Srimad Bhagavatam — Shashtha Skandha, Shloka 9
Yamarāja Instructs the Yamadūtas: Supreme Authority, Mahājanas, and the Glory of the Holy Name
नीयमानं तवादेशादस्माभिर्यातनागृहान् । व्यामोचयन्पातकिनं छित्त्वा पाशान प्रसह्य ते ॥ ९ ॥
nīyamānaṁ tavādeśād asmābhir yātanā-gṛhān vyāmocayan pātakinaṁ chittvā pāśān prasahya te
By your order we were taking the most sinful Ajāmila to the hellish realms, when those beautiful persons from Siddhaloka forcibly cut the knots of the ropes with which we had bound him and set him free.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura remarks that the Yamadūtas wanted to bring the Viṣṇudūtas before Yamarāja. If Yamarāja could then have punished the Viṣṇudūtas, the Yamadūtas would have been satisfied.
FAQs
This verse shows that the Lord’s attendants can override the Yamadūtas—cutting their nooses and freeing even a sinner—indicating the superior power of devotion and the holy name over karmic punishment.
They were astonished that their authority was checked; they therefore informed Yamarāja that Viṣṇu’s messengers forcibly freed the man they were escorting to punishment, prompting Yamarāja to explain true dharma and the rule of bhakti.
Take shelter of sincere devotional practice—especially remembrance and chanting of the Lord’s names—rather than relying only on moral self-effort, because bhakti transforms one’s destiny at the deepest level.