The Fall
Ajamila was a young Brahmin of excellent character — learned, dutiful, devoted. One day, while returning from the forest with offerings for his parents, he saw a low-caste woman dancing with a man, both intoxicated. He was captivated.
He abandoned his wife, his parents, his duties. He spent the next eighty years with this woman, fathering ten children. He maintained himself and his family through gambling, theft, and deception. He had forgotten everything he once was.
The Death Messengers
As Ajamila lay dying at the age of eighty-eight, he saw three terrifying messengers of Yama approaching to seize him and take him to judgment.
He cried out in terror — calling for his youngest son, who was playing nearby: "Narayana! Narayana! Come to me!"
This was the name of his son. It was also one of the names of Vishnu.
The Vishnu-dutas Arrive
Immediately, four radiant beings — the attendants of Vishnu — appeared and stopped Yama's messengers.
"Why are you seizing this man?" they demanded. "He called out the name of Narayana at the moment of death. That name, even if spoken without understanding or devotion, is purifying. It cancels out all karma."
A cosmic debate followed. The messengers of Yama argued that Ajamila had lived a life of sin and had called the name merely to summon his son, not in devotion.
The Vishnu-dutas replied: "The name of the Lord is the name of the Lord, regardless of the intention with which it is spoken. Fire burns whether you touch it knowingly or by accident."
Ajamila was freed.
The Transformation
Ajamila lived on. The experience of nearly dying and being saved transformed him. He abandoned his old life, went to Hardwar, meditated on Vishnu, and at his actual death — with full consciousness and deep devotion — was liberated.