SB 1.15.8 (1965)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 8
Yat samnidhou aham u khandavam agnaye adam Indram cha sa amaraganam tarasa vijitya. Labdha sabha mayakrita adbhuta silpa maya Digbho aharan nripatayo valim adhware te.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Yat—whose, Samnidhou—being nearby, Aham—myself, U—note of astonishment, Khandavam—the protected forest of Indra king of heaven, Agnaye—unto the fire god, Adam—delivered, Indram—Indra the king of Heaven, Cha—also, sa—along with, Amaraganam—the demigods, Tarasa—with all dexterity, Vijitya—having conquered. Labdha—having obtained, Sabha—assembly pandel, Mayakritam—built by Maya, Adbhuta—very wonderful, Silpa—art and workmanship, Maya—potency, Digbhyo—from all directions, Aharan—collecting, Nripatayo—all princes, Valim—presentations Adhware—brought about, te—unto you.
TRANSLATION
On account of His being nearby me, it was possible for me to conquer over the powerful King of heaven Indradeva along with his demigod associates with great dexterity and thus to give facility to the Fire God in the matter of devastating the Khandava forest. And by whose Grace only the demon of the name Maya was saved from the blazing Khandava and thus we could build up the wonderful architectural workmanship of our assembly house where all the princes who assembled during the performance of Rajsuya Yajna and all of them paid you tributes.
PURPORT
Demon Mayadanava was an inhabitant of the forest Khnadava and when the Kandava forest was set in fire the said demon asked protection from Arjuna. Arjuna saved his life and as a result of this the demon felt obliged. He responded to the obligation by building a wonderful assembly house for the Pandavas which attracted the extraordinary attention of all state princes and they felt the supernatural powers of the Pandavas and thus without any grudge all of them submitted and paid tributes to the Emperor. The demons possess wonderful and supernatural powers than man to create material wonders. But they are always disturbing elements of the society. The modern demons are the harmful material scientist who create some material wonders for creating disturbances in the society. For example the creation of the nuclear weapons by the material scientists. It has created some panic in the human society. Maya was also a materialist like that and he knew the art of creating wonderful things. And yet Lord Krishna wanted to kill him. When he was chased both by the fire and the wheel of Lord Krishna intelligently he took shelter of a devotee like Arjuna and he saved him from the wrath of the fire of Lord Sri Krishna. Devotees are therefore more merciful than the Lord and in the devotional service the mercy of a devotee is more valuable than the mercy of the Lord. Both the fire and the Lord ceased from chasing the demon as soon as both of them saw that the demon was given shelter by a devotee like Arjuna. The Demon feeling obliged himself to Arjuna wanted to do him some service to show his gratefulness but Arjuna denied to accept anything from him in exchange of saving him from the wrath of fire and the Lord. Lord Sri Krishna however being pleased with Maya for his taking shelter of a devotee asked to render service unto King Yudhisthira by building a wonderful assembly house. The process is that by the Grace a of devotee the mercy of the Lord is obtained while by the mercy of the Lord chance for serving the Lord's devotee is obtained. The club of Bhimasena was also a gift of Mayadanava.