At the end of the 5th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, Sukadeva Goswami describes the hellish planets to Maharaja Pariksit. Being a compassionate Vaishnava, Pariksit immediately asks how people can save themselves from all this suffering, which leads Sukadeva Goswami to speak about the glories of the holy names, using the story of Ajamila as an example.
Ajamila was originally a Brahmana from a good family, who fell down into a life of sins and crime after seeing a prostitute having an affair with a drunk man on the street. He eventually went to live with the same prostitute he saw and engaged in various criminal acts to get money to keep her satisfied. It’s mentioned that Ajamila spent most of his life with this prostitute, begetting 10 children.
It happened that the youngest child was named Narayana, which gave him the opportunity to chant the holy names as he was repeatedly calling for his son. Although he was still engaged in all kinds of sinful acts, even at an advanced age, his chanting of the name Narayana was effective, because he was just innocently chanting to call his son, without any understanding of the power of the holy names and without chanting with the idea of counteracting his sins. This accidental chanting fits thus in the category of namabhasa, which is sufficient to destroy all kinds of sinful reactions.
How can the holy name be so powerful? Srila Prabhupada explains in this way:
“Someone may say, ‘It may be accepted that by chanting the holy name of the Lord one becomes freed from all the reactions of sinful life. However, if a person commits sinful acts in full consciousness, not only once but many, many times, he is unable to free himself from the reactions of such sins even after atoning for them for twelve years or more. How is it possible, then, that simply by once chanting the holy name of the Lord one immediately becomes freed from the reactions of such sins?’ ”
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura replies by quoting verses 9 and 10 of this: “ ‘The chanting of the holy name of Lord Viṣṇu is the best process of atonement for one who steals gold or other valuables, for a drunkard, for one who betrays a friend or relative, for one who kills a brāhmaṇa, or for a person who indulges in sex with the wife of his guru or another superior. It is also the best method of atonement for a person who murders his father, the king, or women, for one who slaughters cows, and for all other sinful men. Simply by chanting the holy name of Lord Viṣṇu, such sinful persons attract the attention of the Supreme Lord, who then considers, ”Because this man has chanted My holy name, My duty is to give him protection.’ ”
“One may atone for sinful life and vanquish all sinful reactions by chanting the holy name, and this is beyond ordinary atonement. Ordinary atonement may temporarily protect a sinful person, but it does not completely cleanse his heart of the deep-rooted desire to commit sinful acts. Therefore atonement is not as powerful as the chanting of the holy name of the Lord. In the śāstras it is said that if a person only once chants the holy name and completely surrenders unto the lotus feet of the Lord, the Lord immediately considers him His ward and is always inclined to give him protection. This is confirmed by Śrīdhara Svāmī.”
However, because Ajamila was simultaneously chanting the holy names and engaging in sinful activities, his chanting was like the bath of an elephant. Just like an elephant throws mud over his body immediately after bathing in water, Ajamila was again polluting himself with sins after repeatedly chanting the holy names.
However, at the time of death, when the Yamadutas finally came to take him to hell, he chanted for a last time with special sincerity, in full concentration, and in a helpless condition. At this point, there was no question of committing further sinful activities, and thus he became completely free from all the results of his past sins.
The Yamadutas could not understand this transformation and continued arresting him, which led the Vishnudutas to immediately come to the scene and question why they were taking an innocent man. The Yamadutas tried to make the point that he was a sinful man and should therefore go to hell, but the Vishnudutas won the discussion, proving that at that point Ajamila had in fact become completely pure due to his chanting of the name of Narayana.
The Vishnudutas however did not take Ajamila to the spiritual world, since his namabhasa was not sufficient to give him love of Godhead. Instead, Ajamila returned to his body and had the opportunity to live for 10 years more. It happened that he was originally supposed to live for 98 years, but he was dying 10 years early, at the age of 88, because of the weight of his sinful activities. Because the chanting cleared all his previous karma, his original life expectancy was restored, and he had still 10 years to live.
