Krishna’s Devotee Never Perishes

LORD Krishna’S INTENTION through the Bhagavad-gita was to impart to Arjuna His teachings and to send to all of us His message to surrender to Him. By giving full importance to the minute independence we inherit from Him as His parts, He opens all possible paths for us to come to Him, directly or indirectly. Ultimately He reveals the most effective method to reach Him:

“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.” (Gita 18.66)

The Lord made a few promises in the Bhagavad-gita, and He had already fulfilled such promises previously through His pastimes. He did this to establish our faith in Him and inspire us to surrender unto Him with love and devotion. These promises and pastimes testify to the Lord’s boundless love and compassion for His devotees and His unwavering commitment to them. They also instill within us a deep sense of trust in Him and devotion unto Him.

One of Lord Krishna’s promises comes in verse 9.31:

kshipram bhavati dharmatma
sasvac-chantim nigacchati
kaunteya pratijanihi
na me bhaktah pranasyati

“He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace. O son of Kunti, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes.” The words bhavati (becomes) and nigacchati (attains) prove that after engaging in irreligious or abominable activity (spoken of in the previous verse), the devotee laments, remembers Krishna again and again, and thus quickly becomes righteous. This points to the transformative power of Krishna consciousness, as even those who have engaged in sinful activities can find redemption through sincere devotion. By acknowledging one’s own faults and seeking Krishna’s mercy, one can gradually purify one’s heart and re-establish one’s connection with the Lord.

A testament to the comprehensive nature of devotion is that it can uplift even the most fallen souls and ensure that they do not fall to a lower destination after death. As evidence of the truth of the Lord’s declaration, He performed the following pastimes.

Ajamila’s Rescue

The Sixth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam relates the story of Ajamila, who was trained by his parents in his youth to be a pure brahmana and had devotion for the Lord. But when Ajamila saw a man embracing and kissing a prostitute, his lust awakened. In illusion, he fell under lust’s control, abandoned all regulative principles, and fathered ten sons by the prostitute. The youngest son was named Narayana, to whom Ajamila was deeply attached.

At the time for Ajamila’s death, the Yamadutas – the order carriers of Yamaraja, the lord of death – arrived to take the degraded Ajamila to Yamaraja’s court, where he would be judged and punished according to the level of his sinful acts. Seeing the extremely fearsome Yamadutas, terrified Ajamila loudly called for his dearest son, Narayana. Although he called “Narayana!” while thinking of his son, as soon as he pronounced the name the sound entered his ears, and his thoughts shifted to the Supreme Lord Narayana (Vishnu). The Lord then sent His messengers, the Vishnudutas, to rescue Ajamila. The Lord did this because of Ajamila’s current state of mind and whatever bhakti he had performed earlier in his life.

The Vishnudutas appeared on the scene and interrupted the Yamadutas’ action, telling them that Ajamila had already atoned for all his sins not only in this life but in millions of previous lives. This was because he had chanted the holy name of Narayana in a helpless state of mind when he saw his death near.

By the potency of chanting the holy name of Narayana in a helpless state of mind at the time of death, Ajamila was given a second chance by the Lord. He got an extension of his life to cultivate devotional service and attained the supreme perfection of going back home, back to Godhead, when he finally did leave his body.

Krishna’s rescuing of Ajamila from the Yamadutas demonstrates how Krishna can bestow extraordinary mercy on His devotees in reciprocation for their chanting even just one holy name. It proves that Krishna’s devotees never perish.

Ajamila was a sincere devotee in his youth, but because he couldn’t control his senses, he fell into sinful activities. Krishna is situated in everyone’s heart as the Supersoul, and we can assume that the Lord inspired Ajamila to name his son Narayana. In affection, Ajamila would constantly call “Narayana! Narayana!” This habit saved him from the most fearful and dangerous condition at the time of his death. By repeatedly calling out to his son Narayana, Ajamila was reviving his Krishna consciousness and performing devotional service that would lead to his attaining the spiritual world.

The Lord demonstrated through Ajamila that no spiritual activity compares in power to that of chanting the holy names. Yamaraja told the Yamadutas, “Therefore it should be understood that one is easily relieved from all sinful reactions by chanting the holy name of the Lord and chanting of His qualities and activities. This is the only process recommended for relief from sinful reactions. Even if one chants the holy name of the Lord with improper pronunciation, he will achieve relief from material bondage if he chants without offenses. Ajamila, for example, was extremely sinful, but while dying he merely chanted the holy name, and although calling his son, he achieved complete liberation because he remembered the name of Narayana. (Bhagavatam 6.3.24)

Krishna is all-merciful and all-powerful, so He can do as He pleases. Therefore, if at death even a sinful person speaks Lord Krishna’s name out of sincerity – or even without intending to invoke Krishna’s mercy – Krishna can award that person liberation. He says in Gita 8.5, “And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body remembering Me alone at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.” This verse is spoken at the beginning of a section where Krishna describes a yogi who practices remembering Him throughout life. But in an exceptional case where a sinful person calls out Krishna’s name helplessly and intensely as Ajamila did, Krishna may grant that person residence in the spiritual world. For us practicing devotees, how we react in times of danger – Do we call out to Krishna? – is an indication of our ability to pass the test of remembering Krishna at the time of death.

