Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 12
Puṣkara-dvīpa, Lokāloka, and the Measure of the Brahmāṇḍa
Cosmic Egg
तस्याः परेण शैलस्तु मर्यादात्मात्ममण्डलः / प्रकाशश्चाप्रकाशश्च लोकालोकः स उच्यते
tasyāḥ pareṇa śailastu maryādātmātmamaṇḍalaḥ / prakāśaścāprakāśaśca lokālokaḥ sa ucyate
اس کے آگے ایک پہاڑ ہے جو آتما-منڈل کو گھیرنے والی حدِّ مراتب ہے۔ وہ روشن بھی ہے اور غیر روشن بھی؛ اسی لیے اسے ‘لوکالوک’ کہا جاتا ہے۔
Sūta (narrator) recounting the Purāṇic cosmography as taught in the Kurma Purana
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: shanta
FAQs
By calling the cosmic boundary an “ātma-maṇḍala” (sphere of the Self), the verse hints that the ordered cosmos is enclosed within a principled limit—suggesting an intelligible, law-like structure grounded in Self/inner reality rather than randomness.
No specific technique is named, but the imagery of “maryādā” (boundary) supports Yogic discipline: mastery arises through setting limits—restraining the senses and distinguishing illumination (prakāśa) from obscuration (aprakāśa), a foundational contemplative discrimination.
The verse is cosmographic rather than sectarian; its boundary-of-light teaching aligns with the Kurma Purana’s synthesis where cosmic order (often expressed through Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava idioms elsewhere) is one dharmic reality, not competing absolutes.