Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.27

Prabhupāda: ...from all sinful contamination. Therefore purposely they commit sinful activity and chant Hare Kṛṣṅa to counteract. That is also greatest offense, that "Because I am chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa..." Just like some government officer, because he is in higher post... Just like the other day I cited the high-court judge.

So "I shall take opportunity of taking bribe on the strength of my superior post in government service." According to law, that is greatest offender, the greatest criminal, according to law. If a policeman kills, his offense and his punishment is greater than an ordinary man killing. That is the law. Knowingly.

So the "Nārāyaṅa," the constant chanting of "Nārāyaṅa," on account of the name... Nowadays the fashion is that we do not keep the name of our children in God's name. Formerly, "Kṛṣṅa dāsa," "Nārāyaṅa dāsa," "Govardhana dāsa," some of... There are thousands of Viṣṅu's name. The people would keep the children's name according to that, so that indirectly, directly, they would be able to chant the holy name of the Lord. That was the process. And by doing so he will be gradually developing his Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

Bhuñjānaḥ prapiban khādan bālakaṁ sneha-yantritaḥ [SB 6.1.26].

[When Ajāmila chewed food and ate it, he called the child to chew and eat, and when he drank he called the child to drink also. Always engaged in taking care of the child and calling his name, Nārāyaṅa, Ajāmila could not understand that his own time was now exhausted and that death was upon him.]

By affection. Some way or other, we have to increase our affection for Kṛṣṅa, love of Godhead. So through the channel of the affection of one's son or children, one can increase—that is Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

sa evaṁ vartamāno 'jño mṛtyu-kāla upasthite matiṁ cakāra tanaye bāle nārāyaṅāhvaye [SB 6.1.27]

[When the time of death arrived for the foolish Ajāmila, he began thinking exclusively of his son Nārāyaṅa.]

So when he was just on the point of death, naturally he had affection for his son, so he was calling, "Nārāyaṅa, Nārāyaṅa, Nārāyaṅa, Nārāyaṅa, please come here, please come here." That is natural. I know my father, when he was dying, so I was not at home. So he lived for one day to see me. He was always inquiring, "Whether Abhay has come back, come back," like that. So by the paternal affection he showed that.

Similarly, the Ajāmila was also calling "Nārāyaṅa, Nārāyaṅa." And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajaty ante kalevaram [Bg 8.6].

[Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.]

This practice means at the time of death if one can remember Kṛṣṅa, Nārāyaṅa, then his whole life is successful. At the time of death. Because the mentality, status of the mind at the time of death, will carry him to the next life.

Just like the flavor is carried by the air, similarly, my mentality will carry me to a different type of body. If I have created my mentality like Vaiṣṅava, pure devotee, then I shall immediately transfer to Vaikuṅṭha. If I created my mind as an ordinary karmī, then I will have to stay within this material world to enjoy the type of mentality which I have created.

If I keep myself as a businessman, doing business... Naturally it is done so. One gentleman in Calcutta, he was a very big businessman, and he was dealing in shares. So at the time of death he was crying, "Kamarhati, Kamarhati shares." Kamarhati shares at that time was very popular to the people. So at the time of his death the result will be that he might have taken his birth as a rat in the Kamarhati [indistinct]. It is possible. At the time of death, whatever you think, that will carry you to a type of body.

Kṛṣṅa is very kind. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante [Bg 4.11].

[All of them—as they surrender unto Me—I reward accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.]

Anyone whoever begs from Kṛṣṅa any benefit, any type of things he requires from Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa gives him: "All right. You are thinking like rat, you become a rat. You are thinking like a tiger, you become a tiger. You are thinking like a devotee, you become a devotee. You are thinking of Me, please come to Me." That's all. Simple truth.

So by chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa we have to mold our thinking power, always thinking of Kṛṣṅa. If you always think... That is recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā: yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā. Who is the first-class yogī? "Who is always thinking of Me within himself."

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ sa me yuktatamo mataḥ [Bg 6.47]

[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]

So this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is specially meant for creating that mentality of the members of the Society. That's all. If at the end of his life he simply remembers Kṛṣṅa, that is natural. Whatever you practice whole life, that will come out at the time of your death. That is natural.