Gajendra’s Deliverance

The story of the elephant Gajendra is told in the Eighth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. In his previous life, Gajendra was a great king named Indradyumna, a dedicated devotee. When Indradyumna retired from his kingdom and family life, he moved to the Malaya Hills to engage in tapasya (meditation) for spiritual advancement. One day, the sage Agastya came across the king when the king was in an ecstatic trance of love of Godhead. Unaware of Agastya’s arrival, the king ignored the sage, though by his religious duty he was obliged to receive him. Angered at this breach of etiquette, Agastya cursed the king to be born as an elephant in the next life. For a pure devotee, everything becomes a blessing, however, and we can understand that putting this great king in an elephant’s body was Krishna’s arrangement. Krishna knows past, present, and future (Gita 7.26). Therefore He knew that in Indraduymna’s birth as the elephant Gajendra he would be helplessly caught in a crocodile’s jaws and this would bring him to absolute surrender unto Him.

When the crocodile attacked Gajendra, in his helpless condition Gajendra remembered prayers he had learned in his previous life and offered them to the Lord. The Lord descended as an avatar and delivered Gajendra from the crocodile’s jaws and from repeated birth and death. Throughout his life, Gajendra had thought he would enjoy heavenly comforts and beautiful relationships in the material world. But when he was struggling with the crocodile in the water, with no one to help him, he gave up all hope of being saved by himself or by any member of his entourage. Still, at that time he was truly fortunate because he fully surrendered his consciousness at the feet of the Lord, the only one who could save him.

Gajendra did not want to be saved only from his present predicament. He prayed to the Lord, “I do not wish to live anymore after I am released from the attack of the crocodile. What is the use of an elephant’s body covered externally and internally by ignorance? I simply desire eternal liberation from the covering of ignorance. That covering is not destroyed by the influence of time.” (Bhagavatam 8.3.25).

RIshi Agastya’s curse thus proved  to be a benediction. This is a very important story because it is everyone’s story. Our nature, our tendency, is to seek comfort, security, and shelter in the illusions of this world. We should be aware that in this pond of material existence, we are always in the jaws of a crocodile. Only what we’ve done for Krishna can help or save us.

King Bharata’s Three Lives to Success

King Bharata, whose story is told in the Fifth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, was the emperor of the world, and since his time, the earth has been known as Bharata-varsha. He retired as emperor and went to a place in the forest called Pulaha[rama for self-realization. He chose that spot because it had a reputation for being a place where the Lord was especially merciful to those who worshiped Him there.

By strictly practicing yoga disciplines, Bharata achieved the high level of spiritual advancement known as bhava-bhakti, where one experiences spiritual ecstasy. He fell from his elevated position, however, because of too much affection for a motherless fawn he rescued. His mistake was not in rescuing the fawn, but in reposing his sense of compassion solely upon the fawn’s body, to the exclusion of the well-being of the soul within, and in turn he forgot Krishna.

Bharata Maharaja could have just saved the deer and arranged for it to be with other deer, but he didn’t do that. He took the false-ego position of “I am the protector of the deer” and left aside Krishna. That was the mistaken conscious choice he made. Instead of thinking of Krishna at the time of death, Bharata Maharaja thought of the deer and became a deer in his next life. As Krishna says in Gita 8.6, “Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kunti, that state he will attain without fail.”

Knowing Bharata Maharaja’s sincerity, Krishna gave him the opportunity to never make that same mistake again. Although in the body of a deer, he was able to remember his previous life. After one life as a deer, he received a human body in the family of a good brahmana for revival of his previous transcendental consciousness. Having learned from his mistake, he renounced all material attachments and achieved liberation.

Bharata Maharaja’s story can teach us at least four significant points: (1) As we progress in spiritual life, compassion naturally arises. Once awakened, it should be reposed properly. (2) Transcendental endeavors, such as in yoga practice, never go in vain. By the grace of the Lord the transcendentalist gets repeated opportunities for complete perfection in Krishna consciousness. (3) Krishnacentered relationships are of great importance. (4) For the benefit of others, we should give our life to Krishna.

Clear Recipients of Krishna’s Mercy

Despite their temporary setbacks in devotional service, these three great souls were fortunate to receive the Lord’s mercy. The reason for this is that they had not offended the holy name. This allowed them to rekindle their devotion to Lord Krishna and continue their journey back to Godhead.

In these histories, the Lord showed us not only that chanting His holy name is powerful, but also that we must seek shelter at His lotus feet as we face the challenges of the material world, which pose a threat just like a crocodile’s jaws. He also showed that we must act compassionately so that others may become Krishna consciousness.

Even though we may be full of faults, we don’t have to worry. We can take solace in the fact that a sinner can become a saint. Regardless of where we are in our Krishna consciousness, we can rise. Our guru and Krishna can help us revive our relationship with Krishna and gain His association. He will never forget any soul who even once sincerely prays to Him. Not only will He not forget us, but He will be there to rescue us at the right time.

Brajanatha Dasa, PhD, and his wife, Suvarna Radha Devi Dasi, PhD, both disciples of His Holiness Radhanath Swami, live in Longmont, Colorado, with their two daughters. They are active in book distribution and in serving Sri Sri Radha-Govinda at ISKCON Denver.