Garudapurana 2.1

Having bowed to Nārāyaṇa, and to Nara, the foremost of humans,
and also to the goddess Sarasvatī, one should utter the word 'Jaya'.

Mangala.

Firmly rooted in dharma, with the Vedas as trunk, rich in Purāṇa branches,
with sacrifices as flowers and liberation as fruit: victorious is the tree that is Madhusūdana!

In Naimiṣa, the realm of the sleepless gods, the lords of sages headed by Śaunaka / said this to Sūta, who was comfortably seated during an interval between rituals:

"O Sūta, you know everything through the grace of Vyāsa; / therefore, you ought to sever the doubt of us who are doubtful.

Relying on a certain maxim, such as that of the grass-leech, / some indeed speak thus of the embodied soul's acquisition of another body.

Others, however, speak of the acquisition of another body afterwards, / following the experiencing of the torments of Yama. What is the truth regarding this?"

Sūta said: / "Well asked, fortunate ones! Listen; / doubt shall no longer arise for you who ask indeed for the sake of the world.

Therefore, by means of the dialogue between Kṛṣṇa and Garuḍa, O twice-born ones,

I shall dispel the doubt of you whose minds are cultivated.

Homage to Kṛṣṇa the sage; they who resort to him / cross easily over the ocean of saṃsāra, as if over a trivial river.

Once, a longing to see the worlds arose in Vinatā's son; / he then wandered through them, chanting the name of Hari.

Having wandered through the underworld, the earth, and heaven, without finding peace of mind, / greatly distressed by the suffering of the world, he went again to Vaikuṇṭha.

[There is] neither rajas nor tamas, nor sattva mixed with the two; / where [sattva mixed with them] does not prevail at all, sattva alone prevails;

where there is no delusion, no destruction, and no taints such as passion; / [where are those who are] dark-complexioned, radiant, lotus-eyed,

where the handsome attendants of Viṣṇu are worshipped by gods and asuras, / having yellow garments and ornaments, adorned with gem-studded gold necklaces,

four-armed, wearing earrings, diadems, and garlands, / who shine with radiant rows of aerial chariots of the noble ones,

and with rows of gleaming celestial maidens; / where Śrī joyfully worships the feet of Hari with various splendours,

[and] herself sings to Hari seated on a swing while being sung to by bees. / There he beheld the holy Hari, the consort of Śrī, the lord of the Sātvatas,

the lord of the universe, the lord of sacrifice, attended by his personal attendants / constantly led by Sunanda, Nanda, Prabala, and Arhaṇa,

his gracious face inclined towards his servants, his eyes long and red, / wearing a diadem and earrings, marked on his chest by Śrī,

clad in yellow garments, four-armed, with a pleasant, smiling face, / seated on a worthy seat, surrounded by those powers,

and by the unmanifest matter and the soul, and by the intellect and the ego, / as well as by the eleven sense faculties and by the five gross elements;

delighting in his own essential nature, that Lord Vinatā's son [beheld]; / his heart filled with bliss at the sight of him, his body-hair bristling with joy,

shedding tears from both eyes and immersed in love, he bowed down. / To his own mount who had arrived and bowed, Viṣṇu spoke: / 'What land has been traversed by you, O bird, during all this time?'

Garuḍa said: / 'By your grace, O Vaikuṇṭha, the three worlds with their moving and unmoving beings,

the whole universe of stationary and moving things, has been seen by me, / from the earthly realm up to the realm of truth, except the city of Yama, O Lord.

The earthly realm is abundant in all living beings among all the worlds; / human birth is the auspicious abode of enjoyment and liberation for all creatures.

Therefore, a realm of meritorious beings [like this] has never been, nor will ever be.

The gods indeed sing songs: 'Blessed are they in the land of Bhārata / who, having been gods, become mortals again to attain the fruit of heaven and liberation!'

Why is the deceased laid on the ground? Why are the five gems placed in the mouth? / [Why are] darbha grasses laid underneath, and the two feet positioned towards the south?

For what reason do sons and grandsons stand before him? / For what reason is a gift given, even the gift of a cow, O Keśava?

Why do relatives, friends, and enemies ask for forgiveness? / Why are sesame seeds, iron, gold, cotton, salt,

the seven grains, land, and cows given, and for what reason? / How indeed does a creature die, and where does the dead person go?

And how does he then enter the subtle transit body? / A son should carry the corpse on his shoulder, and the grandson is the giver of fire.

Why is there anointing with ghee? Whence the performance of the single oblation? / And for what reason is the earth [invoked], and whence the recitation of the word 'woman'?

And for what reason is the hymn to Yama [chanted]? One should fetch water from the northern direction / in a single garment, looking at the orb of the sun.

