Ajamila’s History

Chapter 1

To demonstrate the power of bhakti, Sukadeva Goswami narrated the history of Ajamila.

While growing up, Ajamila was trained as a perfect brahmana, spotless in character and learned in scriptural wisdom. Once, however, while alone in the forest, he chanced upon a lusty sudra embracing a prostitute. The amorous scene captured his mind, and Ajamila was drawn to that prostitute, whom he later married, shamelessly abandoning his elderly parents and chaste wife in the process. He lost all sense of religiosity (dharma) and knowledge (jnana), abandoned all good qualities, and engaged himself in various sinful acts for the upkeep of his sensual gratification and pleasure.

Of his ten sons, Ajamila was particularly attached to the youngest, whose name was Narayana. As death approached, the fallen brahmana saw three dreadful Yamadutas (messengers of Yamaraja, the god of death) appear before him, eager to escort him away. In a fit of desperation, he spontaneously called out for his son, Narayana, which caused four messengers of Lord Vishnu (Vishnudutas) to unexpectedly appear. The agents of Yamaraja justified their decision to punish the sinful Ajamila, explaining how the conditioned soul is bound by his own works, just as a silkworm is entrapped in a cocoon made of its own saliva. They saw no reason to release Ajamila, who had committed a series of unspeakable sins.