Mahārāja Parīkṣit inquired: O most opulent Śukadeva Gosvāmī, please explain to me how Manu and the others in each manvantara are en gaged in their respective duties, and by whose order they are so engaged. (1) Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: The Manus, the sons of Manu, the great sages, the Indras and all the demigods, O King, are appointed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His various incarnations such as Yajña. (2) O King, I have already described to you various incarnations of the Lord, such as Yajña. The Manus and oth ers are chosen by these incarnations, under whose direction they conduct the universal af fairs. (3) At the end of every four yugas, the great saintly persons, upon seeing that the eter nal occupational duties of mankind have been misused, reestablish the principles of religion. (4)
Thereafter, O King, the Manus, being fully engaged according to the instructions of the Su preme Personality of Godhead, directly reestablish the principles of occupational duty in its full four parts. (5) To enjoy the results of sacrifices [yajñas], the rulers of the world, namely the sons and grandsons of Manu, dis charge the orders of the Supreme Personality of Godhead until the end of Manu’s reign. The demigods also share the results of these sacri fices. (6) Indra, King of heaven, receiving ben edictions from the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus enjoying highly developed opulences, maintains the living entities all over the three worlds by pouring sufficient rain on all the planets. (7)
In every yuga, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, assumes the form of Siddhas such as Sanaka to preach tran scendental knowledge, He assumes the form of great saintly persons such as Yājñavalkya to teach the way of karma, and He assumes the form of great yogīs such as Dattātreya to teach the system of mystic yoga. (8) In the form of Prajāpati Marīci, the Supreme Personality of Godhead creates progeny; becoming the king, He kills the thieves and rogues; and in the form of time, He annihilates everything. All the dif ferent qualities of material existence should be understood to be qualities of the Supreme Per sonality of Godhead. (9)
People in general are bewildered by the illusory energy, and there fore they try to find the Absolute Truth, the Su preme Personality of Godhead, through various types of research and philosophical specula tion. Nonetheless, they are unable to see the Su preme Lord. (10) In one kalpa, or one day of Brahmā, there take place the many changes called vikalpas. O King, all of these have been previously de scribed to you by me. Learned scholars who know the past, present and future have ascer tained that in one day of Brahmā there are four teen Manus. (11)
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