Garudapurana 2.10

The glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa — [Chapter] 10 / Garuḍa said: / When the sapiṇḍīkaraṇa and the annual rite have been performed, according to their own actions / men may attain the state of a god, a human, or a bird.

For them who have different diets, how does a śrāddha grant satisfaction? / Even that which is eaten by other brahmins or offered into the fire—

how is that which is given eaten by a ghost composed of good and bad [karma]? / Yet the necessity of śrāddha is heard on the new-moon day and other occasions.

The Blessed Lord said: / Hear, O king of birds, how the śrāddha gives satisfaction to ghosts: / Even if he has become a god, or a human, by the power of his karma,

the food, turning into nectar, follows him even in the state of a god; / in the state of a gandharva, it takes the form of pleasure; in the state of a beast, it becomes grass.

In the state of a nāga, the śrāddha follows in the form of air; / in the state of a bird, it becomes fruit; and among the rākṣasas, flesh.

Likewise, in the state of a dānava it becomes meat; in ghosthood, blood; / in the human state, food, drink, and the like; in childhood, the taste of enjoyment.

Garuḍa said: / How do the ancestral offerings and oblations to the gods given by people here / go to the world of the ancestors, or who is said to be the conveyor here?

If a śrāddha is nourishment even for dead creatures, / [then] oil might increase the flame of an extinguished lamp!

And dead men, O Master, plunging into the destination / produced by their own karma—which [ancestors] would obtain welfare from their own son, and how?

The Blessed Lord said: / The authoritative validity of revelation is stronger than direct perception, O Tārkṣya; / and the form of nectar and the like belongs to the object taught by revelation.

The name and gotra of the ancestors indeed deliver the offerings to gods and ancestors; / likewise, the mantras of the śrāddha deliver [them] through devotion.

Do not think, O Suparṇa: 'How do these inanimate things convey [them]?' / I shall tell you of another deliverer.

Agniṣvāttas and other [classes of ancestors] preside over them; / [the food] acquired justly at the proper time, offered according to rule into a worthy vessel,

these [deities] convey that food to the place where the creature resides; / they convey the food given by name, gotra, and mantras.

Even if they have entered a hundred wombs, satisfaction reaches them; / by diverse names and gotras [the food reaches] those who reside in other worlds.

The three rice balls offered counter-clockwise upon darbha grass on the earth / indeed reach and thus satisfy the ancestors residing in the realm of the ghosts.

Those who have not reached places of torment, the best who are fivefold on earth, / and those who have taken diverse forms, born among animals and other species—

whatever food these ancestors eat in whichever wombs, / in those very [forms] the food from the śrāddha presents itself as their nourishment.

Just as a calf finds its mother among dispersed cattle, / so [the deity] conveys the food, O bird, to wherever the creature resides.

The ancestors are the consumers of the śrāddha, always together with the Viśvedevas; / having always eaten the śrāddha, they therefore satisfy the ancestors.

The Vasus, Rudras, and sons of Aditi are the ancestors, the deities of the śrāddha; / satisfied in the śrāddhas, they bring joy to the ancestors of human beings.

Just as a pregnant woman pleases herself and her fetus / through her pregnancy cravings, so the gods, through the śrāddhas, [please] themselves and the ancestors of men.

The ancestors rejoice on hearing that the time for the śrāddha has arrived; / contemplating one another in their minds, they fly down swift as thought.

The ancestors moving through the air eat along with the brāhmaṇas; / existing as wind, they remain, and having eaten, they go to the highest state.

The brāhmaṇas who are invited on the day before the śrāddha, O bird— / the ancestors enter into them, and having eaten, they go to their own abode.

If only one brāhmaṇa is invited by the performer of the śrāddha at the rite, / his father resides in the belly, his grandfather on the left side,

his great-grandfather on the right side, and the consumer of the rice ball on the back. / At the time of the śrāddha, Yama releases from the abode of Yama the ghosts and the ancestors

who dwell in hell into the human realm, O Kaśyapa; / afflicted by hunger and recounting the evil deeds they themselves committed,

they crave milk-rice mixed with honey from sons and grandsons; / therefore, one should satisfy them there with milk-rice according to rule.

