Ajāmila

Ajāmila was a brāhmaṇa (a priest-class person) born in Kānyakubja. He began life as a model of dharma. Later he fell into adharma because of his attachment to a dāsī (a serving woman) and lived that way for eighty-eight years. He had ten sons.

At the moment of his death he called out the name of his youngest son, “Nārāyaṇa”. Because of this, the Vishṇudūtas (the messengers of Bhagavān Vishṇu) stopped the Yamadūtas (the messengers of Yama) from taking him to Yama’s realm. After hearing the Vishṇudūtas speak about the power of Bhagavān Vishṇu’s Nāma (name), he repented deeply. He went to Haridvāra, practised yoga, and reached Vaikuṇṭha in a golden vimāna (a flying chariot). His account is the main teaching on the greatness of the Nāma in the sixth Skanda of the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa.

Early life and character

Ajāmila was born a brāhmaṇa in Kānyakubja. In his early years he lived by dharma. He knew the mantras. He was truthful, pure within and without, and gentle by nature. He was master of his senses and free from pride. He served his elders, the sacred fire, guests and all living beings. He spoke little and never exposed the faults of others. He carried out his father’s commands with care. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 6th Skanda, Chapter 1)

The fall

One day Ajāmila was returning from the forest with fruits, flowers, kuśa grass and samidhas (sticks for the sacred fire), as his father had told him. On the road he saw a śūdra viṭa (a dissolute man) playing shamelessly with a dāsī. Both were drunk and without restraint. The sight woke kāma (desire) in Ajāmila’s heart. He tried to control himself through viveka (discrimination), but the waves of his mind were too strong, and his discrimination was swept away.

He became wholly absorbed in that dāsī. He spent his father’s entire wealth to win her affection. He left his own lawfully wedded brāhmaṇī wife and took the dāsī as his companion. His śīla (good conduct) was destroyed. He supported the dāsī’s household by means that all condemned: taking wealth from the rich by force, gambling, deceit and theft. For a whole lifetime he lived without inner or outer śauca (purity), and he caused suffering to other beings. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 6th Skanda, Chapter 1)

The name Nārāyaṇa and the moment of death

Eighty-eight years passed in this way. Ajāmila had ten sons from the dāsī. His heart was most attached to the youngest, whom he had named Nārāyaṇa. When old age came, he was fully absorbed in watching, feeding and playing with this child, and he did not notice death approaching.

At the moment of dying, Ajāmila saw three terrifying forms coming toward him with ropes in their hands. They were the Yamadūtas, who had come to seize his sūkshma-śarīra (subtle body). In terror he called loudly to his young son, who was playing nearby: “Nārāyaṇa! Nārāyaṇa!” The child was too busy playing to answer. But the Vishṇudūtas heard the name of their Prabhu Nārāyaṇa. They came at once and held back the Yamadūtas. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 6th Skanda, Chapter 1)

The debate between the Yamadūtas and the Vishṇudūtas

The Yamadūtas challenged the Vishṇudūtas. They asked by what right the Vishṇudūtas blocked the command of Yama. The Vishṇudūtas replied that this man, though full of pāpa (sin), had spoken the four-syllable Nāma of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa. They said that even an unintended utterance of the name of Bhagavān Hari is enough as prāyaścitta (atonement) for crores of births of pāpa. They declared:

• Saying the name of Bhagavān Vishṇu while stumbling, laughing, singing, mocking or in pain destroys all pāpa.
• Deliberate tapas (austerity), dāna (giving) and vrata (vow) may wash away the acts of pāpa, but they do not purify the antaḥkaraṇa (the inner mind). The nāma of Bhagavān Hari alone purifies the antaḥkaraṇa itself.
• A medicine works even if a person takes it without knowing. In the same way the nāma of Bhagavān Hari works by its own power, whatever the person intends.

The Yamadūtas were overcome by this teaching. They let Ajāmila go and returned to report to Yama. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 6th Skanda, Chapters 1–2)

Repentance and change

Ajāmila was free from the grip of the Yamadūtas and was back in his body. He thought deeply about his life. With intense prāyaścitta he faced the weight of what he had done. He had abandoned his faithful (pativratā) brāhmaṇī wife. He had neglected his old parents. He had harmed the dāsī’s household. He had lived a lifetime of adharma.

He decided to practise prāṇāyāma (breath control), pratyāhāra (drawing the senses back) and dhāraṇā (fixing the mind). He also decided to purify his antaḥkaraṇa through the kīrtana (singing of the names and glories) of Bhagavān Vishṇu. He saw that the māyā of Bhagavān Vishṇu had caught him through the form of a woman and made him dance like a monkey. He resolved to free himself from it. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 6th Skanda, Chapter 2)

Sādhana at Haridvāra and Vaikuṇṭha

Ajāmila then went to Haridvāra and sat in a holy devasthāna (a place of the devas). There he followed the full path of yoga. He practised pratyāhāra, fixed his mind on the Ātman (the Self) in dhāraṇā, and slowly dissolved his mind into Brahman. While he was thus established in Ātma-nishṭhā (steadiness in the Self), the four Vishṇudūtas appeared before him. They were the same ones who had rescued him. He knew them and bowed to them.

When he had their darśana (sight), Ajāmila left his body on the bank of the Gaṅgā at Haridvāra. At once he took a form like that of the Vishṇudūtas. He boarded a golden vimāna and rose through the sky to Vaikuṇṭha, the home of Lakshmīpati (the husband of Lakshmī, Bhagavān Vishṇu). (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 6th Skanda, Chapter 2)

What the account teaches

Śrī Śuka Maharshi tells the account of Ajāmila as the clearest proof that the Nāma of Bhagavān Vishṇu is greater than every other kind of prāyaścitta. Parīkshit had asked how a person weighed down by pāpa, who cannot control the mind, can be freed. The Ajāmila Upākhyāna (the account of Ajāmila) answers that Hari-nāma-kīrtana, even when it happens by accident, is the highest and surest refuge.

The same account also holds the teaching of the Dvādaśa Mahājanas (the twelve great authorities), given in the words Yama speaks to his messengers in Chapter 3. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 6th Skanda, Chapters 1–3)

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 6th Skanda, Chapters 1–3