Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 6
Nine Creations (Sarga), Guṇa-Streams of Beings, and Brahmā’s Progeny in Cyclic Time
यस्मात् तिर्यक् प्रवृत्तः स तिर्यक्स्त्रोतस्ततः स्मृतः / पश्वादयस्ते विख्याता उत्पथग्राहिणो द्विजाः
yasmāt tiryak pravṛttaḥ sa tiryakstrotastataḥ smṛtaḥ / paśvādayaste vikhyātā utpathagrāhiṇo dvijāḥ
Vì dòng vận hành của chúng đi theo lối xiên lệch, nên được ghi nhớ là “tiryak-srotas” — những hữu tình có dòng chảy chạy ngang. Chúng được biết rõ là loài thú và các loại tương tự, hỡi các bậc nhị sinh, vì chúng nương theo con đường lệch lạc.
Sūta (narrator) conveying the Purāṇic teaching to the assembled sages (dvijas)
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: bibhatsa
FAQs
Indirectly: by classifying embodied beings as moving in various “currents” (srotas), the verse implies the Atman is distinct from these conditioned modes of embodied movement; the Self is the witness beyond the oblique, erring tendencies attributed to animal embodiment.
This verse is diagnostic rather than prescriptive: it frames animal embodiment as “utpatha” (deviation), which supports Yoga-shastra’s aim of reversing such outward or sideways tendencies through discipline (yama-niyama, sattva-purification) so consciousness turns toward right knowledge and liberation.
Not explicitly; however, within the Kurma Purana’s Shaiva–Vaishnava synthesis, such cosmological taxonomy is treated as a shared doctrinal ground—creation and its conditioned “currents” are explained in a way compatible with devotion to either Lord Shiva (Pashupati) or Lord Vishnu (Kurma/Narayana) as the liberating Lord beyond prakriti.