This chapter describes how Markandeya Rishi performed austerities, defeated by his potency Cupid and all his associates, and offered prayers to Lord Sri Hari in His forms of Nara and Narayana.

Sri Saunaka was confused about the extraordinarily long life span of Sri Markandeya, who had taken birth in Saunaka's own dynasty yet who had moved about alone in the ocean of devastation millions of years previously and seen a wonderful young child lying upon a banyan leaf. It seemed to Saunaka that Markandeya had lived through two days of Brahma, and he asked Sri Suta Gosvami to explain this.

Suta Gosvami replied that the sage Markandeya, after receiving the purificatory ritual of brahminical initiation from his father, had fixed himself in the vow of lifelong celibacy. He then worshiped the Supreme Lord Hari for six lifetimes of Manu. In the seventh manvantara, Lord Indra sent Kamadeva (Cupid) and his associates to interrupt the sage's austerities. But Markandeya Rishi defeated them by the potency generated from his penance.

Then, to show mercy to Markandeya, Lord Sri Hari appeared before him in the form of Nara-Narayana. Sri Markandeya prostrated himself in obeisance and then worshiped the Lords by offering Them comfortable seats, water for washing Their feet, and other respectful presentations. He then prayed, "O Almighty Lord, You bring to life the vital air of all creatures, and You also protect the three worlds, vanquish distress and award liberation. You never allow those who have taken shelter of You to be defeated by any kind of misery. Attaining Your lotus feet is the only auspicious goal for the conditioned souls, and service to You fulfills all their desires. Your pastimes, enacted in the mode of pure goodness, can award everyone salvation from material life. Therefore those who are intelligent worship Your personal form of pure goodness named Sri Narayana, along with Nara, who represents Your unalloyed devotee.

"The living entity bewildered by illusion can directly understand You if he receives the knowledge presented in the Vedas and promulgated by You, the spiritual master of the entire universe. Even great thinkers like Brahma are simply bewildered when they try to understand Your identity by struggling on the path of sankhya-yoga. You Yourself manifest the proponents of Sankhya and other philosophies, and thus Your true personal identity remains hidden beneath the designative covering of the jiva soul. I offer my homage to You, the Mahapurusha."