Srimad Bhagavatam — Dvadasha Skandha, Shloka 4
Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi Tested by Indra and Blessed by Nara-Nārāyaṇa
आहुश्चिरायुषमृषिं मृकण्डतनयं जना: । य: कल्पान्ते ह्युर्वरितो येन ग्रस्तमिदं जगत् ॥ २ ॥ स वा अस्मत्कुलोत्पन्न: कल्पेऽस्मिन् भार्गवर्षभ: । नैवाधुनापि भूतानां सम्प्लव: कोऽपि जायते ॥ ३ ॥ एक एवार्णवे भ्राम्यन् ददर्श पुरुषं किल । वटपत्रपुटे तोकं शयानं त्वेकमद्भुतम् ॥ ४ ॥ एष न: संशयो भूयान् सूत कौतूहलं यत: । तं नश्छिन्धि महायोगिन् पुराणेष्वपि सम्मत: ॥ ५ ॥
āhuś cirāyuṣam ṛṣiṁ mṛkaṇḍu-tanayaṁ janāḥ yaḥ kalpānte hy urvarito yena grastam idaṁ jagat
权威者说：圣者马尔坎德耶牟尼（Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi），为牟利坎度（Mṛkaṇḍu）之子，寿命极其久远；在梵天一日终尽之际，宇宙尽没于毁灭洪涛之中，唯他一人存留。然而同一位马尔坎德耶——婆利古（Bhṛgu）族中最卓越的后裔——却在现今这梵天之日出生于我族，而在此日我们尚未见到任何全面的大毁灭。又众所周知：他在毁灭的大海中无助漂流时，于可怖之水里见到一位奇妙的人格——一名男婴独自卧于一片榕叶的褶中。噢，苏多（Sūta），我对这位大圣马尔坎德耶牟尼深感迷惘而又渴求明了。噢，大瑜伽行者，你被诸《往世书》（Purāṇa）一致推尊为权威；愿你为我断除疑惑。
Lord Brahmā’s day, consisting of his 12 hours, lasts 4 billion 320 million years, and his night is of the same duration. Apparently Mārkaṇḍeya lived throughout one such day and night and in the following day of Brahmā continued living as the same Mārkaṇḍeya. It seems that when annihilation occurred during Brahmā’s night, the sage wandered throughout the fearful waters of destruction and saw within those waters an extraordinary personality lying on a banyan leaf. All of these mysteries concerning Mārkaṇḍeya will be clarified by Sūta Gosvāmī at the request of the great sages.
FAQs
The “wondrous child” is the Supreme Lord (Viṣṇu/Nārāyaṇa), revealing His transcendence: even when the universe is dissolved, He remains, and all creation rests within Him.
They are puzzled by the tradition that Mārkaṇḍeya survived the end-of-kalpa devastation, even though he is said to be born in the current age—so they request Sūta, an accepted Purāṇic authority, to resolve the apparent contradiction.
It directs the mind from changing circumstances to the unchanging Lord—cultivating faith that the Supreme is the stable refuge beyond worldly “floods” of uncertainty and time.