धृतव्रतो मृदुर्दान्तः सत्यवाङ्मन्त्रविच्छुचिः ॥५६॥
गुर्वग्न्यतिथिवृद्धानां शुश्रूषुरनहङ्कृतः ।
सर्वभूतसुहृत्साधुर्मितवागनसूयकः ॥५७॥
ayaṠhi śruta-sampannaḥ
śīla-vá¹›tta-guṇÄlayaḥ
dhá¹›ta-vrato má¹›dur dÄntaḥ
satya-vÄá¹… mantra-vic chuciḥ
gurv-agny-atithi-vá¹›ddhÄnÄá¹
śuśrūṣur anahaṅkṛtaḥ
sarva-bhÅ«ta-suhá¹›t sÄdhur
mita-vÄg anasÅ«yakaḥ
1 times this text was mentioned in purports to other texts: LSB(1)
ayam - this person (known as AjÄmila); hi - indeed; Å›ruta-sampannaḥ - well educated in Vedic knowledge; śīla - of good character; vá¹›tta - good conduct; guṇa - and good qualities; Älayaḥ - the reservoir; dhá¹›ta-vrataḥ - fixed in the execution of the Vedic injunctions; má¹›duḥ - very mild; dÄntaḥ - completely controlling the mind and senses; satya-vÄk - always truthful; mantra-vit - knowing how to chant the Vedic hymns; Å›uciḥ - always very neat and clean; guru - the spiritual master; agni - the fire-god; atithi - guests; vá¹›ddhÄnÄm - and of the old household members; Å›uÅ›rÅ«á¹£uḥ - very respectfully engaged in the service; anahaá¹…ká¹›taḥ - without pride or false prestige; sarva-bhÅ«ta-suhá¹›t - friendly to all living entities; sÄdhuḥ - well behaved (no one could find any fault in his character); mita-vÄk - talking with great care not to speak nonsense; anasÅ«yakaḥ - not envious.
In the beginning this brÄhmaṇa named AjÄmila studied all the Vedic literatures. He was a reservoir of good character, good conduct and good qualities. Firmly established in executing all the Vedic injunctions, he was very mild and gentle, and he kept his mind and senses under control. Furthermore, he was always truthful, he knew how to chant the Vedic mantras, and he was also very pure. AjÄmila was very respectful to his spiritual master, the fire-god, guests, and the elderly members of his household. Indeed, he was free from false prestige. He was upright, benevolent to all living entities, and well-behaved. He would never speak nonsense or envy anyone.
The order carriers of YamarÄja, the YamadÅ«tas, are explaining the factual position of piety and impiety and how a living entity is entangled in this material world. Describing the history of AjÄmila’s life, the YamadÅ«tas relate that in the beginning he was a learned scholar of the Vedic literature. He was well-behaved, neat and clean, and very kind to everyone. In fact, he had all good qualities. In other words, he was like a perfect brÄhmaṇa. A brÄhmaṇa is expected to be perfectly pious, to follow all the regulative principles and to have all good qualities. The symptoms of piety are explained in these verses. ÅšrÄ«la VÄ«rarÄghava Ä€cÄrya comments that dhá¹›ta-vrata means dhá¹›taá¹ vrataá¹ strÄ«-saá¹…ga-rÄhityÄtmaka-brahmacarya-rÅ«pam. In other words, AjÄmila followed the rules and regulations of celibacy as a perfect brahmacÄrÄ« and was very softhearted, truthful, clean and pure. How he fell down in spite of all these qualities and thus came to be threatened with punishment by YamarÄja will be described in the following verses.
