question of the sages 1

"Since the beginning of creation, the Supreme Lord manifests in various forms to bless the living beings. The first incarnation, called Purusha avatara or Maha Vishnu, generates all the universes and penetrates within each one of them. The avataras of Vishnu are innumerable. For example, there are the four Kumaras who, at the beginning of creation, engaged in great austerities, Varaha the boar avatara who lifted the Earth up from the lower region of the universe, Narada Muni, who compiled the teachings on bhakti, Nara and Narayana who retired to meditate on the Himalaya, Kapila who revealed the Sankhya philosophy, Dattatreya who instructed many great personalities about transcendental knowledge, Yajna the son of Ruci and Akuti, Rishabha who demonstrated the way of renunciation, king Prithu who made the Earth prosper, Matsya the fish avatara who saved Manu from the inundation of the world, Kurma the tortoise avatara who held the Mandara hill, Dhanvantari who revealed the science of medicine, Mohini who mesmerized the asuras with her female beauty, Nrisimha who destroyed the rakshasa Hiranyakasipu, Vamana the dwarf who asked Bali as much land as he could cover with three steps, Parasurama who killed the corrupt rulers, Rama who built a bridge over the ocean and defeated the demonic Ravana, and Rama and Krishna who alleviated the burden of the world. During the present age, Buddha and Kalki will appear, with the mission of fighting against increaing degradation. All these divine personalities are in fact manifestations of one God only, and remain transcendental unlike the conditioned souls who take birth in this world under the control of material nature. These topics were elaborated by the writer avatara Vyasa, who compiled the Vedic scriptures. In turn Vyasa's son Sukadeva narrated the Srimad Bhagavata Purana to king Parikshit, who had gone to the bank of the Ganges waiting for his own death." Saunaka wanted to know in which circumstances and on which inspiration Vyasa had composed the Bhagavata, how the great emperor Parikshit had abandoned the throne while he was still young, and how he had met Sukadeva.