The seven great sages and before them the four other great sages and the Manus [progenitors of mankind] are born out of My mind, and all creatures in these planets descend from them.
The Lord is giving a genealogical synopsis of the universal population. Brahmä is the original creature born out of the energy of the Supreme Lord known as Hiraëyagarbha. And from Brahmä all the seven great sages, and before them four other great sages, named Sanaka, Sananda, Sanätana, and Sanatkumära, and the fourteen Manus, are manifest. 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. Brahmä underwent penance for one thousand years of the demigods before he realized by the grace of Kåñëa how to create. Then from Brahmä, Sanaka, Sananda, Sanätana, and Sanatkumära came out, then Rudra, and
then the seven sages, and in this way all the
brähmaëas and
kñatriyas are born out of the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Brahmä is known as
pitämaha, the grandfather, and Kåñëa is known as the
prapitä-maha, the father of the grandfather. That is stated in the Eleventh Chapter of the
Bhagavad-gétä. (Bg.
11.39)