Garudapurana 1.49

The glorious and great Garuḍa Purāṇa — 49.
Thus ends the section on installation.
Brahmā said:
Hari, the creator of the creation and all else, is to be worshiped by Svāyambhuva and others, / and by brāhmaṇas and the rest according to their own dharma; hear that dharma, O Vyāsa!

Performing sacrifices and officiating at sacrifices, giving gifts and accepting gifts, / teaching and studying: these are the six duties of the highest of the twice-born.

Giving gifts, studying, and sacrifice are the dharma of the kṣatriya and the vaiśya; / the staff [of punishment is commended for the former, and] agriculture is commended for the vaiśya.

Service to the twice-born is the means of dharma for śūdras; / artisanship is likewise a livelihood, and also the domestic sacrifice, according to dharma.

Begging for alms, serving the guru, study of the Veda, / performing the twilight rites, and tending the sacred fire: this is the dharma of the celibate student.

All the stages of life are twofold, forming a fourfold [division]: / the celibate student is either the temporary student or the lifelong student devoted to Brahman.

One who, having studied the Vedas according to rule, enters the householder stage of life / is to be known as the temporary student; the lifelong student continues until death.

Tending the sacred fires, honoring guests, sacrifice, giving gifts, and worshiping gods: / this, in brief, is the dharma of the householder, O best of the twice-born!

The householder is of two kinds: the indifferent and the practicing; / he who is engaged in maintaining his family is the practicing householder.

He who, having discharged the three debts and abandoned his wife, wealth, and the rest, / wanders alone is the indifferent one, intent on liberation.

Sleeping on the ground, eating roots and fruits, study of the Veda, austerity, / and proper sharing according to rule: this is the dharma of the forest dweller.

He who practices austerities in the forest, worships the gods, offers oblations, / and is constantly devoted to study of the Veda is the forest dweller, the best of ascetics.

He who, utterly emaciated by austerity, is solely devoted to meditation / is indeed to be known as an ascetic established in the hermit stage of life.

Always devoted to the practice of yoga, aspiring to ascend, with subdued senses, / the mendicant who strives for knowledge is called the supreme mendicant.

He who delights only in the Self, is perpetually contented, a great sage / endowed with complete self-restraint, that yogin is called a mendicant.

Living on alms, sacred learning, silence, austerity, meditation in particular, / and thorough knowledge and dispassion: this is held to be the dharma of a mendicant.

Some are renouncers through knowledge, others are renouncers of the Vedas, / and some are renouncers of ritual action; thus the supreme mendicant is threefold.

The yogin is also to be known as threefold: the elemental, the warrior, / and the third is declared to belong to the final stage of life, having attained the form of yoga.

The first contemplation is in the former, but the difficult contemplation is in liberation; / and in the third, the contemplation of the Supreme Lord is declared to be the final one.

From dharma arises liberation; indeed, from wealth arises pleasure; / Vedic action is twofold: active engagement and renunciation.

Renunciation is preceded by knowledge, and active engagement is performance for the fire and the gods; / patience, self-restraint, compassion, charity, freedom from greed, continuous practice,

straightforwardness, freedom from envy, visiting pilgrimage places, / truthfulness, contentment, belief in the sacred, and restraint of the senses,

worship of the deities, worship of brāhmaṇas in particular, / non-violence, gentle speech, freedom from slander, and lack of harshness:

these are the duties of the stages of life. I speak next of the four castes: / the realm of Prajāpati is remembered as the destination for brāhmaṇas who perform their rites.

The realm of Indra is for kṣatriyas who do not flee in battle; / the realm of the Maruts is for vaiśyas who follow their own dharma.

The realm of the Gandharvas is for the śūdra castes who are engaged in service. / The realm that is remembered for the eighty-eight thousand chaste sages,

that very realm belongs to those who reside with the guru; / and the realm of the Seven Sages is indeed the realm of the forest dwellers.

For ascetics of controlled mind, renouncers who are chaste, / the bliss of Brahman is that realm from which a sage does not return.

For yogins, the immortal realm is called the ether, the supreme imperishable; / it is the divine bliss from which a liberated person does not return.

Liberation comes from knowledge of the eight limbs [of yoga]; hear it as I speak it in brief: / the restraints are five, beginning with non-violence; non-violence is not harming living beings.

Truth is speech beneficial to beings; non-stealing is not grasping what belongs to another; / celibacy is non-intercourse; non-possession is renouncing everything.

The observances are five, beginning with purity, twofold as external and internal; / cleanliness, contentment, satisfaction, austerity, and restraint of the senses,

sacred study is the recitation of mantras; surrender is worship of Hari; / posture is declared as the lotus posture and the like; breath control is the mastery of the vital breath.

With meditation on a mantra, it is "with seed"; the opposite is "without seed"; / thus it is spoken of as twofold, and also threefold: through inhalation, it is the inhale.

And retention (kumbhaka) from motionlessness, and exhalation (recaka) from expelling; it is threefold. / The mild consists of twelve measures (mātrā), the intermediate of twenty-four,

And the superior consists of thirty-six measures; and sensory withdrawal (pratyāhāra) is restraining [the senses]. / Meditation (dhyāna) is reflection on Brahman as the self; concentration (dhāraṇā) is steadiness of mind.

Abiding in the thought 'I am Brahman' is absorption (samādhi), abiding in Brahman. / 'I am the self, the supreme Brahman, truth, knowledge, infinite,

Brahman, consciousness, bliss; He is "That thou art", absolute; / I am Brahman; I am Brahman, bodiless, senseless,

Devoid of ego, mind, intellect, the cosmic intellect (mahat), and individuation (ahaṅkāra), / Having the light associated with waking, dream, deep sleep, and the rest, belonging to Him,

Eternal, pure, awakened, liberated, real, blissful, non-dual; / That person who is in the sun, that am I, undivided.' / Meditating thus, a brāhmaṇa is freed from the bonds of mundane existence.

Thus ends the forty-ninth chapter, entitled "Exposition of the Duties of Castes and Life-stages," in the Ācārakāṇḍa of the first section called Pūrvakhaṇḍa in the glorious Garuḍa Purāṇa.