Isvara Gita

ईश्वरगीता

Siva's own teaching to the sages, seated beside Narayana - eleven chapters tucked inside the Kurma Purana that speak directly to the Bhagavad Gita.

🕉️What this text is, and how it is structured

The Kurma Purana's own footnote to its Uttara-bhaga Chapter 1 states the parallel directly: its chapters 1 to 11 constitute the Isvaragita - "the song of Isvara (god Siva) just as the BG (Bhagavadgita) is 'the song of the Lord (Krsna)'. The similarity is not merely in titles but in the contents as well." The translator's own notes flag specific verses as borrowed from the Bhagavad Gita, and next most from Upanishads like the Katha and Svetasvatara.

The frame story: sages at the Naimisa forest ask Suta for the knowledge of Brahman. Suta's teacher Vyasa arrives and recounts how, long ago, ten sages led by Sanatkumara performed penance at Badarikasrama and were answered first by Narayana - who then, in a deliberately Pasupata turn, redirects them to Siva himself, co-seated with him, to reveal that knowledge.

Unlike this site's Siva Sutras and Spanda Karikas, the source edition here gives continuous English prose with inline verse-number markers rather than individual Sanskrit verses - the Sanskrit survives only in the translator's own footnotes, quoted occasionally. Each chapter below is transcribed faithfully from that prose, verse-range by verse-range exactly as the book numbers them, with speaker changes marked where the book itself marks them.

Chapter 1: The Dialogue Between Sages and Vyasa

This chapter presents the setting for the proposed dialogue. The sages in the Naimisaranya wanted to get from Suta, the supreme knowledge of the Brahman which leads to the annihilation of Samsara. Suta was about to tell when his preceptor Vyasa came there. Suta requested him to explain to the sages the knowledge about Brahma which Vyasa taught him as it was explained by Lord Kurma to the sages of old (Verse 12). Vyasa now attributes the knowledge to Siva who explained it to ten sages like Sanatkumara and others (V.15), who at Badarikasrama appealed to Narayana for this spiritual knowledge (vv.16-30). While Narayana was about to speak god Siva came there (v.31). Narayana conveyed the request of the sages to him (v.40) and god Siva co-seated with Narayana began to speak. The Pasupata twist in this episode is obvious.

Read Chapter43 verse blocks · pp. 337-342

Chapter 2: The Yoga of Isvara

The Yoga of Isvara is based on Sankhya philosophy. Isvara explains the nature of Atman (vv.3-29) and exhorts that Atman should be meditated upon. He (Atman) is in all beings. When this specialised knowledge is realized, one becomes identical with Siva. This is the Sankhya Philosophy (vv.30-41). Concentration on this knowledge is Yoga. Yoga and knowledge are interdependent.

Read Chapter52 verse blocks · pp. 342-348

Chapter 3: Prakrti and Purusa

Isvara continues the Sankhya exposition begun in Chapter 2, now focused on the evolution of the universe from Prakrti and Purusa through Kala (Time): Mahat, Ahamkara, Manas, and the ranked hierarchy of principles from Prakrti up through Prana, Vyoman and the Supreme Brahman, which Isvara identifies as himself.

Read Chapter21 verse blocks · pp. 348-350

Chapter 4: The Glory of Siva

In this chapter full of quotations from the Bhagavad Gita, Isvara describes the greatness of Siva in Vedantic epithets emphasising the path of Bhakti for god-realisation - the description of his own self constantly recalls Krsna's discourse in the BG. He explains how the process of the universe goes on due to his potencies called Maya, Vidya, and Tamasi or Kala (vv.18-23), classifies devotees according to the paths of Karma, Jnana, Bhakti and Dhyana they follow (vv.24-26), and proclaims his identity with Hari by stating that devotees of Hari also propitiate him.

Read Chapter34 verse blocks · pp. 350-354

Chapter 5: Siva's Dance - Siva Eulogised by Sages

This chapter describes the Cosmic dance of Siva but takes care to emphasize the identity of Siva and Visnu (v.17). Paramesvara dances his cosmic form before the sages, who behold him enveloping the universe alongside Visnu, then compose a long Vedic-style eulogy, after which Siva withdraws the cosmic form and resumes his ordinary one.

Read Chapter43 verse blocks · pp. 354-359

Chapter 6: The Glory of Siva

Isvara explains his immanence and describes the working of his Kriya Sakti (power of action). Verses 13-15 describe how creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe is due to Siva. In the remaining portion of the chapter, Isvara tells that all deities - from Brahma and Narayana down to Varuna, Kubera, Sarasvati, Parvati, the fourteen Manus and the divisions of time itself - function in their respective spheres due to his energy and at his behest. Everything that happens is at his command.

