Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 49
Manvantaras, Indras, Saptarṣis, and the Seven Sustaining Manifestations; Vyāsa as Nārāyaṇa
अनाद्यन्तं परं ब्रह्म न देवा नर्षयो विदुः / एको ऽयं वेद भगवान् व्यासो नारायणः प्रभुः
anādyantaṃ paraṃ brahma na devā narṣayo viduḥ / eko 'yaṃ veda bhagavān vyāso nārāyaṇaḥ prabhuḥ
Высший Брахман, без начала и конца, не познаётся во всей полноте ни богами, ни риши. Лишь один знает его: благой Господь Вьяса, сам Нараяна, владыка и повелитель.
Sūta (narrator) / Purāṇic narrator praising Vyāsa-Nārāyaṇa
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: shanta
FAQs
It points to the Absolute (Brahman) as beginningless and endless, exceeding the full grasp of even devas and ṛṣis—implying that the Supreme Self is transcendent and not an ordinary object of cognition.
No specific technique is prescribed in this verse; instead it establishes theological ground: realization of the anādi-ananta Brahman depends on divine revelation and authentic lineage (Vyāsa as Nārāyaṇa), which in the Kurma Purana frames later disciplines such as Pāśupata-oriented sādhanā and contemplative knowledge.
Directly it identifies Vyāsa with Nārāyaṇa and emphasizes the one Supreme beyond all; within the Kurma Purana’s broader Shaiva–Vaishnava synthesis, such supremacy language supports a non-sectarian, non-dual reading where the highest reality is one, approached through different divine forms.