The story of Krsna's fallen devotee Brahmin Ajamil

Ajamil was a Brahmin, who lived in the city of Kanya Kubja India many, many years ago.

He had a chaste and beautiful wife. Due to his birth, parentage and social upbringing, he was a young man who maintained all the practices and observances of a righteous life.

He was virtuous and pure hearted, lived in an austere way, was learned in the Vedas and other scriptures and followed the ways of conduct written there.

But one day, while he was out in the fields collecting flowers for worshipping the Lord, he happened to see a drunken sudra and a prostitute engaged in sexual embrace.

Ajamil became bewildered and attracted; his mind becoming more and more attached to the prostitute. In Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, it is said that if one contemplates sense objects, he becomes attached to them.

Although Ajamil was a strict brahmin, he became hopelessly entangled by seeing a man and woman engaged in sexual activity.

Consequently he took this prostitute into his home as a maidservant.

Inevitably, he became so entangled that he abandoned his family, wife and children and went off with the prostitute. Due to his illicit connection with the prostitute, he lost all his good qualities.

He became a thief, a liar, and a drunkard. He completely forgot about his original training as a brahmin, and his whole life was ruined.

Engaging in sinful activities, Ajamil fell down from his position, and he begot many children through the womb of the prostitute. Even towards the end of his life, around the age of eighty, he was still begetting children.

When Ajamil’s wife was carrying this child, a few saints visited their house. They took pity on their situation and said to Ajamil’s wife, “We are very pleased with your hospitality. Now you must do us a great favor. Your tenth child will be a boy, name him Narayana.”

She agreed with a smile. They did not realize that the saints had planted a seed of holiness in their home.

Narayana grew up to be a very affectionate and kind-hearted boy. His parents loved him very much. He was their child of their old age, and was around them all the time, unlike his older siblings.

Ajamil was not strong enough anymore to go out and play with Narayana, but he enjoyed watching Narayana frolic in the yard. He also came to depend upon Narayana for getting his little chores done.

When Ajamil was 88 years of age, his health started failing him. He lay in bed most of the time. He was resting one morning, when he saw three fierce-looking Yamadutas (the horrible looking messengers of death) approaching him.

They had twisted faces and hairy bodies. They carried the feared noose to arrest the subtle material body that carries the jiva-soul in the outer gross material bodily vessel and take it to Yamaraj the Lord of death. 

Ajamil was scared, he wanted to be helped.

Narayana was playing with his toys a little far away. Ajamil called out for him,

“Narayana! Narayana! Come here!”

Thus, with tears in his eyes he somehow chanted the holy name of Narayana.

Suddenly, four agents of Lord Vishnu appeared there.

They were pleasant-looking, had eyes as beautiful as lotus petals, wore yellow silk and a crown on their heads, wore ear-rings and flower garlands.

They had four arms and carried a bow, a quiver, a sword, a mace, a conch, a chakra-disc and a lotus flower.

They came because they had heard Ajamil cry out for Narayana, which is a name of Lord Vispnu.

They asked the Yamadutas to release the ''subtle material body'' of Ajamil as it was dragged by them from his ''gross material body''.

The Yamadutas were extremely surprised.

They asked the Visnudutas why they should not take a sinner like Ajamil. The Visnudutas answered with a question,

“Why do you consider Ajamil a sinner? Do you really understand the finer points of dharma? Do you know how to decide which man is and which man is not to be taken to hell?”

A heated debate began on dharma and adharma, and the effects of acts of merit and demerit. The attendants of Yamaraj, the demigod of death argued that Ajamil’s unrighteous conduct far outweighed and negated his observances of the Vedas and other scriptures.

Also, they argued, the lords of Vishnu had no right to interfere in the first place, as Ajamil had just been calling his son.

Yet Visnu’s attendants stood firm, and proclaimed,

“Whosoever utters the Lord’s name, even by accident, calls for protection.”

Furthermore, they countered,

“As a fire consumes fuel, so the Lord’s name, whether chanted with or without knowledge of the greatness of the Name, destroys the unrighteous elements in a person. 

A powerful medicine, though taken by someone unaware of its properties, is still effective.”

The Visnudutas continued,

“The word Hari means ‘One who takes away all our blemishes and bad situations’. 

The power of the names of the Lord are such that even if one says it indirectly (like Ajamil did), or in jest, or to add it to a lyric for rhyming, or even dismissively, it will instantly pay for all sins.

This is how powerful Krsna's name is.

Even when a person subconsciously says the name of the Lord Krsna while falling down from above, or tripping on the street, beaten by someone, or bitten by a snake, or as an exclamation from worldly suffering, he does not have to suffer.

The Lord’s name is like fire, if it catches a wood, it will burn it to ashes. Similarly, chanting the name of the Lord destroys the sins of a person.”

The Yamadutas had no answer. They returned to Lord Yamaraj to complain about the Visnudutas.

When Lord Yamaraj heard the story, He got up and bowed for Lord Hari and was instantly filled with devotion and said to them,

“All my authorities come from Lord Krsna who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord and cause of ALL causes. 

Lords Brahma, Visnu and Siva are his representatives.

I have dominion over only the sinners, but I am not independent, I merely serve the Lord.

You do not know dharma in all its subtleties; therefore, you did not understand the actions of the Visnudutas. 

They were absolutely correct in releasing Ajamil. Let it be a lesson that you should NEVER bring a devotee to suffer in hell.”

Saying so, Lord Yamaraj prayed for forgiveness to Lord Krsna on behalf of himself and his agents.

Meanwhile, Ajamil had revived. 

Having heard the conversation between Yamadutas and Visnudutas about him, he started thinking. For the first time after leaving his home, he felt sorry for himself. He repented for his bad deeds and decided that he will not be involved in sinful activities again.

He left home and came to Haridwar. There he devoted himself entirely to worship of the Lord and finally left his mortal body in the river Ganga.

The Visnudutas came again and took him back home back to Godhead.

Message in this story-

The many names of Krsna all-powerful and very unique.

For those who aspire for liberation, there is nothing more powerful than the chanting of the Lord’s name. 

If this can rescue Ajamil, the Srimad Bhagavatam tells us, what to say of the results that can be obtained by chanting the name of the Krsna with faith and devotion.

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna 

Krsna Krsna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare.