The Sinner Who Called the Name

The sages told the Pandavas of Ajamila, a fallen brahmin who was saved at the very hour of death by calling, almost without meaning to, upon the name of the Lord - a tale of the boundless power of the divine name and of the grace that reaches even the worst of sinners.

Ajamila was born a brahmana, raised in piety and learning, devoted in his youth to right conduct and the service of his elders and the gods. He had every promise of a virtuous life. But one day, sent on an errand, he chanced upon a wicked man and a low woman together, and his senses were inflamed; and from that hour he abandoned his virtuous wife and his good upbringing and all his learning, and gave himself up wholly to that woman and to a life of vice. He fell utterly from the path of dharma, and the brahmin who might have been a saint became instead a sinner.