Garudapurana 1.84

The glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa — [Chapter] 84
Brahmā said:
When prepared to set out for Gayā, one should perform a śrāddha according to rule,
put on the dress of a pilgrim, and also circumambulate the village.

Then, having gone to another village, eaten the remains of the śrāddha,
and performed circumambulation, he should proceed, abstaining from accepting gifts.

As soon as he sets out from his house towards the journey to Gayā,
at every step there is a step on the stairway ascending to heaven for his ancestors.

Tonsure and fasting: this is the rule at all holy places,
with the exception of Kurukṣetra, Viśālā, Virajā, and Gayā.

By day and always by night, one may perform śrāddha at Gayā;
so too śrāddha performed at Vārāṇasī and at the pilgrimage place on the river Śoṇa.

Again and again on the Mahānadī, the performer of śrāddha leads his ancestors to heaven;
and going to Uttaramānasa, he attains supreme accomplishment.

There he should perform śrāddha, and he should also perform bathing;
he obtains heavenly desires and every means to liberation.

Going to Dakṣiṇamānasa, silent, he should offer piṇḍas and the like;
at Dakṣiṇamānasa he obtains the discharge of the three debts.

Which causes delight to the perfected ones and terror to sins,
with very dreadful, uninjured supreme serpents darting their tongues,

is the holy place Kanakhala by name, famous in the three worlds,
to the north of Muṇḍapṛṣṭha, resorted to by hosts of divine sages.

Bathing there, he goes to heaven, and the śrāddha offered there is imperishable.
Having bowed down to Sūrya, he should perform this after completing the rites such as offering piṇḍas:

"Kavyavāha, Soma, Yama, and Aryaman,
the Agniṣvāttas, the Barhiṣads, the Somapās, the deities of the ancestors—

may these exalted ones, protected by you here, arrive!
And my own ancestors who were born into my family as blood relations,

to offer piṇḍas for them I have come to this Gayā."
Having offered the piṇḍa at Phalgutīrtha, he should behold the god Pitāmaha.

Then he should behold Gadādhara, and he will become free of debt to the ancestors.
Bathing at Phalgutīrtha and beholding the god Gadādhara, a man

instantly delivers himself, ten generations before him, and ten generations after.
The rule for the first day has been spoken; on the second day he should go

to Dharmāraṇya and offer piṇḍas and the like at Mataṅga's pool;
having reached Dharmāraṇya, he obtains the fruit of a Vājapeya sacrifice.

The reward of both a Rājasūya and an Aśvamedha sacrifice is obtained at Brahmatīrthaka;
śrāddha and water for piṇḍas must be offered between the well and the sacrificial post.

That rite must be performed with water from the well, given imperishably to the ancestors.
On the third day, having gone to Brahmasadas, having bathed, and having offered libations,

and having performed rites such as śrāddha and the piṇḍa between the sacrificial post and the well,
[he should honor] those established by Brahmā from the beginning of creation, situated near Gopracāra.

By merely serving them, the ancestors attain liberation.
Having circumambulated the sacrificial post, he obtains the fruit of a Vājapeya sacrifice.

Having bathed at Phalgutīrtha on the fourth day and made libations to the gods and others,
he should perform śrāddha at Gayāśīrṣa, on Rudrapada and other sacred spots.

Offering piṇḍas at Dehimukha, Vyāsa, Pañcāgni, and the three footprints,
at Sūrya, Indu, and Kārtikeya, the śrāddha performed becomes imperishable.

One should perform a śrāddha dedicated to nine deities, or dedicated to twelve deities,
on the Anvaṣṭakā days, on occasions of prosperity, at Gayā, and on the anniversary of death.

Here, a separate śrāddha is performed for the mother, but elsewhere along with her husband.
Having bathed at Daśāśvamedha and beheld the god Pitāmaha,

a man who touches Rudrapāda does not return here again.
Whatever reward one obtains by giving the earth filled with wealth three times,

he obtains that same reward by performing śrāddha at Gayāśira.
One should offer a piṇḍa the size of a śamī leaf at Gayāśira;

the ancestors attain godhood; no doubt should be entertained on this point.
The footprint was placed on Muṇḍapṛṣṭha by the wise Mahādeva.

There, through slight austerity, he attains great merit.
And on Gayāśīrṣa, in whose name soever one offers piṇḍas,

those residing in hell go to heaven, and those residing in heaven attain liberation.
On the fifth day, having bathed at Gandālola, then under the banyan tree

he should offer piṇḍas to the ancestors and deliver his entire lineage.
Having approached the root of the banyan tree, with greens or with hot water,

when one brāhmaṇa is fed, ten million are fed.
When the śrāddha is performed at the Akṣayavaṭa and having beheld Prapitāmaha,

he attains imperishable worlds and redeems a hundred lineages.
Many sons should be desired, in case even one might go to Gayā,

or might perform the Aśvamedha sacrifice, or release a dark bull.
A certain ghost, addressing a certain merchant, said:

"In my name make an offering of piṇḍas at Gayāśīrṣa!
I would be freed from the ghostly state, and I would bestow heaven on the giver."

Hearing [this], the merchant offered a funeral ball to the King of the Dead at Gayāśīrṣa / together with his younger brothers; then he offered [it] to his own ancestors.

All were liberated, and Viśāla also became a father, having offered funeral balls. / In Viśālā, a prince named Viśāla had spoken to the twice-born:

“How may sons and so on be born to me?” And the brāhmaṇas replied to Viśāla: / “By offering funeral balls at Gayā, all will come to pass for you.”

Then Viśāla offered funeral balls at Gayāśīrṣa and obtained sons. / Having seen in the sky a white, a red, and a black man, he spoke:

“Who are you?” And among them, the white one said to Viśāla: / “I, the white one, am your father, gone to the auspicious realm of Indra.

O my son, the red one is my father, a killer of a brāhmaṇa who committed great sins; / this black one is my grandfather, by whom sages were slain.

The two had reached the hell Avīci, but have become liberated, O giver of funeral balls! / Being all freed thereby, we are going to the supreme heaven.”

Viśāla too, having accomplished his aim, ruled the kingdom and went to heaven. / “Whatever ancestors in our family have lacked rites of funeral ball and libation water,

and those whose tonsure was not performed, and those who perished from the womb, / those for whom cremation and rites were not performed, and others who were burned by fire—

may they be satisfied by what is offered on the earth, and satisfied, may they attain the supreme goal! / Father, grandfather, and likewise great-grandfather;

mother, paternal grandmother, and likewise paternal great-grandmother; / likewise maternal grandfather and maternal great-grandfather;

maternal great-great-grandfather, and furthermore maternal grandmother, / maternal great-grandmother, and likewise maternal great-great-grandmother—

and for others as well, may this funeral ball remain imperishable!”

Thus ends the eighty-fourth chapter, named ‘The Glory of Gayā’, in the Conduct Section of the first part in the first section of the glorious and great Garuḍa Purāṇa.