Barley, mustard seeds, and dūrvā grass, and neem leaves on a stone; / a man and a woman should wear their garments reversed.

Having returned home, cooked food and the like should not be eaten together with the people. / And for what reason do the sons offer the nine piṇḍas?

For what reason is milk [placed] in a courtyard, in an unbaked and baked earthen vessel, / having tied three wooden sticks in a bundle, at night at a crossroads?

A lamp is offered at night, day after day for up to a year; / for what reason is the offering of cremation water made, and for what reason together with the people?

O Lord, does the transit body [receive them], and should he offer the nine piṇḍas? / How is it to be offered to the ancestors, and how is the invocation of the vehicle?

If this is done, O Lord, why should one offer the piṇḍa? / What is given to him immediately after the offering of the piṇḍa?

And the gathering of the bones, and likewise the breaking of the water jar; / why is there bathing on the second day, and on the fourth for a twice-born maintaining sacred fires?

Should bathing to remove impurity be performed on the tenth day together with all the people? / Why should one take oil for anointing to the house of the shoulder-bearer?

And they should also apply oil for anointing at a large body of water. / The piṇḍa that is [offered] on the tenth day, one should offer with flesh.

And why is the piṇḍa [offered] on the eleventh preceded by the releasing of a bull and other rites, / [along with] a vessel, shoes, an umbrella, garments, and a ring?

On the thirteenth day, the gift of provisions should be given; for what purpose? / These sixteen śrāddhas are performed; why is the water jar [offered] for up to a year?

Three hundred and sixty [jars], with food and water, / are to be given day after day—the jar and the food—for the satisfaction of the deceased.

When the time has arrived, mortals indeed die; they are impermanent, O Lord.

Yet I see no aperture: from where did that soul depart? / Where do the gross elements go—earth, water, and mind? / Tell me, O Lord: fire, wind, and space as well?

Where do the organs of action go here, and the five organs of perception? / And these five vital airs—how do they meet their end?"

Where do the five thieves in the body, such as greed and delusion, / along with craving, desire, and egoism go, O Janārdana?

Where do merit or demerit, whatever good deeds were done, / and the various gifts go when the body has perished?

And for what purpose is the sapiṇḍana performed, even at the end of a full year? / With whom is the union of the deceased spirit, and what kind [of rite] should one cause to be performed there?

If calamity occurs through fainting or falling, / what happens to those who are burned, those who are not burned, and men who are fallen on the earth?

And what becomes in the end of other living beings— / of sinners who behave badly, and others who have lost their reason?

The suicide, the killer of a brahmin, the thief, the betrayer of trust, / the śūdra who drinks [the milk] of a kapilā cow, or he who recites this sacred syllable,

or wears the sacred thread—what is his destination, O Mādhava? / When a brāhmaṇī woman is taken as a wife by a śūdra,

I am afraid of that sinner: tell me that, O Lord of the Universe! / Hear another matter, O Soul of the Universe, as I, out of curiosity, swiftly

beholding the worlds in this realm, entered into the expanse of the universe; / there, seeing people drowning in sorrows alone, was born

in my heart an unbearable pain, greater even than their pain. / In heaven [it arises] from the sons of Diti, on earth from death, disease, and the like,

and from separation from desired things; in Pātāla, fear is mine. / Thus there is no place free from fear, O Lord, other than your feet.

It is unreal, like a dream or an illusion, swallowed by time; / even there, in Bhārata-varṣa, partake of great sorrow

the people seen by me, overwhelmed by attachment, hatred, delusion, and the like: / some blind, squint-eyed, of faltering speech, or lame,

crippled, one-eyed, deaf, mute, leprous, and excessively hairy, / afflicted by various diseases, yet proud over a sky-flower!

Seeing the variety of their defects and even their falling into the realm of death, / I have come, with pure mind: What is death, and how is this diversity?

For whom death is according to rule, and immediately after dying, / for whom the yearly rite is performed by rule—he would not meet with an evil destination.

This was heard by me in general terms from the sages in the past; / to gain specific knowledge of it, I ask this, O Lord.

What is to be done for a dying man? What gift [is to be given], O Younger Brother of Vāsava? / What is the rule during the interval between carrying the corpse and death, and for burning it?

Does he obtain another body immediately, or with delay? / While he is being carried to Saṃyamanī, what are the funeral rites up to one year?

What is the expiation for an evil-minded man, and for one who dies during the pañcaka period and the like? / Be gracious to me; you ought to dispel my delusion entirely.

I have asked everything concerning the end: tell it indeed for the welfare of the world.

Thus ends the first chapter, named 'The Expansion of Questions', in the dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Garuḍa, in the Pretakhaṇḍa (Dharmakāṇḍa), the second part of the Latter Section of the glorious and great Garuḍapurāṇa.