Study a Verse

• Before even being introduced to a foreigner, one becomes acquainted with him through his dress, bodily features and behavior and can thus understand his position.
• They said, “By your bodily features you appear to be very exalted gentlemen, and you have such celestial power that you have dissipated the darkness of this material world with your own effulgences.
• The residents of Vaikuṇṭha, who are decorated with garlands and yellow silken garments, have four arms holding various weapons.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.

Guilt and mortal terror → Mercy and renewed devotion. The holy name opens a path beyond an apparently hopeless death.

Chapters 1–3 of Canto 6: Ajāmila and the Viṣṇudūtas. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 1: The History of the Life of Ajāmila

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

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.