Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.)
- ṛṣayo manavo devā
- manu-putrā mahaujasaḥ
- kalāḥ sarve harer eva
- saprajāpatayaḥ smṛtāḥ
- (SB 1.3.27)
Translation: "All the ṛṣis, Manus, demigods and descendants of Manu, who are especially powerful, are plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord. This also includes the Prajāpatis."
Prabhupāda: So prajāpati, the beginning there was only Lord Brahmā. The whole planetary system was to be populated. Therefore first of all Brahmā, and then the seven ṛṣis, then the Kumāras, then Rudras. In this way... Manus. Then Manu's son, his son, his son. In this way the... (aside:) What is that sound? The whole universe is populated. It is not the rascal Darwin's theory that "There was no human being. It came out of a stone, the life." The first is the most intelligent person, Lord Brahmā.
So they are called prajāpati. Prajā means generation. Pati means master, husband. So all these prajāpatis, as we learn from Bhagavad-gītā... Manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt. Vivasvān manave prāha. Vivasvān, sun-god, he spoke to his son Manu, Vaivasvata Manu. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). Kṛṣṇa said that "First of all I told to Vivasvān, the sun-god, and then he described, he handed over the knowledge to his son, Vivasvān, Vaivasvata Manu." This is the age of Vaivasvata Manu. So in one day there are fourteen Manus, in one day of Brahmā. So in one month how many?
Devotee: Two hundred twenty.
Prabhupāda: Two hundred twenty. In this way, in one year, there are so many Manus in Brahmā's... Some five thousand Manus in one year. So, so many Manus, and his sons are coming. Manu. From Manu, the word man has come. Manuṣya. The man, this word, is from Manu. We are all sons of Manu. There are two descendants of Manu. No, two descendants, kṣatriya family. One from the sun-god and one from the moon-god. Two families, kṣatriyas. Royal order. So Manu is from the sun, and the descendants, sūrya-vaṁśa, they are from Manu. Manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt. Manu, his son was Ikṣvāku. Mahārāja Ikṣvāku, king. He was the king of this planet, the original forefather of Lord Rāmacandra's dynasty. Mahārāja... Lord Rāmacandra appeared in the family of Manu. And similarly... Sūrya-vaṁśa. Similarly, Lord Kṛṣṇa also appeared in yadu-vaṁśa.
So these families, dynasties, are very, very old. Every... According to Vedic system, any family—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, those who are higher caste—they must give at least seven generations account. Otherwise he is not a respectable family. Seven generations. His father, his father, his father, his father, his father, like that. When there is marriage, then there is check corroboration. The bride's party and the bridegrooms party, they should narrate their seventh generation. If within their seventh generation it, what is called, collide, becomes the one man, then there will be no marriage, because it becomes the same family. One cannot marry in the same family. He must pick up another family. Otherwise one could marry his own sister. No. That is not possible.
So these family descendants... Still there is gotra. Gotra means in which family one is coming. Everyone must say his gotra and family title. Gotra means the guru, disciplic succession. Acyuta-gotra. We Vaiṣṇava, our gotra is acyuta-gotra, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's name is Acyuta. Because we give up our other family gotra. We accept. Actually, originally everyone is coming from Kṛṣṇa. From Kṛṣṇa the Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu. From Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. From Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Brahmā. From Brahmā, the sages, the Manus. In this way, everyone is descended from Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa confirms also in the Bhagavad-gītā,
- sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya
- mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ
- tāsāṁ brahma mahad-yonir
- ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā
- (BG 14.4)
"I am the origin, or seed-giving father." Trees, plants, aquatics, by their karma they have to accept different dress, but as spirit soul, everyone is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. That is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7).