गृणन्ति कवयो ब्रह्मंस्तानि नो वद शृण्वताम् ॥२॥
manvantare harer janma
karmÄṇi ca mahÄ«yasaḥ
gṛṇanti kavayo brahmaá¹s
tÄni no vada śṛṇvatÄm
manvantare - during the change of manvantaras (one Manu following another); hareḥ - of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; janma - appearance; karmÄṇi - and activities; ca - also; mahÄ«yasaḥ - of the supremely glorified; gṛṇanti - describe; kavayaḥ - the great learned persons who have perfect intelligence; brahman - O learned brÄhmaṇa (Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ«); tÄni - all of them; naḥ - to us; vada - please describe; śṛṇvatÄm - who are very eager to hear.
O learned brÄhmaṇa, Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ«, the great learned persons who are completely intelligent describe the activities and appearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead during the various manvantaras. We are very eager to hear about these narrations. Kindly describe them.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead has different varieties of incarnations, including the guṇa-avatÄras, manvantara-avatÄras, lÄ«lÄ-avatÄras and yuga-avatÄras, all of which are described in the Å›Ästras. Without reference to the Å›Ästras there can be no question of accepting anyone as an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, as especially mentioned here, gṛṇanti kavayaḥ: the descriptions of various incarnations are accepted by great learned scholars with perfect intelligence. At the present time, especially in India, so many rascals are claiming to be incarnations, and people are being misled. Therefore, the identity of an incarnation should be confirmed by the descriptions of the Å›Ästras and by wonderful activities. As described in this verse by the word mahÄ«yasaḥ, the activities of an incarnation are not ordinary magic or jugglery, but are wonderful activities. Thus any incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead must be supported by the statements of the Å›Ästra and must actually perform wonderful activities. ParÄ«ká¹£it MahÄrÄja was eager to hear about the Manus of different ages. There are fourteen Manus during a day of BrahmÄ, and the age of each Manu lasts for seventy-one yugas. Thus there are thousands of Manus during the life of BrahmÄ.
