SB 1.15.8

The demon Mayadanava was an inhabitant of the forest Khandava, and when the Khandava forest was set on fire, he asked protection from Arjuna. Arjuna saved his life, and as a result of this the demon felt obliged. He reciprocated by building a wonderful assembly house for the Pandavas, which attracted the extraordinary attention of all state princes. They felt the supernatural power of the Pandavas, and thus without grudge all of them submitted and paid tributes to the Emperor. The demons possess wonderful and supernatural powers to create material wonders. But they are always disturbing elements of the society. The modern demons are the harmful material scientists who create some material wonders for disturbance in the society. For example, the creation of the nuclear weapons has caused 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 Krsna wanted to kill him. When he was chased both by the fire and the wheel of Lord Krsna, he took shelter of a devotee like Arjuna, who saved him from the wrath of the fire of Lord Sri Krsna. Devotees are therefore more merciful than the Lord, and in 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 to Arjuna, wanted to do him some service to show his gratefulness, but Arjuna declined to accept anything from him in exchange. Lord Sri Krsna, however, being pleased with Maya for his taking shelter of a devotee, asked him to render service unto King Yudhisthira by building a wonderful assembly house. The process is that by the grace of the devotee the mercy of the Lord is obtained, and by the mercy of the Lord a chance to serve the Lord's devotee is obtained. The club of Bhimasena was also a gift of Mayadanava.