2
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 6, Ch. 1]
karma-kāṇḍa  and  jñāna-kāṇḍa . Only the path of devotional service is auspicious for everyone. Fruitive activities and speculative knowledge cannot independently liberate anyone, but devotional service, independent of  karma  and  jñāna , is so potent that one who has fixed his mind at the lotus feet of  Kṛṣṇa  is guaranteed not to meet the Yamadūtas, the order carriers of Yamarāja, even in dreams.
To prove the strength of devotional service, Śukadeva Gosvāmī described the history of Ajāmila. Ajāmila was a resident of Kānyakubja (the modern Kanauj). He was trained by his parents to become a perfect  brāhmaṇa  by studying the  Vedas  and following the regulative principles, but because of his past, this youthful  brāhmaṇa  was somehow attracted by a prostitute, and because of her association he became most fallen and abandoned all regulative principles. Ajāmila begot in the womb of the prostitute ten sons, the last of whom was called Nārāyaṇa. At the time of Ajāmila's death, when the order carriers of Yamarāja came to take him, he loudly called the name Nārāyaṇa in fear because he was attached to his youngest son. Thus he remembered the original Nārāyaṇa, Lord Viṣṇu. Although he did not chant the holy name of Nārāyaṇa completely offenselessly, it acted nevertheless. As soon as he chanted the holy name of Nārāyaṇa, the order carriers of Lord Viṣṇu immediately appeared on the scene. A discussion ensued between the order carriers of Lord Viṣṇu and those of Yamarāja, and by hearing that discussion Ajāmila was liberated. He could then understand the bad effect of fruitive activities and could also understand how exalted is the process of devotional service.
TEXT 1
श्रीपरीक्षिदुवाच
निवृत्तिमार्गः कथित आदौ भगवता यथा ।
क्रमयोगोपलब्धेन ब्रह्मणा यदसंसृतिः ॥ १ ॥
śrī-parīkṣīd uvāca nivṛtti-mārgaḥ kathita ādau bhagavatā yathā krama-yogopalabdhena brahmaṇā yad asaṁsṛtiḥ