31 verses
King Parīkṣit said: O guru! I have heard in detail about the dynasty of Svāyambhuva Manu in which the Prajāpatis carried out creation. Please describe the other Manus.
O brāhmaṇa! The wise describe the activities and appearance of the great Lord during the various Manvantaras. We are very eager to hear about these activities. Kindly describe them.
Mahīyasaḥ (great) refers to the Lord.
O brāhmaṇa! Describe to us the activities that the Supreme Lord, creator of the universe, performed in the past Manvantaras, is performing at present, and will perform in the future Manvantaras.
The verb describe should be added. Antare means during the Manvantara. Adya means at present.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: In the present day of Brahmā, there have already been six Manus starting with Svāyambhuva. I have described to you Svāyambhuva Manu, during whose period the devatās and other living entities appeared.
Among them the first (ādyaḥ), Svāyambhuva has been described to you.
Svāyambhuva Manu had two daughters, named Ākūti and Devahūti. From their wombs, the Supreme Lord appeared as two sons named Yajña and Kapila respectively, for preaching about religion and knowledge.
The daughters were Ākūtī and Devahūtī.
O best of the Kurus! I have already described [in the Third Canto] the activities of Kapila, the son of Devahūti. Now I shall describe the activities of Yajña, the son of Ākūti.
The husband of Śatarūpā, Svāyambhuva Manu, detached from material enjoyment, gave up his kingdom and entered the forest with his wife to practice austerities.
O descendant of Bharata! Svāyambhuva Manu, standing on one leg on the bank of the River Sunandā, performed great austerities for one hundred years. At that time, he chanted as follows.
Avāha means he chanted.
Manu said: The Lord brings the universe to life. The universe does not bring the Lord to life. While the universe sleeps, the Lord is awake. The universe does not know him, but he knows everything.
Yena here means yaḥ (he who brings the universe to life.) The people in the universe do not know he who brings the universe to life and whom the universe does not bring to life, who is awake while the universe is sleeping in deep sleep, or in pralaya, and who sleeps in yoga-nidrā, while the universe is not awake (this phrase should be added). The Lord knows the universe.
Whatever exists in this universe is the dwelling place of the Lord. Enjoy wealth that is given by the Lord and do not hanker for what is not given by him. Whose wealth is it, except the Lords?
Showing the nature of God as the controller, Manu teaches his sons and daughters. Whatever place, body or senses (jagat) exist in the three worlds (jagatyām) is meant for the Lord to dwell in (āvāsyam), since it has been created by the Lord for his pastimes. Therefore one should build the temple of the Lord at various places and establish a deity of the Lord. Then, taking his permission, with the mentality of being his servant, one should build ones own house, of inferior quality. One should not consider that place to be ones own, and by that reasoning not built the Lords temple. Even if one is wealthy, one should enjoy only what is given by the Lord, just as workers are given pay by their master. Enjoy what is given, and do not desire what is not given. Spending profusely on the Lord and his devotees, one should take the remainder and use that for feeding oneself and ones family, friends and other worthy people. But wife and children will not accept such conduct. Scolding, Manu says, Whose wealth is this? Svit indicates a question. Thought the wealth is in your house, whose is it, except the Lords? Nārada says:
yāvad bhriyeta jaṭharaṁ tāvat svatvaṁ hi dehinām
adhikaṁ yo bhimanyeta sa steno daṇòam arhati
One may claim proprietorship to as much wealth as required to maintain his body. He who desires proprietorship over more than that is considered a thief, and he deserves to be punished. SB 7.14.8
Or another meaning is Do not hanker for anyone elses wealth. This verse is similar to the śruti mantra of Īśopaniṣad:
īśāvāsyam idam sarvaṁ yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat
tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam
This visible world, and whatever exists beyond perception, is under the control of the Lord. Because of this you should enjoy only what is allotted to you by the Lord through karma. Do not hanker for more than that. Whose property is it?
Worship the uncontaminated Lord residing in all beings, who is the friend of the jīva, and who, though seeing all things, is not seen, and whose knowledge is never destroyed.
If the Lord dwells everywhere in the universe, why do we not see him? One does not see the Lord who sees all. When a pot is destroyed, ones knowledge concerning the pot is destroyed. When the universe is destroyed, does the Lords knowledge of the universe get destroyed? The Lords jñāna-śakti (cakṣuḥ), emanating from his svarūpa, is never destroyed. Śruti says svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca: the Lord has intrinsic power of knowledge, strength and action. (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8) Similarly the sunlight is not destroyed when the objects it reveals are destroyed. The Lord dwells in all beings (bhūta-nilayam), is free from contamination, is bright (devam), and is the friend of the jīva (suparṇam). Śruti says dvā suparṇā sayujā sakhāyaḥ: there are two birds dwelling together as friends. (Muṇòaka Upaniṣad 3.1.1) Upadhāvata means please serve.
