Manava Dharmashastra 1.80

1.80

naiṣāṃ saṅkhyā vidyata ityasaṅkhyāni | "nanu caturdaśa manvantarāṇīti saṅkhyā śrūyate jyotiḥśāstrādau" | ucyate | āvṛttyā hyasaṅkhyāni | yathā dvādaśamāsāḥ | sargasaṃhārayorapyāvṛttiranuparataiva | krīḍannivaitatkuruta iti | "sukhārthitayā krīḍā | tasya cāptakāmatvādānandaikarūpatvācca na krīḍāprayuktau sargasaṃhārau|" ata ivaśabdaḥ prayuktaḥ | atra yathā parihāraḥ sa prāgukta eva | līlayā niṣprayojanāpi loke rājādīnāṃ pravṛttirdṛśyata iti brahmavidaḥ |

Innumerable Manvantaras, as also Creation and Dissolution—all this the supreme lord calls into being again and again, as if in amusement—(80).

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Innumerable’—Whose number is not limited.

Objection—“In works on Astronomy and other subjects we find the number of Manvantaras stated as fourteen.”

Our answer is that they are ‘innumerable’ in the sense that they revert repeatedly; in the same manner as the ‘twelve months.’

Of ‘Creation’ and ‘Dissolution’ also the repitition never ceases.

‘He calls into being all this as if in amusement’:—An objection is raised—“A man takes to an amusement only when he seeks for pleasure; as for the Supreme Lord, since he has all his desires fulfilled, and since his very form consists of pure Bliss, his acts of creation and dissolution could not be due to amusement.”

It is in view of this fact that the author has added the qualifying term ‘as if.’ The real answer to the objection however is what has been stated above [in the Bhāṣya on verse 21, where it has been pointed out that creation and dissolution are primarily due to the previous acts of living beings.] The answer provided by the ‘Knowers of Brahman’ (Vedāntins) is that in ordinary life also, in the case of kings and other such persons, it is found that they often act for mere diversion, without desire for any particular thing—(80).