150
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 5, Ch. 17]
representation of false ego known as Rudra. By my own power I create all the other demigods, the five elements and the senses. Therefore, I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than any of us and under whose control are situated all the demigods, material elements and senses, and even Lord Brahmā and I myself, like birds bound by a rope. Only by the Lord's grace can we create, maintain and annihilate the material world. Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Being.
PURPORT
A summary of creation is given in this verse. From Śaṅkarṣaṇa, Mahā-Viṣṇu expands, and from Mahā-Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu expands. Lord Brahmā, who was born of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, fathers Lord Śiva, from whom all the other demigods gradually evolve. Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and Lord Viṣṇu are incarnations of the different material qualities. Lord Viṣṇu is actually above all material qualities, but He accepts control of  sattva-guṇa  (the mode of goodness) to maintain the universe. Lord Brahmā is born from the  mahat-tattva . Brahmā creates the entire universe, Lord Viṣṇu maintains it, and Lord Śiva annihilates it. The Supreme Personality of Godhead controls all the most important demigods—especially Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva—exactly as the owner of a bird controls it by binding it with a rope. Sometimes vultures are controlled in this way.
TEXT 24
यन्निर्मितां कर्त्यपि कर्मपर्वणीं 
  मायां जनोऽयं गुणसर्गमोहितः । 
  न वेद निस्तारणयोगमञ्जसा 
  तस्मै नमस्ते विलयोदयात्मने ॥२४॥
yan-nirmitām karhy api karma-parvaṇīm 
  māyām jano 'yam guṇa-sarga-mohitaḥ 
  na veda nistāraṇa-yogam añjasā 
  tasmai namas te vilayodayātmane