He has no beginning, middle or end. He does not consider that anything belongs to him or to anyone else. He has no inside and no outside. From him arise the creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe. He is the form of the universe. He is the permanent truth with eternal form, the perfect Brahman.
This verse explains the pervasive feature of the Lord. From the Lord (yasmāt) the creation, maintenance and destruction (amūni) arise. His form is the universe (yat viśvam). Because he is permanent, he is truth (ṛtam) and the perfect Brahman (mahat). This describes the eternal nature of the Lords form.
The Lord has the universe as his body. He is called by many names. He is the controller. He is truth, and is self-revealing, unborn, and without beginning. He carries out the creation and destruction of the universe by his māyā-śakti, and rejecting her by his internal energy, remains indifferent to her.
This verse describes how the Lord is everything. He has many names (puru-hūtaḥ).
yatra vidyāvidye na vidāmo vidyāvidyābhyāṁ bhinno vidyāmayo hi yaḥ sa kathaṁ visayī-bhavati
We do not see vidyā or avidyā in the Lord. He is different from vidyā and avidyā. How can one know this Lord made of cit-śakti (vidyā)? Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad
This quotation shows that vidyā also means the Lords cit-śakti. By this auspicious energy, which is like a queen, the material energy (tām) is rejected (udasya).
tvam ādyaḥ puruṣaḥ sākṣād īśvaraḥ prakṛteḥ paraḥ |
māyāṁ vyudasya cic-chaktyā kaivalye sthita ātmani ||
You are the original Lord, the controller, beyond material energy. You are situated in your spiritual form, being one with your spiritual energy, and separate from the material energy. SB 1.7.23
Therefore, the sages first perform actions in order to be free of action. A person by regulated action generally attains inaction.
Not able to understand how the Lord can simultaneously act and not act, the sages attempt to accomplish this at different times. Therefore, the sages first perform actions, in order to attain non-action, naiṣkarmyam. Another version has karma-hantave instead of akarma-hetave: for the destruction of action.
The Supreme Lord, the controller, complete in himself, acts but is not bound by action. Those who follow the Lord and perform bhakti do not become bound up by action.
But a person involved in actions, being surrounded by such actions, becomes bound up like an insect in a cocoon. Those who follow the Lord, those who receive instructions on bhakti, do not become bound up.
I surrender to the Lord who is ātmārāma, who is without false ego, who is intelligent, without desire, complete, independent, who gives instructions to mankind by his own actions, who is situated in bhakti-yoga, and who teaches bhakti-yoga.
You are giving us instructions, but what are you doing at this moment? I surrender to the Lord, the master. Here he does not mention a particular name, but this refers to the person who gives life to the universe in verse 9. How is he described? That Supreme Lord desires himself (īhamānam). Just as the devotees desire the Lord, the Lord desires himself. This means he is ātmārāma, enjoying in himself. He has no false ego, though he is the supreme controller. He is ordered by himself (ananya-coditam). He is situated in the method to attain him, which has been nearly lost because of time. He teaches mankind by his own behaviour. He propagates the best dharma, bhakti-yoga (akhila-dharma).
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Seeing Svāyambhuva Manu chant the mantras with concentration, the hungry demons attacked him in order to eat him.
Seeing him in samādhi chanting the mantras of this Upaniṣad, and thinking he was a helpless person in deep sleep, demons approached him to eat him, because they were hungry.
Seeing the demons about to devour him, Yajña, who pervades everywhere, killed the demons and then ruled in Svarga, surrounded by the Yāmas and the devatās.
The Yāmas mentioned are the sons of Yajñā.
The son of Agni named Svārociṣa became the second Manu. His sons were headed by Dyumat, Suṣeṇa and Rociṣmat.
