veda-garbhaḥ saharṣibhiḥ

ādyaḥ sthira-carāṇāṁ yo

veda-garbhaḥ saharṣibhiḥ

yogeśvaraiḥ kumārādyaiḥ

siddhair yoga-pravartakaiḥ

bheda-dṛṣṭyābhimānena

niḥsaṅgenāpi karmaṇā

kartṛtvāt saguṇaṁ brahma

puruṣaṁ puruṣarṣabham

sa saṁsṛtya punaḥ kāle

kāleneśvara-mūrtinā

jāte guṇa-vyatikare

yathā-pūrvaṁ prajāyate

aiśvaryaṁ pārameṣṭhyaṁ ca

te 'pi dharma-vinirmitam

niṣevya punar āyānti

guṇa-vyatikare sati

 

Sometimes, Brahmā, creator of the moving and non-moving beings, the knower of the Vedas, along with the sages, the lords of yoga, the Kumāras and other perfected beings, and practitioners of yoga, because of seeing difference and false identity by conceptions of being a doer enters into the Supreme Lord by execution of activities with detachment, but is born again after some time by the force of the Lord in the form of time, with the disturbance of the guṇas. The sages also, endowed with powers by their pious acts, come back when the guṇas become disturbed.

 

“How can we understand that Brahmā gets liberation but he does not desire to liberate his devotees?” Brahmā’s liberation is also only an appearance. In the Gītā the Lord says mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te: those who surrender to me cross over my māyā. (BG 4.11) From this it is understood that even Brahmā does not get liberation if he does not have bhakti. What to speak of his inferiors then! That is explained these verses. Brahmā, though the cause (ādyaḥ) of living beings, though the knower of all the Vedas, along with sages like Marīci, the most perfect of yogīs, what to speak of practicing yogīs, has false identity because of seeing that he is different from the Lord. “I, Brahmā, am the creator, Viṣṇu is the maintainer, Śiva is the destroyer.” Thus thinking himself the best doer, he enters into Lord endowed with auspicious qualities (saguṇam) at the time of great destruction, and again, after some time, when mahat-tattva and other elements again appear because of disturbance of the guṇas, he is born again as Brahmā (yathā pūrvam). The sages accompanying Brahmā, enjoying powers such as aṇima by their karma, jñāna and yoga in the previous mahākalpa, come back again at the beginning of the next mahākalpa.  

 

How is it possible for the greatest of yogīs like the Kumāras and other perfected beings and gurus omniscient through yoga practice to have false conceptions of identity and to see difference? How could they be great masters of yoga but have false identity and see difference? Without false conceptions, they search out the undifferentiated Brahman, but, having the conception that Brahman takes on variety only through māyā, they see difference in the personal form of Lord who actually excludes difference, just as one sees difference between material objects. And they identify themselves as realizers of Brahman and reject the Lord with form. With this vision and identity, they think they are doers, having a right to action. Therefore they return. What has been described here are Brahmā, sages, yogīs, jñānīs and Kumāras who are devoid of bhakti in some particular universe. The Brahmās and sages of all other universes have bhakti, and thus attain liberation and prema-bhakti with dāsya and other relationships according to their degree of bhakti.

 

|| 3.32.16 ||