Sa evaṁ vartamāno ajñaḥ. Ajña. He does not know. Ajña, the very word is used here, ajña, foolish. He is thinking that he will be able to remain forever and enjoy the association of his family and children. Therefore it is said here, ajña. Everyone is thinking that "My..., this material atmosphere, my bank balance, my nice house, my nice family, children, they will protect me."

That is foolishness. Nobody will protect you. You have to protect yourself. Just like while you are flying in the sky, aeroplane or the birds, when there is danger no other plane will be able to save you. No other bird will be able to save you. If you have got your own strength of flying with your wings, then you can be saved.

The Bhāgavata says therefore,

dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣv ātma-asatsv api sainyeṣu teṣāṁ nidhanaṁ pramatto teṣāṁ nidhanaṁ... paśyann api na paśyati [SB 2.1.4]

[Persons devoid of ātma-tattva do not inquire into the problems of life, being too attached to the fallible soldiers like the body, children and wife. Although sufficiently experienced, they still do not see their inevitable destruction.]

Those who are mad, they think that "My this body, strong body," deha, apatya, "my children, my grown-up children," dehāpatya-kalatra, "my good wife," dehapātya-kalatrādiṣu, "and the by-products of this combination—wife, children, health, bank balance." Just like one fights in the battlefield, we are simply fighting, struggle for existence, within this material world, and our soldiers are these: my children, my wife, my relatives, my country, so on, so on.

But Bhāgavata says pramatta, "he is mad"; teṣāṁ nidhanam, "he does not know that they will be all finished." Paśyann api na paśyati: "he does not see, although he is seeing." He has seen that his father was living, but he is no more: "He is not..., no more protecting me. Then how I shall protect my son, or how my son will protect me?" And therefore it is stated pramatta, ajña. These words are used. They are factually the fact, but they do not know. Pramatta.

Evaṁ vartamāno 'jño mṛtyu-kāla upasthite [SB 6.1.27].

[When the time of death arrived for the foolish Ajāmila, he began thinking exclusively of his son Nārāyaṅa.]

When it was time for death, mṛtyu-kāla upasthite, matiṁ cakāra tanaye bāle nārāyaṅa. So the benefit was, because he was chanting the name of Nārāyaṅa in connection with his child's name, naturally at the time of his death he was thinking of the Nārāyaṅa child, the name. Viśvanātha Cakravartī has commented on this point that this Nārāyaṅa thinking of the name of the child, immediately reminded him of the service he was doing according to his father's direction. He was also, in the childhood or in his boyhood, he was engaged in the service of the Lord, Nārāyaṅa.

According to Vedic civilization, therefore, a child—he may be a king's son or a poor man's son—must go to gurukula and live for some time under the training of the spiritual master to be very thickly connected with Nārāyaṅa and Kṛṣṅa. The āśrama... Just like we have got this Kṛṣṅa conscious āśrama, there is rules and regulation that one should rise early in the morning, chant Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra, and so many duties are there. They are all in connection with Kṛṣṅa.

So if a child is trained up in that way, then he becomes automatically Kṛṣṅa conscious. And if a child becomes Kṛṣṅa conscious up to the age of twenty, twenty-five years, then naturally he becomes a devotee of Kṛṣṅa. So when he enters his family life, although he accepts wife and children, he cannot forget Kṛṣṅa. Therefore his household life also continues Kṛṣṅa conscious. Naturally, at the age of fifty he leaves the family connection and accepts the vānaprastha. And then, when he is fully trained, he accepts sannyāsa.

This is the system of varṅāśrama-dharma—four kinds of varṅas and four kinds of āśrama. It is very scientific. The whole idea of human civilization should be how to push one to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, to Viṣṅu. Because they do not know, na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṅum [SB 7.5.31].

[Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṅu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.]

The real interest is to approach Viṣṅu, to go back to home, go back to Godhead. That he does not know. He is entangled with these material affairs. Anartha. They are called anartha. They are not required.