Garuḍa said: / Has anyone seen those ancestors come, O Master, O bird, / coming from the other world and eating on earth, O bestower of honor?

The Blessed Lord said: / Hear, O Garutmat; I will tell how the three ancestors, beginning with the father-in-law, / were seen by Sītā in the bodies of brāhmaṇas on a certain occasion.

Taking his father’s command, Rāma went to the forest; / then Rāma went together with Sītā on pilgrimage to Puṣkara.

Having arrived at the sacred ford, he began the śrāddha; / cooked fruit was prepared by Sītā and offered to Rāma.

According to the word spoken by her beloved who had bathed, she, well-bathed, observed [the rites]; / when the sun reached the middle of the sky, when the kutupa hour arrived,

all the sages who had been invited by Rāma arrived; / seeing those munis arrive, Vaidehī, the daughter of Janaka,

having taken the food by Rāma's command, came forward to serve [it]; / then she drew far back while standing among the brāhmaṇas.

Concealing herself with bushes, she then remained hidden; / then, realizing Sītā was in seclusion, the descendant of Raghu,

having pondered for a long time: 'What is this?', quickly [thought]: / 'Has the virtuous woman gone somewhere out of modesty?

Or shall I search for Sītā without feeding the brāhmaṇas?' / Reflecting thus, he fed the brāhmaṇas himself.

When the foremost brāhmaṇas had departed, Rāma said this to his beloved: / 'Why did you hide in the bushes on seeing the munis arrive?

Tell me the whole reason without delay, O slender-limbed one!' / Thus addressed then by her husband, Sītā stood with downcast face, / and shedding a flood of tears, she spoke [these] words to the descendant of Raghu.

Sītā said: / 'Listen, O lord, to what wonder was seen here:

Your father, the descendant of Raghu, was seen by me before the brāhmaṇa, / endowed with all ornaments, and two others also in like manner.

Seeing your father, I withdrew from your presence; / clad in bark garments and deerskin, how could I appear before the king, O lord?

How could I become [visible], O slayer of heroic foes? This is true that has been spoken. / How could food be given to the king with my own hand?

How could I give him food on a vessel of grass, / which not even the servants of servants ever eat from?

I who was seen formerly by the king adorned with all ornaments, / how could I, my limbs smeared with sweat and dirt, approach the ruler of the earth? / Therefore, out of shame, I withdrew, O descendant of Raghu.' / The Blessed Lord said:

Hearing the words of his beloved, Rāma was astonished in his mind;

knowing that to be a wonder, he then returned to his own place. / Thus has it been told to you how the ancestors were seen by Sītā.

Hear briefly another greatness of the śrāddha: / when the new moon day arrives, standing at the door of the house,

the hosts of human ancestors, having become wind, desire a śrāddha, / afflicted with hunger and thirst until the setting of the sun.

Then, when the sun has set, hopeless and filled with sorrow, / sighing for a long time, they depart, blaming their descendant.

Therefore, one ought diligently to perform the śrāddha on the new moon; / if the sons and other kinsmen perform the śrāddha for him,

they, along with those delivered by the Gayā śrāddha, resort to the world of Brahmā; / hunger or thirst never arises for them anywhere.

Therefore, a wise person should diligently and properly perform the śrāddha; / therefore, one should perform the śrāddha with devotion, even with vegetables, according to rule.

One should perform the śrāddha at the proper time; no one in the family suffers; / [the śrāddha grants] longevity, sons, fame, heaven, renown, nourishment, strength, and prosperity.

Cattle, vitality, wealth, and grain he attains through the worship of the ancestors; / the rite for the ancestors is always superior even to the rite for the gods.

For the ancestors must be satisfied prior to the gods. / Those who worship the ancestors, the gods, the brāhmaṇas, and the sacrificial fire,

worship only me, the inner Self of all beings. / Having performed the śrāddha according to the smārta injunctions and in keeping with one's means,

a man pleases the universe from Brahmā down to a blade of grass. / But the scattering of food that is performed on the earth by men,

brings satisfaction to those who have become piśācas. / And the water that falls to the ground from bathing garments, O flier in the sky,

brings satisfaction to those who have become trees. / And whatever fragrant waters fall upon the surface of the earth,

bring satisfaction to those who have attained godhood. / And those who are excluded from their own family, unfit for rites, or unconsecrated,

having died, eat the scattered food and the sweeping-water. / And the water of sipping after eating, and whatever water is used during the day,

and whatever else of the brāhmaṇas [is left over], brings satisfaction / to those who have become piśācas, or have attained the state of worms and insects.