He used the opportunity to leave the prostitute and go to practice devotional service at a temple of Lord Vishnu in Hardwar, where he spent the final years of his life. Remembering his previous practice, he was able to quickly advance and in the end, he was brought back to Godhead by the same Vishnudutas who saved him earlier.
Srila Prabhupada describes these events in detail in his book “A Second Chance”. In chapter 15, he makes a series of important points about the most central part of our spiritual practice, which is the chanting of the holy names:
“There are three stages of chanting the holy name: chanting with offense, chanting as a liberated person, and chanting with full love of God. These progressive stages of chanting are like the ripening of a mango. An unripe mango tastes sour, but when the fruit is fully ripened, it tastes very sweet. Initially we may be reluctant to chant, but when we become liberated the chanting is so sweet that we cannot give it up. In this regard, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has composed a beautiful verse describing the sweetness of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa:
“I do not know how much nectar the two syllables Kṛṣ-ṇa have produced. When we chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, it appears to dance within the mouth, and we then desire many, many mouths. When the name of Kṛṣṇa enters the holes of the ears, we desire many millions of ears. And when the holy name dances in the courtyard of the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and therefore all the senses become inert.”
These are the symptoms of one who is on the liberated platform of chanting. At that stage, called prema, one has a great relish for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. But this stage is attainable only if one follows the regulative principles. We have to be cautious. After being cured of a diseased condition, we first enter the convalescent stage. If we do something wrong, the disease may return. It is not that we become liberated and can do anything and everything. At all times we have to stick by the regulative principles of devotional life.”
Later he continues:
“Thus when Ajāmila was in great danger of being carried off by the order-carriers of Yamarāja, the Lord immediately sent His personal order-carriers to protect him, and because Ajāmila was freed from all sinful reactions, the Viṣṇudūtas spoke on his behalf.
“Ajāmila had named his son Nārāyaṇa, and because he loved the boy very much, he would call him again and again. Although he was calling for his son, the name itself was powerful, because the name Nārāyaṇa is not different from Lord Nārāyaṇa. When Ajāmila named his son Nārāyaṇa, all the reactions of his sinful life were neutralized, and as he continued calling his son and thus chanting the holy name of Nārāyaṇa thousands of times, he was actually unconsciously advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
“One may argue, ‘Since Ajāmila was constantly chanting the name of Nārāyaṇa, how was it possible for him to be associating with a prostitute and thinking of wine?’ By his sinful actions he was bringing suffering upon himself again and again, and therefore one may say that only his chanting of the holy name of Nārāyaṇa at the time of death – and not his chanting during his lifetime – was the cause of his being freed. However, his chanting during his life would then have been a nāma-aparādha. Nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ: one who continues to act sinfully and tries to neutralize his sins by chanting the holy name of the Lord is a nāma-aparādhī, an offender to the holy name.
“In response it may be said that Ajāmila’s chanting throughout his life was inoffensive because he did not chant the name of Nārāyaṇa with the purpose of counteracting his sins. He was in so much illusion that he did not realize he was addicted to sinful actions, nor did he know that his chanting of the holy name Nārāyaṇa was neutralizing them. Thus during his life he did not commit a nāma-aparādha, and his repeated chanting of the holy name of Nārāyaṇa while calling his son may be called pure chanting.
“Because of this pure chanting, Ajāmila unconsciously accumulated the results of bhakti, devotional service. Indeed, even his first utterance of the holy name was sufficient to nullify all the sinful reactions of his life. To cite a logical example, a fig tree does not immediately yield fruits, but in time the fruits are available. Similarly, Ajāmila’s devotional service grew little by little, and therefore although he committed very sinful acts, the reactions did not affect him. In the śāstras it is said that if one chants the holy name of the Lord even once, the reactions of past, present, or future sinful life do not affect him. To give another example, if one extracts the poison fangs of a serpent, this saves the serpent’s future victims from poisonous effects, even if the serpent bites repeatedly. Similarly, if a devotee chants the holy name even once inoffensively, this protects him eternally. He need only wait for the results of the chanting to mature in due course of time.”