), एकवचन; उत्तमपुरुष-सर्वनाम

• योनिḥ: womb/source
• योनिḥ: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: योनि (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• महत्: great
• महत्: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण/Qualifier)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: महत् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; विशेषण

• ब्रह्म: Brahman / the Great Brahma (principle)
• ब्रह्म: Pradhāna-predicative (विधेय/Predicate nominative)
• Type: Noun
• Root: ब्रह्मन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• तत्र: there/in that
• तत्र: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण/Location)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तत्र (अव्यय)
• Form: देशवाचक-अव्यय (adverb of place)

• गर्भम्: embryo/seed
• गर्भम्: Karma (कर्म/Object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: गर्भ (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• दधामि: I place
• दधामि: Kriyā (क्रिया/Verb)
• Type: Verb
• Root: धा (धातु)
• Form: लट् (Present), परस्मैपद, उत्तमपुरुष (1st person), एकवचन; √धा (to place/put)

• अहम्: I
• अहम्: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अस्मद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: प्रथमा, एकवचन; उत्तमपुरुष-सर्वनाम

• मूलम्: root/cause
• मूलम्: Pradhāna-predicative (विधेय/Predicate nominative)
• Type: Noun
• Root: मूल (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन (contextually predicate/subject)

• मायाभिधानम्: called ‘māyā’
• मायाभिधानम्: Pradhāna-predicative (विधेय/Predicate nominative)
• Type: Noun
• Root: माया + अभिधान (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष: मायायाः अभिधानम् (name/designation)

• तु: indeed/but
• तु: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/Discourse)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु (अव्यय)
• Form: विरोध/विशेषार्थक-निपात (particle: but/indeed)

• ततः: from that/thereupon
• ततः: Apādāna (अपादान/Source)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ततः (अव्यय)
• Form: अपादान/हेतुवाचक-अव्यय (ablatival adverb: from that/thereupon)

• जातम्: born/produced
• जातम्: Pradhāna-predicative (विधेय/Predicate adjective)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: जन् (धातु) + क्त (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: भूतकर्मणि क्त-प्रत्ययान्त (past passive participle), नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; √जन् (born/produced)

• इदम्: this
• इदम्: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: इदम् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; निकटवाचक-सर्वनाम

• जगत्: world
• जगत्: Pradhāna-predicative (विधेय/Predicate nominative)
• Type: Noun
• Root: जगत् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

Speaker

Lord Kurma (Vishnu/Ishvara) teaching creation through Māyā-Prakriti

Verse Rasa

Primary Rasa: adbhuta

Secondary Rasa: shanta

Characters & Entities

• Brahman
• Mahat
• Maya
• Jagat

More Details (4 sections)

FAQs

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

It presents the Supreme as the intelligent source-cause who, while transcendent, initiates manifestation by placing the causal “seed” into the cosmic principle; the world arises through Māyā, not from any limitation in the Atman.

What Yoga or Meditative practices are highlighted here?

The verse supports a Yoga-Shastra approach of discernment (viveka): the practitioner distinguishes the Supreme Ishvara from Māyā/Prakriti and its evolutes (like Mahat), using this metaphysical clarity as the basis for meditation and liberation.

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

By teaching a single supreme Ishvara who governs Māyā and creation, the Kurma Purana frames divinity in a non-sectarian way compatible with Shaiva-Pashupata and Vaishnava theology—one Lord, many revered forms.