Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 42
Sūrya-vaṃśa Genealogy and the Supremacy of Tapas: Gāyatrī-Japa, Rudra-Darśana, and Śatarudrīya Upadeśa
कश्यप उवाच सहस्त्रनयनो देवः साक्षी स तु प्रजापतिः / प्रसीदति महायोगी पूजितस्तपसा परः
kaśyapa uvāca sahastranayano devaḥ sākṣī sa tu prajāpatiḥ / prasīdati mahāyogī pūjitastapasā paraḥ
ਕਸ਼੍ਯਪ ਨੇ ਆਖਿਆ—ਸਹਸ੍ਰਨੇਤ੍ਰ ਦੇਵ ਸਾਕਸ਼ੀ-ਸਰੂਪ ਹੈ; ਉਹੀ ਪ੍ਰਜਾਪਤੀ ਹੈ। ਉਹ ਪਰਮ ਮਹਾਯੋਗੀ ਉੱਚੇ ਤਪ ਨਾਲ ਪੂਜਿਆ ਜਾਵੇ ਤਾਂ ਪ੍ਰਸੰਨ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ।
Sage Kaśyapa
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
FAQs
By calling the deity “sākṣī” (the Witness), the verse points to the inner, all-seeing consciousness that observes all beings and acts—an Upaniṣadic marker of the Self/Iśvara as the witnessing principle.
The verse emphasizes tapas—disciplined austerity and sustained spiritual practice—as a highest form of pūjā. In Kurma Purana’s yogic frame, tapas supports steadiness, purity, and contemplative absorption befitting a “mahāyogī.”
Rather than sectarian contrast, it uses shared yogic-theological language—Witness (sākṣī), Supreme (paraḥ), Great Yogi (mahāyogī)—terms applicable to both Śiva and Viṣṇu in Purāṇic synthesis, stressing one supreme reality honored through tapas.