Read Chapter52 verse blocks · pp. 359-363

Chapter 7: The Vibhuti-Yoga of Siva: Fundamentals of Pasupatism

This chapter corresponds to Chapter X of the Bhagavad Gita - the list of the best person, deity or thing in each category is claimed to be Himself by Siva here, as Krsna does in BG X (most individual parallels are left uncited by the translator as unnecessary, since nearly the whole list is borrowed). From verse 18 to the end, the chapter turns to the fundamentals of Pasupatism: all souls (Pasus) bound by Siva's own noose (Pasa) of Maya, Karman and the three Gunas, the twenty-four Sankhya principles, and the five Klesas (miseries) that fetter the Atman - though the sect poses as independent, the influence of Sankhya is obvious.

Read Chapter31 verse blocks · pp. 364-367

Chapter 8: The Means of Crossing the Ocean of Worldly Existence

A short chapter on the esoteric origin of the universe through Maya (here called Mulamaya, the Original Maya) sown into Isvara's own womb-like Brahman, the birth of Brahma from the resulting golden Egg, and the six divine 'limbs' (omniscience, satiety, eternal knowledge, independence, inexhaustible power and infinite strength) and seven subtle principles whose realization lets the intelligent person transcend Buddhi and reach the highest Brahman.

Read Chapter18 verse blocks · pp. 367-369

Chapter 9: The Unsullied (Niskala) Form of Siva

The sages ask how the Supreme God, unsullied and devoid of activities, becomes identical with the universe in form. Isvara answers that Maya, a beginningless and endless Sakti supported in the Avyakta (unmanifest), is the cause of this apparent diversity, while he himself remains the one, undivided, imperishable light hidden in the heart of every being.

Read Chapter20 verse blocks · pp. 370-372

Chapter 10: The Form of the Supreme Brahman Siva - the Parabrahman

Isvara identifies Brahman with the Linga - the one, unmanifest, self-luminous symbol established beyond the phenomenal world - and describes the liberation that follows from realizing it: his own excellent Sayujya (identity with him), which poets variously call Nirvana, identity with Brahman, or Kaivalya, a synthesis of Sankhya, Bauddha and Vedantic concepts of liberation.

Read Chapter17 verse blocks · pp. 372-374

Chapter 11: The Path of Liberation of the Individual Soul from Bondage

The longest and final chapter of the Isvara Gita, dealing with Pasupata Yoga. Isvara distinguishes Abhava Yoga from the greater Mahayoga, explains the eight limbs (Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi), the heart-lotus meditation, and - in a long stretch the translator's own footnotes mark as borrowed extensively from the Bhagavad Gita (vv.70-90) - the marks of his beloved devotee and the paths by which he may be approached. The chapter closes with Isvara's explicit teaching that he and Narayana are one and the same, the lineage of sages (Sanatkumara down to Vyasa and Arjuna) who transmitted this knowledge, and its phala-shruti, before bridging into the next section, the Vyasagita.

Read Chapter121 verse blocks · pp. 374-387

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Isvara Gita?

The Isvara Gita ("the song of Isvara", i.e. Siva) is chapters 1-11 of the Uttara-bhaga (Part II) of the Kurma Purana - the book's own footnote states this directly, drawing the parallel to the Bhagavad Gita ("the song of the Lord"). It shares the Bhagavad Gita's dialogue structure and borrows a number of verses from it and from Upanishads like the Katha and Svetasvatara, recast with Siva as the teacher.

How does the Isvara Gita relate to the Bhagavad Gita?

They share real textual overlap, not just a title pattern - Tagare's own notes flag specific verses in the Isvara Gita as borrowed directly from the Bhagavad Gita (for example, Chapter 11 explicitly borrows verses 70-90 from the BG). The teacher is Siva rather than Krsna, co-seated with Narayana (Visnu), with sages led by Sanatkumara as the audience.

Is this translation given verse-by-verse with the original Sanskrit?

No - unlike this site's Siva Sutras and Spanda Karikas pages, the source edition here (G.V. Tagare's translation, Motilal Banarsidass) gives continuous English prose with inline verse-number markers, not individual Sanskrit verses. The original Sanskrit appears only where the translator's own footnotes quote it. This site transcribes the English translation faithfully, verse-range by verse-range exactly as the book numbers them, and never fabricates Sanskrit the source doesn't give.

Where does the Isvara Gita sit within the Kurma Purana?

The Kurma Purana has two parts: Purva-bhaga (53 chapters, cosmology, dharma, pilgrimage, genealogies) and Uttara-bhaga (46 chapters). The Isvara Gita is chapters 1-11 of the Uttara-bhaga specifically; chapter 12 moves on to the duties of celibate students, confirming the boundary. This site currently covers the Isvara Gita only, not the full Purana.

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