BG 10.6

10.6 महर्षयः the great Rishis? सप्त seven? पूर्वे ancient? चत्वारः four? मनवः Manus? तथा also? मद्भावाः possessed of powers like Me? मानसाः from mind? जाताः born? येषाम् from whom? लोके in world? इमाः these? प्रजाः creatures. Commentary In the beginning I was alone and from Me came the mind and from the mind were produced the seven sages (such as Bhrigu? Vasishtha and others)? the ancient four Kumaras (Sanaka? Sanandana? Sanatkumara and Sanatsujata)? as well as the four Manus of the past ages known as Savarnis? all of whom directed their thoughts to Me exclusively and were therefore endowed with divine powers and supreme wisdom.The four Kumaras (chaste? ascetic youths) declined to marry and create offspring. They preferred to remain perpetual celibates and to practise BrahmaVichara or profound meditation on Brahman or the Absolute.They were all created by Me? by mind alone. They were all mindborn sons of Brahma. They were not born from the womb like ordinary mortals. Manavah? men? the present inhabitants of this world? are the sons of Manu. The Manus are the mindborn sons of God. These creatures which consist of the moving and the unmoving beings are born of the seven great sages and the four Manus. The great sages were original teaches of BrahmaVidya or the ancient wisdom of the Upanishads. The Manus were the rulers of men. They framed the code or rules of conduct or the laws of Dharma for the guidance and uplift of humanity.The seven great sages represent the seven planes also. In the macrocosm? Mahat or cosmic Buddhi? Ahamkara or the cosmic egoism and the five Tanmatras or the five rootelements of which the five great elements? viz.? earth? water? fire? air and ether are the gross forms? represent the seven great sages. This gross universe with the moving and the unmoving beings and the subtle inner world have come out of the above seven principles. In mythology or the Puranic terminology these seven principles have been symbolised and give human names. Bhrigu? Marichi? Atri? Pulastya? Pulaha? Kratu and Vasishtha are the seven great sages.In the microcosm? Manas (mind)? Buddhi (intellect)? Chitta (subconsciousness) and Ahamkara (egoism) have been symbolised as the four Manus and given human names. The first group forms the base of the macrocosm. The second group forms the base of the microcosm (individuals). These two groups constitute this vast universe of sentient life.Madbhava with their being in Me? of My nature.

— vedicscriptures · exposition · source ↗

The Lord is giving a genealogical synopsis of the universal population. Brahmā is the original creature born out of the energy of the Supreme Lord, who is known as Hiraṇyagarbha. And from Brahmā all the seven great sages, and before them four other great sages, named Sanaka, Sananda, Sanātana and Sanat-kumāra, and the fourteen Manus, are manifested. All these twenty-five great sages are known as the patriarchs of the living entities all over the universe. There are innumerable universes and innumerable planets within each universe, and each planet is full of population of different varieties. All of them are born of these twenty-five patriarchs. Brahmā underwent penance for one thousand years of the demigods before he realized by the grace of Kṛṣṇa how to create. Then from Brahmā came Sanaka, Sananda, Sanātana and Sanat-kumāra, then Rudra, and then the seven sages, and in this way all the brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas are born out of the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Brahmā is known as Pitāmaha, the grandfather, and Kṛṣṇa is known as Prapitāmaha, the father of the grandfather. That is stated in the Eleventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā (11.39) .

— vedicscriptures · exposition · source ↗