Smart Quote of the Day, March 2, 2020

“Without reference to the shastras [authorized scripture] there can be no question of accepting anyone as an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. . . 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 shastras and by wonderful activities. . .the activities of an incarnation are not ordinary magic or jugglery, but are wonderful activities.”

<< previous                                                          next >>

This is from the Srimad-Bhagavatam 8.1.2

[In this chapter of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, entitled “The Manus, Administrators of the Universe,” the sage Shukadeva relates to King Pariksit various dynastic histories of influential, spiritually advanced personalities responsible for universal administration. In today’s verse, Maharaja Pariksit formally requests such information.]

TRANSLATION

O learned brahmana, Sukadeva Gosvami, 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.

PURPORT:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead has different varieties of incarnations, including the guna-avataras, manvantara-avataras, lila-avataras and yuga-avataras, all of which are described in the shastras.

Without reference to the shastras there can be no question of accepting anyone as an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, as especially mentioned here, grnanti kavayah: 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 shastras and by wonderful activities.

As described in this verse by the word mahiyasah, 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 shastra and must actually perform wonderful activities.

Pariksit Maharaja was eager to hear about the Manus of different ages. There are fourteen Manus during a day of Brahma, and the age of each Manu lasts for seventy-one yugas. Thus there are thousands of Manus during the life of Brahma.



More: