Ajamila repented his negligence in performing his duty to his wife, father, and mother. It is the duty of grown-up children to render service to their aged parents. This practice should be reintroduced into present society. Otherwise, what is the use of family life? Proper family life means that the husband should be protective, the wife chaste, and the children grateful to their father and mother. Children should think, My father and mother gave me so much service. When I was unable to walk, they carried me. When I was unable to eat, they fed me. They gave me an education. They gave me life. A bona fide son thinks of ways to render service to his father and mother. And just as a woman is expected to be faithful to her husband, so the husband should be grateful for her service and protect her. Because of his association with a prostitute, however, Ajamila had abandoned all his duties. Regretting this, he now considered himself quite fallen.

According to the Vedic social system, as soon as one takes birth he becomes indebted to so many persons. We are indebted to the rsis, or great sages, because we derive knowledge from their transcendental writings, such as the Srimad-Bhagavatam, compiled by Srila Vyasadeva. The authors of the scripture know past, present, and future, and we are urged to take advantage of such invaluable knowledge. Thus we are indebted to the sages.

We are also indebted to the demigods, for they manage the affairs of the universe, supplying it with every essentialsunshine from the sun-god, Surya; moonshine from the moon-god, Candra; air from Vayu; and so on. Each element is controlled by a particular demigod.

We are also indebted to ordinary living entities from whom we take service. For example, we take milk from the cow. According to Vedic understanding, the cow is considered one of our mothers because we drink her milk, just as at birth we drink our mothers milk. The Srimad-Bhagavatam lists seven mothers: our own mother, the wife of our teacher or spiritual master, the wife of a brahmana, the wife of the king, the nurse, the cow, and the earth. We are indebted to all seven of these mothers, and also to our father, brothers, friends, relatives, and forefathers.

Also, if someone accepts charity, he becomes indebted, and that debt has to be repaid, just as borrowed money must be repaid. Therefore devotees should not accept charity from anyone unless they intend to spend it in Krsnas service. For a devotee to accept donations just to satisfy his belly is a great sin. Brahmanas and sannyasis who accept charity from others must accept it with great caution. According to the Vedic social structure, only the brahmacari, sannyasi, and brahmana are allowed to collect money in charity. An ordinary householder must not. The brahmacari may collect alms from the public for serving his spiritual master, and a sannyasi may collect money for serving God, Krsna. The Vedas likewise direct people to give charity to the brahmanas because they know how to spend it for Krsna. Charity given to a worthy person is in the mode of goodness, charity given for ones own personal benefit is touched with the mode of passion, and charity given without any consideration is sunk in the mode of ignorance. For instance, if we give money to a rascal, he will likely take it to the nearest liquor shop. Those who are rich may think it does not matterthey can afford not to discriminatebut the scriptures describe these three kinds of charity.

We may well ask, How can one hope to liquidate all his debts? The answer is: only by taking shelter of the lotus feet of Krsna, or Mukunda. The name Mukunda indicates one who liberates us from material contamination. We are indebted to the demigods, but we cannot take shelter of them. If we actually want shelter, we should take shelter of Krsna, because He alone can free us from all debts. Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and if He excuses us, then all other departmental managers, such as the demigods, must also excuse us.

Ajamila understood his position as a debtor, but since he had now taken shelter at the lotus feet of Mukunda, all his debts were cleared. Simply by taking shelter of Lord Narayana, who is nondifferent from Mukunda, Ajamila became free. Similarly, if we want to be free from all sinful reactions, we have no alternative but to surrender to Krsna. As Krsna recommends, mam ekam saranam vraja: Simply surrender unto Me. We should follow Krsnas advice. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to liquidate all our debts to so many persons, especially in this Age of Kali.