When the food-balls have been taken up, for those on earth who crave food, / it is by these that satisfaction comes to those who have attained human birth.

Thus indeed, while those rites are being performed for the twice-born, / whatever casting aside of water and food there is, whether clean or leftover,

by that food, for those in their family who have passed into another state of birth, / satisfaction occurs when the śrāddha has been properly performed.

Whatever śrāddha is performed by men with wealth acquired through injustice / brings satisfaction to caṇḍālas, pukkasas, and similar low births.

In this way, O bird, whatever is given here by kinsmen / who perform the śrāddha with food, water, and vegetables, brings satisfaction.

All this has been related to you as you asked me: / the attainment of another body immediately, or after a delay on the surface of the earth.

You asked about that; I shall tell you in brief. / Either immediately or after a delay, in both ways a body [is attained];

hear from me the particular condition by which a mortal attains it. / Like a smokeless flame, the person, thumb-sized, then

immediately enters a single airy body. / Just as a caterpillar on grass lifts its rear foot only then,

when the footing of its front foot has become secure, / so the embodied self abandons the former body only when

the airy body has presented itself ahead for experience. / Just as the sense-faculty of a dying person which grasps objects

becomes inactive, so he departs in the body along with the vital air alone. / Whatever body it obtains, it also departs from it of its own accord;

taking what is its own, the soul goes forth, like a fetus from the womb. / As it departs, stands, or experiences [objects] joined with the guṇas,

the deluded do not see it; those who have the eye of knowledge see it. / Indeed, they call this airy [body] the subtle transit body (ātivāhika);

and indeed, they call that same [body] that of the yātudhānas. / O Fair-Winged One, the body of human beings is such, born from the piṇḍas.

If the ten piṇḍas for the ten days are made by sons and the like, / then the airy body attains unity with the body born from the piṇḍas.

If the body born from the piṇḍas does not exist, the airy one suffers torment. / Just as boyhood, youth, and old age occur to the embodied self in this body, / so is the attainment of another body; understand this, O King of Birds.

Just as a man casts off worn-out garments and takes other new ones, / so the embodied self casts off worn-out bodies and enters other new ones.

Weapons do not cut this [self], nor does fire burn it, / nor do waters moisten it, nor does the wind dry it out.

It has already been told to you that it assumes an airy body immediately; / now hear from me about that body whose attainment comes with delay.

In some cases, he obtains the body born from the piṇḍas with delay. / Then, having gone to the world of Yama in accordance with his own actions,

by the word of Citragupta he experiences the hells. / Then, having undergone the torments, [he takes] a body of beasts, birds, or the like;

that which a man assumes becomes an object of attachment through delusion. / Having experienced the fruit of good and evil deeds, a man is liberated.

Garuḍa said: / Having crossed the ocean of worldly existence filled with suffering, how may one attain You, / even if possessed of many sins? Speak of that, O Ocean of Compassion,

so that there may be no further contact with suffering for a man. / Tell me, who am eager to hear and asking, O Lord of Ramā.

The Blessed Kṛṣṇa said: / Devoted to his own respective duty, a man attains complete perfection. / Listen how one devoted to his own duty finds perfection:

Having the impurity of actions removed through contemplation of Vāsudeva, / endowed with a purified intellect, restraining the self with resolve,

abandoning sound and the other sense-objects, casting aside attraction and aversion, / resorting to solitude, eating sparingly, with speech, body, and mind restrained,

constantly intent on meditation and yoga, relying on dispassion, / casting off egoism, force, arrogance, desire, anger, and possessiveness,

free from the sense of 'mine' and tranquil, he is fit to become Brahman. / Beyond this, O son of Kaśyapa, there is no duty for human beings.

Thus ends the tenth chapter, titled 'Determination of the Śrāddha's Bestowal of Satisfaction and Other Topics,' in the dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Garuḍa in the Pretakalpa of the Uttarakhaṇḍa in the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa.