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
کشیپ نے کہا—ہزار آنکھوں والا دیوتا گواہِ مطلق ہے؛ وہی پرجاپتی ہے۔ وہ برتر مہایوگی اعلیٰ تپسیا سے پوجا جائے تو راضی ہوتا ہے۔
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.