Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 36
Devī-tattva, Śakti–Śaktimān doctrine, Kāla–Māyā cosmology, and Māheśvara Yoga instruction
अन्याश्च शक्तयो मुख्यास्तस्य देवस्य निर्मिताः / ज्ञानशक्तिः क्रियाशक्तिः प्राणशक्तिरिति त्रयम्
anyāśca śaktayo mukhyāstasya devasya nirmitāḥ / jñānaśaktiḥ kriyāśaktiḥ prāṇaśaktiriti trayam
اُس دیوتا سے دیگر بنیادی شکتیّاں بھی ظاہر ہوئیں—گیان شکتی، کریا شکتی اور پران شکتی—یہ تین۔
Lord Kurma (Vishnu) teaching in the Ishvara Gita context
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
FAQs
It presents the Lord (Ishvara) as the source from whom primary śaktis manifest—knowledge, action, and prāṇa—indicating a supreme consciousness that expresses itself as cognition, agency, and life-force without losing transcendence.
By naming jñāna, kriyā, and prāṇa as key śaktis, the verse supports an integrated sādhanā: contemplative insight (jñāna), disciplined practice and duty (kriyā), and regulation of the vital currents (prāṇa)—a framework compatible with Pāśupata-oriented yoga in the Kurma Purana.
Rather than sectarian separation, it speaks in the language of Ishvara and śakti: the one Supreme Lord manifests universal powers. This idiom is characteristic of the Kurma Purana’s Shaiva–Vaishnava synthesis, where the same ultimate Ishvara is taught through multiple devotional-theological lenses.