Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 6.2.7

ayam hi krita-nirveso

janma-koty-amhasam api

yad vyajahara vivaso

nama svasty-ayanam hareh

SYNONYMS

ayam -- this person (Ajamila); hi -- indeed; krita-nirvesah -- has undergone all kinds of atonement; janma -- of births; koti -- of millions; amhasam -- for the sinful activities; api -- even; yat -- because; vyajahara -- he has chanted; vivasah -- in a helpless condition; nama -- the holy name; svasti-ayanam -- the means of liberation; hareh -- of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

TRANSLATION

Ajamila has already atoned for all his sinful actions. Indeed, he has atoned not only for sins performed in one life but for those performed in millions of lives, for in a helpless condition he chanted the holy name of Narayana. Even though he did not chant purely, he chanted without offense, and therefore he is now pure and eligible for liberation.

PURPORT

The Yamadutas had considered only the external situation of Ajamila. Since he was extremely sinful throughout his life, they thought he should be taken to Yamaraja and did not know that he had become free from the reactions of all his sins. The Vishnudutas therefore instructed that because he had chanted the four syllables of the name Narayana at the time of his death, he was freed from all sinful reactions. In this regard Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura quotes the following verses from the smriti-sastra:

namno hi yavati saktih

papa-nirharane hareh

tavat kartum na saknoti

patakam pataki narah

"Simply by chanting one holy name of Hari, a sinful man can counteract the reactions to more sins than he is able to commit." (Brihad-vishnu Purana)

avasenapi yan-namni

kirtite sarva-patakaih

puman vimucyate sadyah

simha-trastair mrigair iva

"If one chants the holy name of the Lord, even in a helpless condition or without desiring to do so, all the reactions of his sinful life depart, just as when a lion roars, all the small animals flee in fear." (Garuda Purana)

sakrid uccaritam yena

harir ity akshara-dvayam

baddha-parikaras tena

mokshaya gamanam prati

"By once chanting the holy name of the Lord, which consists of the two syllables ha-ri, one guarantees his path to liberation." (Skanda Purana)

These are some of the reasons why the Vishnudutas objected to the Yamadutas' taking Ajamila to the court of Yamaraja.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness