Padmanābhāya namah

Swāyambhuva Manu prayed, “In the form of Pure Consciousness, the Lord exists within all living entities. He is the friend of the living entity. One should lovingly offer services to this Lord and should strive to understand Him. In Him, divisions such as beginning, middle and end states do not exist. Differences of ‘mine and yours’ or divisions such as ‘within and outside’, are absent.

The Supreme Lord is the cause for beginning, middle and ending of this universe. He alone is eternal while this universe is unreal. In this universe which is a form of the Supreme Lord, the innumerable names which exist are His names alone.

Even then, the Supreme Lord who is the indivisible eternal existence, who is Self-effulgent, who is devoid of birth and who is the primordial cause for this entire creation, undertakes the tasks of creation, sustenance and annihilation of the universe. Due to Supreme Knowledge, He remains untouched by illusory power (māya shakti). Being devoid of action (niṣkriya) He remains eternally in His original form.

For this reason, great saints who understand the action-less state of the Self, initially engage in fruitive activities for the purposes of attaining liberation. This is because when the person who engages in fruitive activities, begins to offer his activities to the Lord, he gradually evolves to the action-less state. When this action-less state is mastered, the Supreme Lord who is attained through Self-enquiry, achieves completeness. Hence, even though He engages in creation and other activities He remains untainted by them. Following His footsteps, people who selflessly perform actions without feelings of doer-ship i.e. without the thought ‘I am performing the action’, are relieved from the bondages of fruitive activities”.

‘I am performing this action; this action belongs to me; only when I perform this action I will acquire merit’- the person who performs actions without any such feelings is said to perform selfless action.

“The Supreme Lord possesses discriminatory knowledge of Nature (prakṛti) and Self (puruṣa). Even though He is engaged in creation and other activities He is devoid of egoism. He is an embodiment of completeness. He is devoid of desires. As He is non-dual, He is not influenced by anyone or anything. He is independent. I surrender to that Lord who, while remaining established in His original Self, protects all the dharmas.”

Demons such as asuras and rakṣasās noticed Swayambhuva Manu who, with absolute concentration, was immersed in severe austerities and was meditating upon the Self which exists in the form of mantras. As they were exceedingly hungry, they ran towards him in great speeds with the intent of devouring him.

Around that time, the all-pervading Supreme Lord Srihari, who had incarnated as Yagna (sacrifices) noticed the asuras and rakṣasās who were rushing towards Manu. Together with his sons, the Yāmā Devatas, Lord Yagna destroyed all the demons. Thereafter assuming the role of Indra, he ruled heaven.

Swārociṣa, the son of Agni, became the second Manu. He had many sons beginning with Dyumat, Suṣena and Rociṣmat. During this Manvantara period ruled by Swārociṣa, Rociṣmat assumed the position of Indra and ruled heaven. Tuṣita and others assumed the roles of Devatas. Urjasthamba, Urja and other learned Vedic Brahmin scholars became the seven great sages (sapta-rishis).

The great saint Vedaśira had a wife named Tuṣita, who had attained great fame. The Supreme Lord incarnated as the son of this holy couple and became very famous as Vibhu. He remained an eternal celibate. 88,000 saints learnt from him the knowledge of Brahmacarya vrata (celibacy) and strictly abided by it.

Thereafter Uttama, the famous son of Priyavrata, became the third Manu. Some of his sons were Pavana, Srnjaya, Urja and Yajnahotra.

During the rule of Uttama Manu, Vashistha’s sons Pramada, Dvimanta and others became the seven great sages. Satyas, Vedasṛtās and Bhadras assumed roles of Devatas. Satyajit assumed the position of Indra, the Lord of heaven. In that Manvantara, the Supreme Lord incarnated as the son of the holy couple Dharma and Sūnṛtā and was famous as Satyasena. Divine troops known as Satyavṛtas followed Him”.

The various different periods of time known as Manvantara are being explained. The ruler of the Manvantara period, the saints who assumed roles as sapta rishis, those who assumed roles of Devatas during that period, the Lord’s incarnation in that Manvantara period are all being detailed.

Maharishi Śuka further continued, “The Supreme Lord who had incarnated as Satyasena, together with his friend Satyajit who was the ruler of heaven, destroyed the Yakshas, rakshasas demons and ghosts (bhoota) who were wicked, untruthful and who caused harm to other living beings.

Thereafter Tāmasa, the brother of Uttama, became the fourth Manu. He had 10 sons. Some of them were Pṛthu, Khyāti, Nara, Ketu and Shanta. In this Tāmasa Manvantara, Satyakas, Haras and Vīras became the Devatas. Triśikha became their leader Indra. Jyotirardhama, Kāvya and others took up positions as the seven great sages.

In this Tāmasa Manvantara, Vaidhṛti, the sons of Vidhṛti, became famous as Devatas. They protected the sacred Vedas, which had disappeared due to the influence of time. Furthermore, the Supreme Lord incarnated as the son of the holy couple Harimedhasa and Hariṇi and became famous as Hari. Hari saved elephant Gajendra from the clutches of a crocodile” said Maharishi Śuka.

Emperor Parikshit who was keenly listening to this, instantly posed a question, “O Maharishi Śuka! How did the Supreme Lord Hari rescue Gajendra from the clutches of the crocodile? I am keen to hear this from you”.

Now begins the story of Gajendra’s liberation. Haraye namah