Texts 12-15]
Entanglement in Fruitive Activities
1381
spiritual path and the yoga system, come back under the influence of the time factor. Although they are liberated by their nonfruitive activities and they attain the first incarnation of the puruṣa, still, at the time of creation, they come back in exactly the same forms and positions as they had previously.
PURPORT
That Brahmā becomes liberated is known to everyone, but he cannot liberate his devotees. Demigods like Brahmā and Lord Śiva cannot give liberation to any living entity. As it is confirmed in  Bhagavad-gītā , only one who surrenders unto Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, can be liberated from the clutches of  māyā . Brahmā is called here  ādyaḥ sthira-carāṇām . He is the original, first-created living entity, and after his own birth he creates the entire cosmic manifestation. He was fully instructed in the matter of creation by the Supreme Lord. Here he is called  veda-garbha , which means that he knows the complete purpose of the  Vedas . He is always accompanied by such great personalities as Marīci, Kaśyapa and the seven sages, as well as by great mystic  yogīs , the Kumāras and many other spiritually advanced living entities, but he has his own interest, separate from the Lord's.  Bheda-dṛṣṭyā  means that Brahmā sometimes thinks that he is independent of the Supreme Lord, or he thinks of himself as one of the three equally independent incarnations. Brahmā is entrusted with creation,  Viṣṇu  maintains, and Rudra, Lord Śiva, destroys. The three of them are understood to be incarnations of the Supreme Lord in charge of the three different material modes of nature, but none of them is independent of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Here the word  bheda-dṛṣṭyā  occurs because Brahmā has a slight inclination to think that he is as independent as Rudra. Sometimes Brahmā thinks that he is independent of the Supreme Lord, and the worshiper also thinks that he is independent. For this reason, after the destruction of this material world, when there is again creation by the interaction of the material modes of nature, Brahmā comes back. Although Brahmā reaches the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the first  puruṣa  incarnation, Mahā-Viṣṇu, who is full with transcendental qualities, still he cannot stay in the spiritual world.
The specific significance of his coming back may be noted. Brahmā and the great  ṛṣis  and the great master of  yoga  (Śiva) are not ordinary living entities; they are very powerful and have all the perfections of mystic  yoga . But still they have an inclination to try to become one with the Supreme, and therefore they have to come back. In the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam