Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 10, Verse 6
महर्षयः सप्त पूर्वे चत्वारो मनवस्तथा।
मद्भावा मानसा जाता येषां लोक इमाः प्रजाः।।
मद्भावा मानसा जाता येषां लोक इमाः प्रजाः।।
maharṣayaḥ sapta pūrve catvāro manavas tathā
mad-bhāvā mānasā jātā yeṣāṁ loka imāḥ prajāḥ
also searched as "maharshayah sapta purve chatvaro manavas tatha"
Translation
The seven great seers of yore, as well as the four Manus, all possessing My mental disposition, were born from My mind. All these creatures of the world are descended from them.
Vāṇi's rendering
The seven ancient seers and the four Manus were born of my mind — and from them, all these peoples.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| महर्षयःmaharṣayaḥ | the great seers, the ṛṣis of old |
| सप्तsapta | seven |
| पूर्वेpūrve | of ancient time, the earlier ones |
| चत्वारःcatvāraḥ | four |
| मनवःmanavaḥ | the Manus, the progenitors of humankind (sandhi: manavas before tathā) |
| तथाtathā | and likewise |
| मद्भावाःmad-bhāvāḥ | sharing my own being, of my nature |
| मानसाःmānasāḥ | of the mind, mind-born |
| जाताःjātāḥ | were born |
| येषाम्yeṣām | of whom, from whom |
| लोकेloke | in the world (sandhi: loka before imāḥ) |
| इमाःimāḥ | these |
| प्रजाःprajāḥ | peoples, offspring, living beings |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10 Verse 6 mean?
Krishna traces the human line to its head. The seven ancient ṛṣis and the four Manus were not manufactured; they arose in his mind and carry his own nature. From them come all the peoples of the world. Descent, in this verse, is a matter of thought before it is a matter of birth.
What does maharshayah sapta purve chatvaro manavas tatha mean?
Seven great seers of old, and four Manus as well. These are the first fathers — the singers of the earliest hymns and the ancestors of humankind. Krishna claims them as mānasāḥ, mind-born, sharing his being. Naming them, he is naming the top of your family tree and telling you what sits above it.
Who are the seven rishis and four Manus in the Gita?
The seven ṛṣis are the ancient seers to whom the Vedic hymns first came; the Manus are the forefathers from whom the ages of humanity descend. The Gītā does not stop to list their names. It says only where they came from — Krishna's own mind — and that everyone alive stands downstream of them.
Why does Krishna say the sages were born from his mind?
Because he wants the chain unbroken. If the first beings were made of something other than him, there would be a gap between you and the source. Mad-bhāvāḥ closes it — they share his being, and you descend from them. Nothing in your ancestry was ever separated from what Krishna is.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
View on the App Store
Commentary
Krishna is naming ancestors. Not gods kept at a ceremonial distance — the seers who first sang, the Manus from whom the human line comes down. And he says they came from mind, not from body. A thought before a womb. Trace your family back far enough and the trail does not end in some first pair of bodies; it ends in an intention. Everything crowded into the word these — the peoples, the whole noisy spread of them, you at your desk — descends from that. Your existence has a lineage, and its first link is not matter. Someone thought of you.