Kurma Purana — Uttara Bhaga, Shloka 8
Naimittika-pralaya and the Theology of Kāla: Seven Suns, Saṃvartaka Fire, Flood, and Varāha Kalpa
महादाद्यां विशेषान्तं यदा संयाति संक्षयम् / प्राकृतः प्रतिसर्गो ऽयं प्रोच्यते कालचिन्तकैः
mahādādyāṃ viśeṣāntaṃ yadā saṃyāti saṃkṣayam / prākṛtaḥ pratisargo 'yaṃ procyate kālacintakaiḥ
Khi chuỗi các biến hiện bắt đầu từ Mahat và kết thúc ở các yếu tố biệt hóa (viśeṣa) đi đến tan rã, thì đó được gọi là “prākṛta pratisarga”; những bậc quán niệm về Thời (Kāla) đã tuyên thuyết như vậy.
Suta (narrator) describing cosmological doctrine to the sages (Naimisharanya frame)
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
FAQs
By pointing to the dissolution of all tattvas—from Mahat down to the gross particulars—it implies that the Self is not any evolute of Prakṛti; it is the witnessing reality beyond the time-bound cycle that ‘kālacintakas’ analyze.
The verse foregrounds kāla-cintā (contemplation of Time) and tattva-vicāra (discerning the evolutes of Prakṛti). In Kurma Purana’s yogic spirit, such discrimination supports vairāgya (dispassion) and steadies meditation by revealing the impermanence of all manifested categories.
Though not naming them directly, it uses a shared Purāṇic-Sāṃkhya vocabulary (Prakṛti, Mahat, Time) that both Shaiva and Vaishnava teachings adopt—supporting the Kurma Purana’s integrative view that one supreme governance underlies cosmic dissolution and re-manifestation.