Extended Lease on Life
The servants of Yamaraja are so powerful that generally they cannot be hindered anywhere, but this time they were baffled and disappointed in their attempt to take away a man they considered sinful. Therefore they immediately returned to Yamaraja and described to him everything that had happened. They thought that it was unnatural that Ajamila, who had seemed eligible to be brought before Yamaraja, had been released by the Visnudutas.
Now Ajamila was fully Krsna conscious. By the divine association of the Visnudutas, who were highly elevated Vaisnavas, Ajamila came to his full consciousness. He had been arrested, but then he had been released, and now he was free from all fear. This is liberation. When one is situated in Krsna consciousness by the association of Vaisnavas, or devotees of the Lord, one becomes free from all fear. This position is eternal. Ajamila became fearless due to being reinstated in his constitutional position. At once he began to offer nice prayers to the Visnudutas: vancha-kalpatarubhyas ca krpa-sindhubhya eva ca: I offer my respectful obeisances unto the devotees of the Lord, who are just like desire trees and oceans of mercy. This is the life of a devotee: he is always offering prayers to other devotees. First he offers respects to his spiritual master, next to his grandspiritual master, next to his great-grandspiritual master, and then to all devotees of Lord Krsna.
Vaisnavas are also Visnudutas because they carry out the orders of Krsna. Lord Krsna is very eager for all the conditioned souls rotting in this material world to surrender to Him and be saved from material pangs in this life and punishment in hellish conditions after death. A Vaisnava therefore tries to bring conditioned souls to their senses. Those who are fortunate like Ajamila are saved by the Visnudutas, or Vaisnavas, and thus they return home, back to Godhead.
Good examples of merciful Vaisnavas are the six Gosvamis. They scrutinizingly studied all kinds of scriptures to establish the principles of Krsna consciousness. In the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (The Nectar of Devotion) Srila Rupa Gosvami quotes many verses from different scriptures in support of the principles of bhakti. Why did he and the other Gosvamis go to so much trouble and research? It is very laborious to research the Vedic literature in search of authoritative statements, and then to assimilate them in order to support the Vedic conclusions. But the six Gosvamis took up that laborious work out of compassion for humanity.
Spreading Krsna consciousness, as the six Gosvamis did, is the best welfare work for all humanity. There seem to be many other welfare activities, but their benefit is only temporary. The great welfare work of spreading Krsna consciousness, undertaken by exalted personalities such as the six Gosvamis of Vrndavana, has real value for all men because it is based upon substantial spiritual truth. The Vaisnavas are just like desire trees (kalpa-vrksa), for they can fulfill all ones spiritual desires. And thus they are also oceans of mercy (krpa-sindhu).
Ajamila heard the conversation between the Yamadutas and the Visnudutas, and simply by hearing he was completely cleansed of all material contamination. Such is the purifying effect of hearing about Krsna. Anyone who regularly hears the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the Bhagavad-gita, the Caitanya-caritamrta, the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, or any other Vaisnava literature gets the same benefit as Ajamila and becomes free of all material contamination.
Ajamila was very grateful to the Visnudutas, and he immediately offered his respects by bowing down before them. Similarly, we have to make firm our relationships with the servants of Lord Visnu. As Caitanya Mahaprabhu has said, gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasah: One should consider oneself the servant of the servant of the servant of Krsna. Without offering respects to the servant of Krsna, no one can approach Krsna.
After Ajamila had offered his respects to the Visnudutas, he prepared to say something out of gratitude. But they immediately took their leave because they preferred that he glorify the Supreme Lord instead. Since all his sinful reactions had been vanquished, Ajamila was now prepared to glorify the Lord. Indeed, one cannot glorify the Lord sincerely unless one is free from all sinful activities. This is confirmed by Krsna Himself in the Bhagavad-gita (7.28):
Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life and whose sinful actions are completely eradicated are freed from the duality of delusion, and they engage themselves in My service with determination. The Visnudutas made Ajamila aware of devotional service so that He might soon become fit to return home, back to Godhead. To increase his eagerness to glorify the Lord, they disappeared so that he would feel separation in their absence. In the mood of separation, glorification of the Lord is very intense.
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