Indradyumna Moksha
The Kūrma Purāṇa opens with the account of Indradyumna. He was a king in one birth and a brāhmaṇa in the next. He saw Bhagavān Vishṇu as the tortoise at the churning of the ocean, and later he saw Lakshmī and Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa himself. He reached moksha by knowing the paramātman. Bhagavān Kūrma, who is Bhagavān Vishṇu in his tortoise avatāra, told this to the ṛshis, and this led to the whole Kūrma Purāṇa.
The frame at Naimishāraṇya
The Kūrma Purāṇa begins at Naimishāraṇya. The great muni Romaharshaṇa, a disciple of Vedavyāsa, sits among the mahāmunis who have gathered there after a long yajña (fire ritual). The ṛshis ask him to tell the Kūrma Purāṇa. It has this name because Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa first spoke it himself, in his kūrma (tortoise) form, at the samudra-mathana (the churning of the ocean).
Romaharshaṇa then tells how Bhagavān Kūrma came to speak this purāṇa. At the churning of the ocean Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa held up Mount Mandara on his back as a tortoise. The devas and ṛshis who were there, Nārada and others and Indra among them, praised Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa. Then they asked him to explain the nature of Lakshmī, who had just risen from the churning. Bhagavān Vishṇu then told the account of Indradyumna, and this led into the whole Kūrma Purāṇa.
The earlier birth as a king
Indradyumna was a brāhmaṇa in the birth before this account opens. Before that he had been a king. In that royal birth he came to see Bhagavān Vishṇu in tortoise form at the churning of the ocean. From that sight he heard the purāṇa-saṃhitā (the collection of the Purāṇa) from Bhagavān Vishṇu directly. He understood that Brahmā, Rudra and all the other devas stay under the power (śakti) of Vishṇu, and he gave himself to Vishṇu. Bhagavān Vishṇu told him that he would be born again as a brāhmaṇa and would remember his earlier birth.
He then ruled his kingdom and gave up his body. For a time he lived in Śvetadvīpa near Bhagavān Vishṇu and enjoyed pleasures of Vishṇuloka beyond all thought. At Bhagavān Vishṇu’s command he came back to earth as a brāhmaṇa, with the name Indradyumna and with memory of his earlier birth (pūrvajanma-smṛti).
The second birth: the vision of Lakshmī
As a brāhmaṇa named Indradyumna he worshipped Parameśvara with full steadiness. He kept vratas (vows), fasts (upavāsas), rules (niyamas) and homas (fire offerings), and fed brāhmaṇas. He gave himself to the inner nature of Bhagavān Vishṇu, the ātma-svarūpa, and worshipped Mahādeva, who lives in the hearts of yogīs.
After a long time a shining divine power (kalā) of Vishṇu stood before him. He knew her by the signs of Vishṇu that she bore. With folded hands he asked who she was. She told him that she is the highest form of Nārāyaṇa’s māyā and cannot be parted from him. She said: “I am the form of Nārāyaṇa’s māyā. Between me and Nārāyaṇa there is no difference.” She added: “Those who worship Nārāyaṇa by the path of knowledge (jñāna-mārga) or by karma-yoga, I have no power over them.”
She told Indradyumna: “O Indradyumna, with faith (śraddhā) in karma-yoga, and then by the path of knowledge, worship Nārāyaṇa, who has no beginning, middle or end. In this way you will reach moksha.” When she had said this, Lakshmīdevī touched him with both hands, remembered Bhagavān Vishṇu and vanished.
Bhagavān Vishṇu’s teaching
Indradyumna went on worshipping through dhyāna-yoga (the discipline of meditation). After many days Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa himself stood before him, in yellow robes, in his cosmic form (viśvarūpa), the great lord of yogīs (yogīśvara). Indradyumna bowed to the ground and sang a long stotra (a hymn of praise). In it he called him Yajñapurusha, Mādhava, Keśava, Kṛshṇa, Purushottama, the one beyond māyā who has no guṇas (nirguṇa), and the very form of bliss (ānanda-svarūpa).
Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa touched Indradyumna with his hands, and Indradyumna knew the paramātman at once. Bhagavān Vishṇu then taught him about three kinds of meditation (bhāvanā).
- The first is on Vishṇu himself.
- The second is on the world that has come to be.
- The third is the meditation on Brahman (brahma-vishayaka bhāvanā). It goes beyond the three guṇas and is the highest.
Indradyumna was told to take refuge in the first, the meditation on Vishṇu, if he could not reach the higher. He was told to keep varṇāśrama-dharma and to worship the one Parameśvara. He was also taught that the world is full of māyā, that the jīvātman (the Self in a living being) and the paramātman are not different, and that a person who sees Parameśvara directly (sākshātkāra) reaches moksha.
Indradyumna reaches moksha
Having received this knowledge, Indradyumna gave up all worldly attachment and reached vairāgya (freedom from desire). He entered the last meditation, on Brahman, the state in which the paramātman is seen directly. He mastered his breath (prāṇa) and went without sleep. By the power of yoga he travelled by the path of the sky and came to Mānasottara Parvata. There he went into the innermost room of the highest abode, which even the devas cannot reach. He meditated on the paramātman, the Prajāpati who has no birth and no death.
A great radiance (teja) appeared. Brahmā, the four-faced, came before him and embraced him. A vast teja, the light of the ṛk, yajus and sāma Vedas, rose from Indradyumna’s body and entered the sun’s disc (sūryamaṇḍala). It entered the highest place of Vishṇu, the home of bliss that does not move, the place of the paramātman, which is also called moksha. So Indradyumna reached the place of the Self that knows no destruction.
How the Purāṇa began
The ṛshis then asked Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa to tell them all that he had told Indradyumna: dharma, artha, kāma and moksha, the conduct of the varṇas and āśramas, creation, the manvantaras, the tīrthas and jyotisha (the science of the stars). It was also for Indra’s good. Bhagavān Kūrma had gone down to Rasātala. There he told the whole Kūrma Purāṇa to Nārada and the ṛshis gathered around. This is what Romaharshaṇa now tells the munis at Naimishāraṇya.
Sources
- Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 1