The living entity is an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. Jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya dāsa [Cc. Madhya-līlā 20.108]. Mahāprabhu says this. The constitutional position of a jīva, a living entity, is that he is an eternal servitor of Lord Kṛṣṇa. But here in this material world, the jīva has forgotten his identity. Why has he forgotten? Yes, because the intelligence is polluted, but why is his intelligence polluted? Yes, he forgets Kṛṣṇa, but my question is that why does he forget? Why does he forget Kṛṣṇa? He is captured by māyā, enchanted by māyā, and wants to enjoy māyā. In other words, he abuses his minute independence; therefore, he becomes captured by māyā and forgets his constitutional position.

'Kṛṣṇa-nitya-dāsa' — jīva tāhā bhuli' gela
ei doṣe māyā tāra galāya bāndhila
[Cc. Madhya-līlā 22.24]

Yesterday we were chanting this from Prema Vivarta, written by Jagadānanda Paṇḍita, a great devotee of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The jīva, the living entity, committed a wrong. What is that? He misused his minute independence, ei doṣe māyā tāra galāya bāndhila. It is his fault that he is captured by māyā. What is his fault? He forgets that he is an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. 'kṛṣṇa-nitya-dāsa' — jīva tāhā bhuli' gela ei doṣe māyā tāra galāya bāndhila.

When someone commits some wrong, he should be punished. Punishment must be inflicted on him. When a living entity commits a wrong, he is punished by māyā. Māyā śakti, one of the energy potencies of Lord Kṛṣṇa, captures him and punishes him. When you break the state's constitution, the government's law, there is a police department that gets involved. The police will capture you, imprison you, and then punish you because you have committed a wrong. Similarly, the jīva, the living entity, when he disobeys God's law, is captured by māyā, who is the police force of Kṛṣṇa, and is punished by her and put into this prison house created by māyā, this material world.

Māyā-kṛta-kārāgār, this material world, is a prison house created by māyā to give punishment to these conditioned souls because they have forgotten this. They have abused their minute independence; they have tried lording it over māyā and enjoying her because they have forgotten Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So, danda pratikar bahir mukha dose danda pratikar, because you have forgotten Kṛṣṇa and committed this wrong, you should be punished, and this is the punishment. One should understand this very clearly: why have I been punished, and what is my wrong? What wrong have I committed? He must know this clearly, and then he should rectify himself. How can it be rectified? He'll say, "No, I will never do wrong henceforward. I will be very loyal to the emperor." In the Supreme emperor, Kṛṣṇa's, Rāja Rājeśvara's court and its functions, the guru is the pleader. When the guru is pleased by His mercy, we get the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. Thus, witness the end of the jīva's sufferings.