170
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 7, Ch. 8]
bhavatā khalaḥ sa upasaṁhṛtaḥ prabho karavāma te kim anuśādhi kiṅkarān
śrī-manavaḥ ūcuḥ —all the Manus offered their respectful obeisances by saying;  manavaḥ —the leaders of the universal affairs (especially in connection with giving knowledge to humanity about how to live lawfully under the protection of the Supreme Personality of Godhead);  vayam —we;  tava —of Your Lordship;  nideśa-kāriṇaḥ —the carriers of the orders;  diti-jena —by Hiraṇyakaśipu, the son of Diti;  deva —O Lord;  paribhūta —disregarded;  setavaḥ —whose laws of morality concerning the  varṇāśrama  system in human society;  bhavatā —by Your Lordship;  khalaḥ —the most envious rascal;  saḥ —he;  upasaṁhṛtaḥ —killed;  prabho —O Lord;  karavāma —shall we do;  te —Your;  kim —what;  anuśādhi —please direct;  kiṅkarān —Your eternal servants.
TRANSLATION
All the Manus offered their prayers as follows: As Your order carriers, O Lord, we, the Manus, are the law-givers for human society, but because of the temporary supremacy of this great demon, Hiraṇyakaśipu, our laws for maintaining  varṇāśrama-dharma  were destroyed. O Lord, now that You have killed this great demon, we are in our normal condition. Kindly order us, Your eternal servants, what to do now.
PURPORT
In many places in  Bhagavad-gītā , the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, refers to the  varṇāśrama-dharma  of four  varṇas  and four  āśramas . He teaches people about this  varṇāśrama-dharma  so that all of human society can live peacefully by observing the principles for the four social divisions and four spiritual divisions ( varṇa  and  āśrama ) and thus make advancement in spiritual knowledge. The Manus compiled the  Manu-saṁhitā . The word  saṁhitā  means Vedic knowledge, and  manu  indicates that this knowledge is given by Manu. The Manus are sometimes incarnations of the Supreme Lord and sometimes empowered living entities. Formerly, many long years ago, Lord Kṛṣṇa instructed the sun-god. The Manus are generally sons of the sun-god. Therefore, while speaking to Arjuna about the importance of  Bhagavad-gītā , Kṛṣṇa said,  imaṁ vivas-