THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 10
VIBHUTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS:
VERSE NUMBER 06
Text in Transliteration:
maharshayah: sapta poorve chatvaaro manavas tathaa
madbhaavaa maanasaa jaataa yeshaam loka imaah: prajaah:
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
Maharshayah: = the great Rishis; sapta = seven; poorve = ancient; chatvaarah: = four; manavah: = Manus; tathaa = also; mad bhaavaah: = possessed of powers like me; maanasaah: = from mindjaataah; born; yeshaam = from whom ; loke = in world; imaah: =these; prajaah: = creatures.
Text in English:
The seven great Rishis and the four ancient Manus endowed with My power, were born of My mind; and from them have come forth all the creatures in the world.
COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The seven great Rishis are Bhrigu, Marichi, Atri, Pula, Pulastya, kratu and Angiras. The four ancient Manus are Svarochisha, Svayambhu, Raivata and Uttama. These potentates are not of human origin. They are all born of the mind of Brahma, the Creator. In other words, they are all personifications of the several phases of the Cosmic Reality. The seven great Rishis represent the seven planes of consciousness. They are therefore said to be the originators of beings at all levels of existence and all of their domains. While the seven Rishis represent the created beings in their entirety, the four ancient Manus function as the orderly administrators of the entire Creation. The precision and regularity evinced by Nature are all due to the efficient regime of the Manus.
What is the benefit of that the sadhaka or practitioner derives by knowing this structure of the Cosmos and of its orderly functioning? The answer comes in the next verse.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
These are the powers in charge of the many processes of the world. Manu according to tradition is the first man at the beginning of each new race of beings.
COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
In the beginning I was alone and from Me came the mind and from the mind were produced the seven sages (such as Bhrigu, Vasishtha and others), the ancient four Kumaras (Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatkumara and Sanatsujata), as well as the four Manus of the past ages known as Savarnis, all of whom directed their thoughts to Me exclusively and were therefore endowed with divine powers and supreme wisdom.
The four Kumaras (chaste, ascetic youths) declined to marry and create offspring. They preferred to remain perpetual celibates and to practise Brahma-Vichara or profound meditation on Brahman or the Absolute.
They were all created by Me. By mind alone. They were all mind-born sons of Brahma. They were not born from the womb like ordinary mortals. Manavah, men, the present inhabitants of this world, are the sons of Manu. The Manus are the mind-born sons of God. These creatures which consist of the moving and the unmoving beings are born of the seven great sages and the four Manus. The great sages were original teachers of Brahma-Vidya or the ancient wisdom of the Upanishads. The Manus were the rulers of men. They framed the code or rules of conduct or the laws of Dharma for the guidance and upliftment of humanity.
The seven great sages represent seven planes also. In the macrocosm, Mahat or cosmic Buddhi, Ahamkara or the cosmic egoism and the five Tanmatras or the five root-elements of which the five great elements, viz., earth, water, fire, air and ether are the gross forms, represent the seven great sages. This gross universe with the moving and the unmoving beings and the subtle inner world have come out of the above seven principles. In mythology or the Puranic terminology these seven principles have been symbolised and given human names. Brigu, Marichi, Atri, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu and Vasishtha are the seven great sages.
In the microcosm, Manas (mind), Buddhi (intellect), Chitta (subconsciousness) and Ahamkara (egoism) have been symbolised as the four Manus and given human names. The first group forms the base of the macrocosm. The second group forms the base of the microcosm (individuals). These two groups constitute this vast universe of sentient life.
Madbhava: with their being in Me, of My nature.
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