॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Saturday, 24 December 2022 VI.01 - The story of Ajamila.
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This chapter begins with a retrospect of what has been covered so far in the first five Skandhas in the words of King Parikshit. The process of creation, the impetus for the liberation of the Jiva, the grace of the Lord in different circumstances, the great rule of Manu's progeny, and the role of Yajna, Tapas, Dharma, and most importantly the practice of Bhakti, have all been discussed.
Now Parikshit has a concern. If a person has committed misdeeds deemed to be sinful, and he is going to suffer the hellish consequences, is there any way he can avert the results? How can he atone for his sins?
Sage Shuka begins with a clear statement on this:
If, before one’s forthcoming death, whatever impious acts one has performed in this life with one's mind, words and body are not counteracted through proper atonement according to shastras, one will certainly enter the hellish planets after death and undergo terrible suffering. As an expert physician diagnoses and treats a disease according to its gravity, one should experience atonement according to the severity of one’s sins.
No doubt anyone can see the consequences of sins just as citizens learn to be righteous and dutiful by witnessing a public administration of punishment to criminals meted out by the government. But what about the natural tendencies which impel one to wrong conduct by the force of the Gunas? Therefore, this process of repeated sinning and atoning has to be useless. It is like an elephant has a fine bath in the river but comes out and splashes mud all over himself in great joy.
What causes wrong conduct? Ignorance of the eternal verities. Thus even though one may be superficially pious, one will undoubtedly be prone to act impiously. Therefore real atonement is enlightenment in perfect knowledge by which one understands the Supreme Absolute Truth.
केचित्केवलया भक्त्या वासुदेवपरायणा: । अघं धुन्वन्ति कार्त्स्न्येन नीहारमिव भास्कर: ॥
T: Devotion to Bhagavan Vasudeva is the best cleanser. It dispels sin as quickly as the sun dispels darkness completely.
The role of cultivating devotion is illustrated now by the recounting of the famous story of Ajamila.
Ajamila was a high-class Brahmin in Kanyakubja. He was brought up well but eventually adopted a despicable lifestyle of sin given to looting, dacoity, and so on. He managed to bring a prostitute home, and ignoring his chaste and beautiful young wife, spent all his time and energies on that fallen woman. He begot ten sons in that prostitute, the last one of whom was named Narayana and was Ajamila's favourite as he was a very young lad. Ajamila had a great attachment to Narayana and his childhood pranks, spending most of the time with the boy and cuddling him and playing with him.
When Ajamila was eighty-eight years old, Yama sent his messengers to bring Ajamila whose time was up, Ajamila saw extremely ugly creatures coming to him and cried out, in utter dismay, his dear son's name, "Narayana!" Upon hearing that, the messengers in the employ of Maha Vishnu Sriman Narayana rushed to the spot as was their practice, to help any devotee of Narayana who called out in distress.
Yama's messengers were snatching the soul from the core of the heart of Ajamila, the husband of the prostitute, but with resounding voices, the messengers of Lord Vishnu forbade them to do so. Naturally, Yama's messengers asked who these newcomers were, and how they had the audacity to challenge the jurisdiction of Yama. "Who are you, sirs? Are you gods from the heavenly planets, are you celestials, or are you the best of devotees? You are dressed divinely with four arms each, carrying swords, conches, clubs, lotuses, and discs (Chakras) like Lord Vishnu!"
Vishnu's messengers replied with a smile. "If you are messengers of Yama, pray, tell us what is the rationale for meting out punishments. What is right conduct and what is punishable? What is the process of punishing others? Who are the actual candidates for punishment? Are all karmis engaged in fruitive activities punishable, or only some of them?"
Yama's men answered simply.
"The Vedas state what is Dharma, and they are the tenets of Bhagavan Narayana. This is what we have been taught by our Lord Yama. It is Narayana who runs this creation through the three Gunas. People follow the Varna-Ashrama Dharma under His order. The sun, fire, sky, air, gods, moon, evening, day, night, directions, water, land and Paramatma Himself all witness the activities of the Jiva."
"The candidates for punishment are those who are confirmed by these many witnesses to have deviated from their prescribed regulative duties. Everyone engaged in fruitive activities deserves punishment according to his sinful acts. Unlike you, who dwell in Vaikuntha, those within this material world are all karmis, whether acting piously or impiously. Both kinds of action are possible for them because they are contaminated by the three modes of nature and must act accordingly. One who has accepted a material body cannot be inactive, and sinful action is inevitable for one acting under the modes of material nature. Therefore all the living entities within this material world are punishable. In proportion to the extent of one’s religious or irreligious actions in this life, one must enjoy or suffer the corresponding reactions of his Karma in the next."
"It is interesting that every Jiva's journey through happiness and sorrow is very much like the seasons that come in a predictable cycle. So also man acts in Karma and reaps its results cyclically."
"Yama is like Lord Brahma or even Bhagavan as he mentally observes the past activities of a living entity and thus understands how the living entity will act in future lives."
"Both the gross body and the transmigratory subtle body are made up of sixteen parts — the five knowledge-acquiring senses, the five working senses, the five objects of sense gratification, and the mind. This subtle body is an effect of the three modes of material nature. It is composed of insurmountably strong desires and therefore it causes the living entity to transmigrate from one body to another in human life, animal life and life as a god. When the living entity gets the body of a god, he is certainly very jubilant, when he gets a human body he is always in lamentation, and when he gets the body of an animal, he is always afraid. In all conditions, however, he is actually miserable. His miserable condition is called अनुसम्स्रति or transmigration in material life."
"In the beginning this Brahmin named Ajamila studied the Vedas. He was a reservoir of good character, good conduct and good qualities. Firmly established in executing all the Vedic injunctions, he was very mild and gentle, and he kept his mind and senses under control. Furthermore, he was always truthful, he knew how to chant the Vedic mantras, and he was also very pure. Ajamila was very respectful to Guru, Agni Devata, his guests, and elders. Indeed, he was free from false prestige. He was upright, benevolent to all living entities, and well-behaved. He would never speak nonsense or envy anyone."
"Once, Ajamila, on the order of his father, went to the forest to collect fruit, flowers and two kinds of grass, called samit and kusha. On the way home, he came upon a shudra, a very lusty, low-born man, who was shamelessly embracing and kissing a prostitute. The shudra was enjoying himself, and both the shudra and the prostitute were drunk. The prostitute’s eyes were rolling in intoxication, and her dress had become loose. Such was the condition in which Ajamila saw them."
"Ajamila's dormant lusty desires in his heart awakened, and he fell under the control of Maya. His efforts to pull himself together with his better sense failed. Soon afterwards, Ajamila brought the prostitute to his house as a servant. He began spending whatever money he had inherited from his father to satisfy the prostitute with various gifts so that she would remain pleased with him. He gave up his Brahminical way of life just to satisfy the prostitute. He even gave up the company of his very beautiful young wife, who came from a very respectable family. Eventually, Ajamila's life was steeped in sin. Now he is unclean and is addicted to forbidden activities."
"We shall take him into the presence of Lord Yama for punishment. There, according to the extent of his sinful acts, he will be punished and thus purified."
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