ÄhuÅ› cirÄyuá¹£am ṛṣiá¹
má¹›kaṇá¸u-tanayaá¹ janÄḥ
yaḥ kalpÄnte hy urvarito
yena grastam idaá¹ jagat
sa vÄ asmat-kulotpannaḥ
kalpe 'smin bhÄrgavará¹£abhaḥ
naivÄdhunÄpi bhÅ«tÄnÄá¹
samplavaḥ ko 'pi jÄyate
eka evÄrṇave bhrÄmyan
dadarśa puruṣaṠkila
vaá¹a-patra-puá¹e tokaá¹
Å›ayÄnaá¹ tv ekam adbhutam
eá¹£a naḥ samÅ›ayo bhÅ«yÄn
sūta kautūhalaṠyataḥ
taá¹ naÅ› chindhi mahÄ-yogin
purÄṇeá¹£v api sammataḥ
Ähuḥ - they say; cira-Äyuá¹£am - having an extraordinarily long life span; ṛṣim - the sage; má¹›kaṇá¸u-tanayam - the son of Má¹›kaṇá¸u; janÄḥ - people; yaḥ - who; kalpa-ante - at the end of the day of Lord BrahmÄ; hi - indeed; urvaritaḥ - remaining alone; yena - by which (annihilation); grastam - seized; idam - this; jagat - entire universe; saḥ - he, MÄrkaṇá¸eya; vai - indeed; asmat-kula - in my own family; utpannaḥ - born; kalpe - in the day of BrahmÄ; asmin - this; bhÄrgava-ṛṣabhaḥ - the most eminent descendant of Bhá¹›gu Muni; na - not; eva - certainly; adhunÄ - in our age; api - even; bhÅ«tÄnÄm - of all creation; samplavaḥ - annihilation by flood; kaḥ - any; api - at all; jÄyate - has arisen; ekaḥ - alone; eta - indeed; arṇave - in the great ocean; bhrÄmyan - wandering; dadarÅ›a - he saw; puruá¹£am - a personality; kila - it is said; vaá¹a-patra - of a banyan leaf; puá¹e - within the fold; tokam - an infant hoy; Å›ayÄnam - lying; tu - but; ekam - one; adbhutam - wonderful; eá¹£aḥ - this; naḥ - our; samÅ›ayaḥ - doubt; bhÅ«yÄn - great; sÅ«ta - O SÅ«ta GosvÄmÄ«; kautÅ«halam - curiosity; yataḥ - due to which; tam - that; naḥ - for us; chindhi - please cut; mahÄ-yogin - O great yogÄ«; purÄneá¹£u - of the PurÄṇas; api - indeed; sammataḥ - universally accepted (as the expert knower).
Authorities say that MÄrkaṇá¸eya Ṛṣi, the son of Má¹›kaṇá¸u, was an exceptionally long-lived sage who was the only survivor at the end of BrahmÄ’s day, when the entire universe was merged in the flood of annihilation. But this same MÄrkaṇá¸eya Ṛṣi, the foremost descendant of Bhá¹›gu, took birth in my own family during the current day of BrahmÄ, and we have not yet seen any total annihilation in this day of BrahmÄ. Also, it is well known that MÄrkaṇá¸eya, while wandering helplessly in the great ocean of annihilation, saw in those fearful waters a wonderful personality — an infant boy lying alone within the fold of a banyan leaf. O SÅ«ta, I am most bewildered and curious about this great sage, MÄrkaṇá¸eya Ṛṣi. O great yogÄ«, you are universally accepted as the authority on all the PurÄṇas. Therefore kindly dispel my confusion.
Lord BrahmÄ’s day, consisting of his 12 hours, lasts 4 billion 320 million years, and his night is of the same duration. Apparently MÄrkaṇá¸eya lived throughout one such day and night and in the following day of BrahmÄ continued living as the same MÄrkaṇá¸eya. It seems that when annihilation occurred during BrahmÄ’s night, the sage wandered throughout the fearful waters of destruction and saw within those waters an extraordinary personality lying on a banyan leaf. All of these mysteries concerning MÄrkaṇá¸eya will be clarified by SÅ«ta GosvÄmÄ« at the request of the great sages.
