A dying sinner calls his son's name, which is also God's, and Vishnu's messengers stop Yama's at the door.
What happens in this skandha
Ajamila, a fallen brahmana, calls out "Narayana" for his youngest son at the hour of death, and the argument between the messengers of Vishnu and of Yama becomes a teaching on the Name. Daksha's line continues; Indra loses his guru's favour; the demon Vritra, killed with a weapon made of a sage's bones, dies praying like a devotee. Chitraketu's story and Diti's vow close the book.
Episodes in this skandha
Ajamila calls his son — Skandha 6, adhyayas 1-3 — A dying man calls his youngest son, Narayana, and the name stops Yama's messengers at the bedside.
Vritra's prayer — Skandha 6, adhyayas 9-12 — The demon Indra must kill turns out to be a devotee, and prays on the battlefield more beautifully than the god who kills him.
Continue through the Bhagavatam
Panchama Skandha — Skandha 5 — A royal sage undone by love for a fawn, reborn twice to finish the lesson — and then a map of the whole cosmos.
Saptama Skandha — Skandha 7 — A boy who will not stop praying, a father who cannot kill him, and the Lord who bursts out of a pillar to keep a promise.
