The description of the Yamadūtas is there, that twisted face and very ugly-looking, very fierceful, and with ropes in the hand. So naturally he was very afraid. And he was attached to his son, so naturally he wanted to call somebody to save him, so he called his affectionate son, whose name was Nārāyaṇa. This is the opportunity. Kṛṣṇa is so kind upon His devotee. This Ajāmila was in the beginning a devotee. Later on he fell down. But Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa, is so kind that He gave him the dictation that "You keep your son's name as Nārāyaṇa," so that he'll be able to call the holy name Nārāyaṇa by calling his son. He was very much attached to the youngest son, whose name was Nārāyaṇa. So, unconsciously he was chanting the holy name of Nārāyaṇa, although he never meant that he's calling real Nārāyaṇa. He's asking his son, Nārāyaṇa, "My dear son, Nārāyaṇa, please come here, take your food, sit down here, play here, Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa." This was practice. This opportunity was given to Ajāmila that, although he fell down from his standard of devotional service, but he got the opportunity of chanting "Nārāyaṇa." Ante nārāyaṇa smṛtiḥ (SB 2.1.6). And when we are afraid of something, so we chant, we call somebody who is very dear. This is very psychological.
So when he was too much afraid of this Yamadūta, unconsciously he chanted the holy name of Nārāyaṇa. So somehow or other he remembered Nārāyaṇa. Some commentator says that when he chanted "Nārāyaṇa," then all his reaction of sinful life immediately disappeared and he remembered real Nārāyaṇa. Because he, in his boyhood, was trained up as a Vaiṣṇava by his father, so some... There is big comments on this incidence. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has written of three, four pages about this. So his opinion is that as soon as he chanted the holy name of Nārāyaṇa, immediately he remembered real Nārāyaṇa. That this child Nārāyaṇa..., "I'm calling my child, how he'll be able to save me from the hands of this Yamadūta?" He remembered the "Nārāyaṇa, if He kindly helps me, then I can be saved." Immediately there was response. Immediately there is response. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajanty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that at the time of death, whatever your mental condition is, that will act.
So this mental condition naturally is there what I practice throughout my whole life. So if we practice this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa name, then there is chance of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa at the time of death. That is the examination. In Bengali there is a proverb, bhajan kara sādhana kara murte jānle hoy. That is, "How you are becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious, that you'll be tested at your time of death." That is wanted. If we practice throughout whole life "Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa," then there is good chance of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, because at the time of death everything becomes disordered. The tongue becomes disordered, the mind becomes disordered. There is a verse by Kulaśekhara. He was praying to Lord, adyaiva viśatu me mānasa-rāja-haṁsaḥ, prāṇa-prayāṇa-samaye kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ smaraṇaṁ kutas te (MM 33). He was praying to the Lord, "My Lord, Mukunda, now I am healthy, very strong. Everything is all right. My mind is in order. My health is in order. So I am praying to You, let death come immediately, so that I can soundly remember Your name. Otherwise natural death, it may be that on account of dissolution of the, I mean to say, arrangement, physiological arrangement of the body..." Just like in sleep we forget everything. In sleep we forget everything. The subtle mind, intelligence, work. I am sleeping in a nice bed, but mind and intelligence have taken me far away near the desert, and I'm seeing I'm in the desert. That is happening daily. Dream means the stock in the mind of our experience past, may be many, many years past, but the stock is there; sometimes they come. That is dreaming. Just like you'll find in a lake all of a sudden... There is discussed in psychology also, how this remembrance comes all of a sudden. So the example is given just like in a lake all of a sudden you'll find there is a bubble. So similarly, the mind is the subtle matter. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhūmir āpo analo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano (BG 7.4). This gross is this land, bhūmi—earth, straw. Water is a little more subtle. Just like in land you can stand, but in the water you cannot stand. It has become little subtle. Then fire, then air and then ether. This is the position, from gross to subtle. And then mind. Still finer than the ether is the mind. And then intelligence. And then false ego, and then the soul. These are the different position.