Shloka 25
Measure of the Three Worlds, Planetary Spheres, and Sūrya as the Root of Trailokya
नक्षत्रेभ्यो बुधश्चोर्ध्वं बुधादूर्ध्वं तु भार्गवः / वक्रस्तु भार्गवादूर्ध्वं वक्रादूर्ध्वं बृहस्पतिः
nakṣatrebhyo budhaścordhvaṃ budhādūrdhvaṃ tu bhārgavaḥ / vakrastu bhārgavādūrdhvaṃ vakrādūrdhvaṃ bṛhaspatiḥ
नक्षत्रेभ्यो बुधश्चोर्ध्वं बुधादूर्ध्वं तु भार्गवः। वक्रस्तु भार्गवादूर्ध्वं वक्रादूर्ध्वं बृहस्पतिः॥
Sūta (narrator) relaying the Purāṇic cosmography as taught by the sages
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: shanta
FAQs
This verse is primarily cosmographic: it orders celestial spheres above the nakṣatras. Indirectly, Kurma Purāṇa’s larger teaching frames such ordered cosmos as operating under Īśvara’s law (niyati), pointing seekers beyond the mapped heavens to the transcendent Self that is not a planet or sphere.
No explicit yoga technique is taught in this śloka; it functions as a contemplative support (dhyāna-upakaraṇa) by presenting a hierarchical cosmos. In Kurma Purāṇa’s broader Shaiva–Vaishnava synthesis, such cosmology is used to cultivate vairāgya (dispassion) and īśvara-smṛti (God-remembrance), which underpin Pāśupata-oriented discipline and meditative steadiness.
The verse itself names planets rather than deities; however, within the Kurma Purāṇa’s non-sectarian frame, the orderly cosmos is upheld by the one Supreme Lord revered as both Hari and Hara. Thus, the cosmology can be read as a shared field of divine governance rather than a sectarian claim.