Shloka 21
Dharma of Non-Injury, Non-Stealing, Purity, and Avoidance of Hypocrisy (Ācāra and Saṅkarya-Nivṛtti)
अनृतात् पारदार्याच्च तथाभक्ष्यस्य भक्षणात् / अश्रौतधर्माचरणात् क्षिप्रं नश्यति वै कुलम्
anṛtāt pāradāryācca tathābhakṣyasya bhakṣaṇāt / aśrautadharmācaraṇāt kṣipraṃ naśyati vai kulam
Ложью, прелюбодеянием, вкушением запретного и исполнением обрядов и поведения, не утверждённых Ведой, род поистине быстро гибнет.
Lord Kūrma (Viṣṇu) instructing on dharma and social-spiritual decline
Primary Rasa: bhayanaka
Secondary Rasa: raudra
FAQs
Indirectly: it teaches that adharma (untruth, adultery, forbidden consumption, and non-Vedic conduct) destabilizes the moral order that supports inner purity; such purity is treated in the Purāṇic tradition as a prerequisite for steady knowledge of the Self.
No specific technique is taught in this verse; it supplies the yama-like ethical groundwork—truthfulness, sexual restraint, disciplined diet, and scripturally aligned conduct—without which higher practice (including Pāśupata-oriented devotion and meditation found elsewhere in the Kūrma Purāṇa) is said to fail.
It does not name Śiva explicitly; however, the Kūrma Purāṇa’s Shaiva–Vaishnava synthesis is reflected in the shared insistence on Veda-aligned dharma and self-restraint as the common foundation for devotion and liberation, regardless of whether one approaches through Viṣṇu or Śiva.