Each Manvantara has six elements. It is said:
manvantaraṁ manur devā manu-putrāḥ sureśvarāḥ
rṣayo 'ṁśāvatārāś ca hareḥ ṣaò-vidham ucyate
Manvantaram means the reign of Manu, during which six types of personalities carry out specific duties: the ruling Manu, the devatās, the sons of Manu, Indra, the great sages and the partial incarnations of the Supreme Lord. SB 12.7.15
In the first Manvantara, Svāyambhuva was Manu, his sons were Priyavrata and Uttānapāda, the devatās were Yāma and others, and the seven sages were Marīci and others. Yajña was the avatāra and he also became Indra. These have been described in the Fourth Canto. Twelve verses now describe these six elements for the second, third and fourth Manvantaras.
|| 8.1.20|
tatrendro rocanas tv āsīd
devāś ca tuṣitādayaḥ
ūrja-stambhādayaḥ sapta
ṛṣayo brahma-vādinaḥ
During the reign of Svārociṣa, the post of Indra was assumed by Rocana, the son of Yajña. Tuṣita and others became the principal devatās, and Ūrja, Stambha and others, brahmavādīs, became the seven sages.
The sage Vedaśirāṣ wife was Tuṣitā. From her womb was born the avatāra named Vibhu.
|| 8.1.22|
aṣṭāśīti-sahasrāṇi
munayo ye dhṛta-vratāḥ
anvaśikṣan vrataṁ tasya
kaumāra-brahmacāriṇaḥ
Vibhu remained a brahmacāri and never married throughout his life. From him, eighty-eight thousand saintly persons fixed in their vows took lessons on proper conduct.
O King, the third Manu, Uttama, was the son of King Priyavrata. Among the sons of this Manu were Pavana, Sṛñjaya and Yajñahotra.
During the reign of the third Manu, Pramada and other sons of Vasiṣṭha became the seven sages. The Satyas, Vedaśrutas and Bhadras became the devatās, and Satyajit became Indra.
In this Manvantara, the Supreme Lord appeared from the womb of Sūnṛtā, who was the wife of Dharma. The Lord celebrated as Satyasena appeared with other devatās known as the Satyavratas.
Satyasena, along with his friend Satyajit, who was Indra, killed all the untruthful, impious and misbehaving Yakṣas, Rākṣasas and ghostly living entities, who gave pain to other living beings.
The brother of the Uttama, the third Manu, known as Tāmasa,1 became the fourth Manu. Tāmasa had ten sons, headed by Pṛthu, Khyāti, Nara and Ketu.
During the reign of Tāmasa Manu, the devatās were the Satyakas, Haris and Vīras. The heavenly King, Indra, was Triśikha. The sages were headed by Jyotirdhāma.
O King, in the Tāmasa Manvantara the sons of Vidhṛti, who were known as the Vaidhṛtis, also became devatās. Since in course of time the Vedas were lost, these devatās, protected the Vedas by their own powers.
In this Manvantara there were two sets of devatās--those mentioned in the previous verse and those mentioned in this verse.
In this Manvantara, the Supreme Lord took birth from the womb of Hariṇī, the wife of Harimedhā, and was known as Hari. Hari saved Gajendra from the mouth of a crocodile.
Āhṛtaḥ means was called.
King Parīkṣit said: O Śukadeva! I wish to hear from you how the king of the elephants, when attacked by a crocodile, was delivered by Hari.
Among all the stories in which the Supreme Lord is glorified, this story bestows great purity, glory, auspiciousness and fortune.
Because of desiring to hear this topic, among all the topics this topic gives great purity and auspiciousness. Mahat modifies puṇyam.
Sūta Gosvāmī said: O brāhmaṇas! when Parīkṣit Mahārāja, who was awaiting impending death, thus requested Śukadeva Gosvāmī to speak, Śukadeva, encouraged by the King's words, offered respect to the King and spoke with great pleasure in the assembly of sages who desired to hear him.
Thus ends the commentary on the First Chapter of the Eighth Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas.
Offering respects to guru and Kṛṣṇa, the ocean of mercy, I take shelter of Śrī-Śukadeva, the eye of the universe, and master of the worlds. I offer myself and everything I possess to he who is the life of the gopīs and who is the controller, for service to his dear devotees.
The quality of the Manvantara period is establishment of dharma. Six of the Manus who institute that dharma will be described in the twenty-four chapters of the Eighth Canto. One chapter describes four Manvantaras. Three chapters describe the story of Gajendra and the fifth Manu. Eight chapters describe the sixth Manu, Cākṣuṣa, the churning of the ocean and obtaining nectar from it. One chapter describes the seventh Manu, Vaivasvata or Śrāddhadeva, and one chapter describes his activities. Nine chapters describe Vāmanadeva (who appeared in Vaivasvata Manvantara) and one chapter describes Matsya.
The First Chapter describes the prayers of Svāyambhuva Manu and also describes the first four Manus. Blissful on hearing the dynasties of Svāyambhuva starting in the Fourth Canto, and the stories about Prahlāda and others, Parīkṣit wanted to know about the other Manus. Thus he begins by asking this question.