Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 7.8.48

sri-manava ucuh

manavo vayam tava nidesa-karino

ditijena deva paribhuta-setavah

bhavata khalah sa upasamhritah prabho

karavama te kim anusadhi kinkaran

SYNONYMS

sri-manavah ucuh -- all the Manus offered their respectful obeisances by saying; manavah -- the leaders of the universal affairs (especially in connection with giving knowledge to humanity about how to live lawfully under the protection of the Supreme Personality of Godhead); vayam -- we; tava -- of Your Lordship; nidesa-karinah -- the carriers of the orders; diti-jena -- by Hiranyakasipu, the son of Diti; deva -- O Lord; paribhuta -- disregarded; setavah -- whose laws of morality concerning the varnasrama system in human society; bhavata -- by Your Lordship; khalah -- the most envious rascal; sah -- he; upasamhritah -- killed; prabho -- O Lord; karavama -- shall we do; te -- Your; kim -- what; anusadhi -- please direct; kinkaran -- Your eternal servants.

TRANSLATION

All the Manus offered their prayers as follows: As Your order carriers, O Lord, we, the Manus, are the law-givers for human society, but because of the temporary supremacy of this great demon, Hiranyakasipu, our laws for maintaining varnasrama-dharma were destroyed. O Lord, now that You have killed this great demon, we are in our normal condition. Kindly order us, Your eternal servants, what to do now.

PURPORT

In many places in Bhagavad-gita, the Supreme Lord, Krishna, refers to the varnasrama-dharma of four varnas and four asramas. He teaches people about this varnasrama-dharma so that all of human society can live peacefully by observing the principles for the four social divisions and four spiritual divisions (varna and asrama) and thus make advancement in spiritual knowledge. The Manus compiled the Manu-samhita. The word samhita means Vedic knowledge, and manu indicates that this knowledge is given by Manu. The Manus are sometimes incarnations of the Supreme Lord and sometimes empowered living entities. Formerly, many long years ago, Lord Krishna instructed the sun-god. The Manus are generally sons of the sun-god. Therefore, while speaking to Arjuna about the importance of Bhagavad-gita, Krishna said, imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham avyayam vivasvan manave praha: [Bg. 4.1] "This instruction was given to Vivasvan, the sun-god, who in turn instructed his son Manu." Manu gave the law known as Manu-samhita, which is full of directions based on varna and asrama concerning how to live as a human being. These are very scientific ways of life, but under the rule of demons like Hiranyakasipu, human society breaks all these systems of law and order and gradually becomes lower and lower. Thus there is no peace in the world. The conclusion is that if we want real peace and order in the human society, we must follow the principles laid down by the Manu-samhita and confirmed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness