36
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 6, Ch. 1]
PURPORT
The fault of illicit connection with women is that it makes one lose all brahminical qualities. In India there is still a class of servants, called  śūdras , whose maidservant wives are called  śūdrāṇīs . Sometimes people who are very lusty establish relationships with such maidservants and sweeping women, since in the higher statuses of society they cannot indulge in the habit of woman hunting, which is strictly prohibited by social convention. Ajāmila, a qualified  brāhmaṇa  youth, lost all his brahminical qualities because of his association with a prostitute, but he was ultimately saved because he had begun the process of  bhakti-yoga . Therefore in the previous verse, Śukadeva Gosvāmī spoke of the person who has only once surrendered himself at the lotus feet of the Lord ( manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ ) or has just begun the  bhakti-yoga  process.  Bhakti-yoga  begins with  śravaṇam kīrtanam viṣṇoḥ , hearing and chanting of Lord Viṣṇu's names, as in the  mahā-mantra —Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Chanting is the beginning of  bhakti-yoga . Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu declares:
harer nāma harer nāma 
  harer nāmaiva kevalam 
  kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva 
  nāsty eva gatir anyathā
“In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is chanting the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way.” The process of chanting the holy name of the Lord is always superbly effective, but it is especially effective in this age of Kali. Its practical effectiveness will now be explained by Śukadeva Gosvāmī through the history of Ajāmila, who was freed from the hands of the Yamadūtas simply because of chanting the holy name of Nārāyaṇa. Parikṣit Mahārāja's original question was how to be freed from falling down into hell or into the hands of the Yamadūtas. In reply, Śukadeva Gosvāmī is citing this old historical example to convince Parikṣit Mahārāja of the potency of  bhakti-yoga , which begins simply