Devanagari
श्रीमनव ऊचु:
मनवो वयं तव निदेशकारिणो
दितिजेन देव परिभूतसेतव: ।
भवता खल: स उपसंहृत: प्रभो
करवाम ते किमनुशाधि किङ्करान् ॥ ४८ ॥
Verse text
śrī-manava ūcuḥ
manavo vayaṁ tava nideśa-kāriṇo
ditijena deva paribhūta-setavaḥ
bhavatā khalaḥ sa upasaṁhṛtaḥ prabho
karavāma te kim anuśādhi kiṅkarān
Synonyms
śrī
—
manavaḥ ūcuḥ — all the Manus offered their respectful obeisances by saying
;
manavaḥ
—
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
;
nideśa
—
kāriṇaḥ — the carriers of the orders
;
diti
—
jena — by Hiraṇyakaśipu, the son of Diti
;
deva
—
O Lord
;
paribhūta
—
disregarded
;
setavaḥ
—
whose laws of morality concerning the varṇāśrama system in human society
;
bhavatā
—
by Your Lordship
;
khalaḥ
—
the most envious rascal
;
saḥ
—
he
;
upasaṁhṛtaḥ
—
killed
;
prabho
—
O Lord
;
karavāma
—
shall we do
;
te
—
Your
;
kim
—
what
;
anuśādhi
—
please direct
;
kiṅkarān
—
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, Hiraṇyakaśipu, our laws for maintaining varṇāśrama-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.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The Manus said: O Lord! We, who carry out your orders, have had our laws of varṇāśrama reversed by the son of Diti. You have killed this sinner. O master! What can we do for you? Please instruct your servants.
Suddenly receiving the glance of Nṛsiṁha, the Manus with hands folded on their heads say that they are ready to carry out his commands. The Manus refers to those who had already appeared. [Note: Nṛsiṁha appeared during the sixth Manvantara.] Setavaḥ means the rules of varṇāśrama.
Purport
In many places in
Bhagavad-gītā,
the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, refers to the
varṇāśrama-dharma
of four
varṇas
and four
āśramas.
He teaches people about this
varṇāśrama-dharma
so that all of human society can live peacefully by observing the principles for the four social divisions and four spiritual divisions (
varṇa
and
āśrama
) and thus make advancement in spiritual knowledge. The Manus compiled the
Manu-saṁhitā.
The word
saṁhitā
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 Kṛṣṇa instructed the sun-god. The Manus are generally sons of the sun-god. Therefore, while speaking to Arjuna about the importance of
Bhagavad-gītā,
Kṛṣṇa said,
imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam vivasvān manave prāha:
“This instruction was given to Vivasvān, the sun-god, who in turn instructed his son Manu.” Manu gave the law known as
Manu-saṁhitā,
which is full of directions based on
varṇa
and
āśrama
concerning how to live as a human being. These are very scientific ways of life, but under the rule of demons like Hiraṇyakaśipu, 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-saṁhitā
and confirmed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa.