A Second Chance:
The Story of a Near-Death Experience
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Chapter 5
The Visnudutas To the Rescue
Sukadeva Gosvami continued: My dear king, the order-carriers of Visnu, the Visnudutas, immediately arrived when they heard the holy name of their master from the mouth of the dying Ajamila, who had certainly chanted without offense because he had chanted in complete anxiety. The order-carriers of Yamaraja were snatching the soul from the core of Ajamila’s heart, but with resounding voices the Visnudutas forbade them to do so. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.30–31)
The Messengers Dispatched by the Lord
The Yamadutas, who are the assistants of Yamaraja, the superintendent of death, had come to drag Ajamila away. Ajamila appealed to his youngest son, Narayana: “Narayana, please come here! I’m dying!” Krsna is so kind that as soon as He heard Ajamila chant “Narayana!” at the time of his death, He immediately dispatched His assistants, the Visnudutas, to give Ajamila shelter.
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura remarks that the Visnudutas came because they heard Ajamila chant the holy name of their master, Narayana, without considering why he was chanting. While chanting the name of Narayana, Ajamila was actually thinking of his son, but simply because they heard Ajamila chant the Lord’s name, the Visnudutas immediately came for Ajamila’s protection. Chanting of the Lord’s holy name is actually meant for His glorification. Ajamila, however, did not glorify the Lord: he simply chanted the holy name of Narayana because of his excessive attachment to his son. Nevertheless, because of his past good fortune in having rendered devotional service to Narayana in his youth, he apparently chanted the holy name in full devotional service and without offense. Thus that chanting was sufficient to cleanse him of all sinful reactions and assure him the protection of the Visnudutas.
The name Narayana has the full potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead—Narayana, or Krsna. That is the secret of nama-sankirtana, chanting the names of God. By chanting the holy name of Krsna, we make immediate contact with Krsna Himself. The reason for this is that the Lord’s name is not material: it is spiritual and absolute. Thus there is no difference between Krsna and His name.
Snatching the Soul
When the Visnudutas arrived, they spoke to the Yamadutas with extreme gravity: “What are you doing? Stop! You cannot take this man to Yamaraja!”
A Vaisnava, one who has surrendered to the lotus feet of Lord Visnu, is always protected by Lord Visnu’s order-carriers. Because Ajamila had chanted the holy name of Narayana, the Visnudutas not only immediately arrived on the spot but also at once ordered the Yamadutas not to touch him. By speaking with resounding voices, the Visnudutas threatened to punish the Yamadutas if they continued trying to snatch Ajamila’s soul from his heart. The order-carriers of Yamaraja have jurisdiction over all sinful living entities, but the messengers of Lord Visnu are capable of punishing anyone, including Yamaraja, if he wrongs a Vaisnava.
Modern scientists do not know where to find the soul within the body with their material instruments, but here the Srimad-Bhagavatam clearly explains that the soul is within the core of the heart (hrdaya); it is from the heart that the Yamadutas were trying to extract the soul of Ajamila. The heart is part of the mechanical arrangement of the body. As the Lord says in the Bhagavad-gita (18.61):
isvarah sarva-bhutanam
hrd-dese ’rjuna tisthati
bhramayan sarva-bhutani
yantrarudhani mayaya
“The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine made of the material energy.” Yantra means “machine,” such as an automobile. The driver of the machine of the body is the individual soul, who is also its director or proprietor, but the supreme director and proprietor is the Personality of Godhead in His form as the Supersoul.
One’s body is created through the agency of maya according to one’s activities in one’s past life; and according to one’s activities in this life, maya creates another body for the next life. At the appropriate time, one’s next body is immediately chosen, and both the individual soul and the Supersoul transfer to that particular bodily machine. This is the process of transmigration of the soul.
During transmigration from one body to the next, the sinful soul is taken away by the order-carriers of Yamaraja and put into a particular type of hellish life in order to become accustomed to the condition in which he will live in his next body.