When you get a human form of body you must know that your food and shelter is already ordained. You don't require to try for this. Even the birds and beasts, they do not try for their food and shelter. They are certain that "Somewhere we have got our shelter and there is somewhere my food."

Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13].

[The Supreme Lord is eternal and the living beings are eternal. The Supreme Lord is cognizant and the living beings are cognizant. The difference is that the Supreme Lord is supplying all the necessities of life for the many other living entities.]

Kṛṣṅa, the supreme patron, He is supplying food to everyone. He is supplying food to the elephant, who eats one time one hundred pounds, and He is supplying a grain of sugar to the ant also. So why should I bother about my fooding? That is śaraṅāgati. When a man becomes śaraṅāgata, he knows perfectly well that "Somewhere or other there is my food."

A sannyāsī... Sannyāsī means sat nyāsa, to fully surrender to Kṛṣṅa. But the sannyāsīs, they misuse in another way. Actually sannyāsa means to fully surrender. Even nowadays in India there are so many sannyāsīs, some three million sannyāsīs. They are wandering all over the country. They have no food problem, still, although India is considered to be poverty-stricken. Either sannyāsī or gṛhastha, nobody has to have problem. You have created such... Simply artificially you have created such problem.

Bhāgavata says,

tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ [SB 1.5.18]

[Persons who are actually intelligent and philosophically inclined should endeavor only for that purposeful end which is not obtainable even by wandering from the topmost planet [Brahmaloka] down to the lowest planet [Pātāla]. As far as happiness derived from sense enjoyment is concerned, it can be obtained automatically in course of time, just as in course of time we obtain miseries even though we do not desire them.]

One should try for that thing which is not obtainable either in the higher planetary system or lower planetary system. Because everywhere the food, shelter, sex life and protection is there, in every planet. But the only want is that one is not Kṛṣṅa conscious. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that "There is no scarcity in the world. The only scarcity is that people are not Kṛṣṅa conscious. That's all. Otherwise there is no scarcity." He has declared like that. They have simply artificially created such.

If you say that "Why a man is suffering for want?" Actually man is not suffering for want. He is eating. But that you cannot check. Just like a man is suffering from some disease. Why he is suffering? Nobody has given him that disease. Similarly, nobody has given him that poverty. If you try to help him, that's another... But don't think that "God has created somebody poor and somebody rich." That's not fact. God is impartial. We create our poverty; we create our disease.

Matiṁ cakāra tanaye bāle nārāyaṅāhvaye [SB 6.1.27].

[When the time of death arrived for the foolish Ajāmila, he began thinking exclusively of his son Nārāyaṅa.]

sa pāśa-hastāṁs trīn dṛṣṭvā puruṣān ati-dāruṅān vakra-tuṅḍān ūrdhva-romṅa ātmānaṁ netum āgatān [SB 6.1.28]

[Ajāmila then saw three awkward persons with deformed bodily features, fierce, twisted faces, and hair standing erect on their bodies. With ropes in their hands, they had come to take him away to the abode of Yamarāja. When he saw them he was extremely bewildered, and because of attachment to his child, who was playing a short distance away, Ajāmila began to call him loudly by his name. Thus with tears in his eyes he somehow or other chanted the holy name of Nārāyaṅa.]

When he was dying, he also saw that three ferocious persons, very fearful persons with rope in their hands, sa pāśa-hastāṁs trīn dṛṣṭvā puruṣān ati-dāruṅān, very fearful, he saw. Sometimes a dying man cries because he sees that "Somebody has come to take me to Yamarāja." He sees, and he is very fearful. So now he also became.

Vakra-tuṅḍān ūrdhva-romṅa. The description of the assistants of Yamarāja is their hairs are very curled, vakra. Vakra-tuṅḍān ūrdhva-romṅa: and the hairs on the body are standing. Ūrdhva-romṅa ātmānaṁ netum āgatān. Now at the time of Ajāmila's death, the assistants of Yamarāja has come to take him.

We shall discuss some time again. [devotees offer obeisances]

Hare Kṛṣṅa. [end]