Garudapurana 2.15

Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa — 15
Garuḍa said: / O Lord, tell me all the determination of the realm of Yama, / beginning with the creature’s departure, the greatness, and the expanse of the road.

The Blessed Lord said: / Listen, O Tārkṣya, I shall declare the determination of the path of Yama, / all the stages of the journey, and the sixteen cities.

Eighty-six thousand yojanas in measure / is the distance upward to the world of Yama from the realm of mortals.

Having experienced the good or bad deeds as acquired in the world, / when, through the operation of karma, some disease arises, O Bird,

It is merely the instrumental cause for all, in accordance with the deeds performed. / Whatever death has been ordained for someone, that he shall surely meet.

When, through the operation of karma, an embodied soul here leaves its body,
one should then place it on the ground, having smeared [the surface] with cow dung.

Having scattered sesame seeds and darbha grass, one should then place gold into its mouth,
bringing tulasī and a Śālagrāma stone into its presence.

Indeed, death is liberative through the sūktas beginning with the Setusāman;
and with sprinklings of gold pieces in the house of a dying creature,

one [piece of gold] should be placed in the mouth, and likewise in the two nostrils;
two should be placed respectively in the two eyes and the two ears.

Then one should place one on the genitals and one upon the crown of the head;
and one should offer tulasī upon both hands and on the throat.

A pair of garments should be given, and one should worship [the body] with saffron and unhusked rice;
one should adorn it with garlands of flowers and carry it out through another doorway.

The son together with relatives, and a brahmin together with the townspeople—
the son himself, lifting his father's corpse onto his shoulder with the relatives,

having gone to the cremation ground, facing east and facing north,
on ground not previously burned, should prepare the funeral pyre there.

It should be furnished with sandalwood, tulasī wood, sacrificial faggots, and palāśa wood.
When the assembly of sense organs fails and consciousness becomes inert,

the vital breaths then depart, with the emissaries of Yama standing close by.
He sees the world as one; a divine vision is born [in him].

[He sees] a loathsome, dreadful form, as his vital breaths lodge in the throat.
One vomits foam, and his mouth becomes filled with saliva.

The wicked are struck by the servants with bindings of nooses;
there, the virtuous are led away in comfort by the masters of heaven.

Sinners travel in misery along the rugged path of Yama.
Yama, assuming a four-armed form, bearing a conch, discus, mace, and other [weapons],

treats those devoted to virtuous deeds rightly and auspiciously, like a friend;
summoning all sinners, Yama chastises them with his staff.

Having a roar like the clouds of cosmic dissolution, having the luster of a mountain of collyrium,
mounted on a buffalo, difficult to propitiate, with brilliance like the radiance of lightning,

his body three yojanas broad, terrible and exceedingly dreadful,
bearing an iron staff, fierce, with noose in hand, of awful appearance,

with crooked eyes, causing great terror, he appears to sinners.
The person measuring the size of a thumb, crying out "Alas! Alas!" from the body,

is led away at that very moment by the emissaries of Yama, looking back at his own house.
The body, motionless, abandoned by the vital breaths, loathsome,

quickly becomes untouchable, foul-smelling, and reviled by all.
Three indeed are the states of the body: termed worms, excrement, and ashes.

What pride is taken, O Tārkṣya, by mortals who perish in an instant?
Giving from wealth, true words, renown and dharma from a lifetime,

and doing good to others from the body: this is the essence extracted from what is unreal.
As he is thus being led away, the messengers indeed threaten him,

showing him the intense terror of hell again and again:
"Move quickly, evil soul! You have arrived at Yama's dwelling!

Without delay, we shall take you to Kumbhīpāka and the other hells!"
Hearing such words at that time, and likewise the weeping of his kinsmen,

wailing loudly, "Alas! Alas!", he is led away by Yama's servants.
One should perform the śrāddha on that site, and likewise on the eleventh day.

From the time the deceased passes away, one should give six piṇḍas in order:
at the place of death, at the doorway, and at the crossroads, O Tārkṣya, for a purpose;

at the resting place, at the funeral pyre, and at the collection [of bones]—these are the six.
Hear, O Tārkṣya, the reason for the prescription of the six piṇḍas:

At the place of death, it is called Śava; by that name it is offered;
by that offering, the presiding deities of the household site are satisfied.

By it, the earth and its presiding deity become pleased.
At the doorway, a piṇḍa should be offered under the name Pāntha;

by that offering, the household deities residing at the doorway are pleased.
At the crossroads, it is called Khecara; designated for him, one should offer it.

Then spirits and other divine classes do not cause harm.
At the resting place, this [piṇḍa] is named Bhūta; by that name one should offer it there,

so that piśācas, rākṣasas, yakṣas, and whoever else dwell in the quarters
do not make that body, which is to be offered into the fire, unfit.

From the piṇḍa on the funeral pyre onward, the state of being a preta arises;
on the funeral pyre, some call it Sādhaka, O King of Birds.

Some call it simply Preta, as the wise who know ritual ordinances say;
from then on, there and elsewhere, it is offered under the name of Preta.

Thus, through these five piṇḍas, the corpse becomes fit for the oblation;
otherwise, those aforementioned [beings] surely cause injury.

The first piṇḍa at departure, likewise [another] at the half-way point on the road,
and the third should be at the pyre: thus three piṇḍas are prescribed.

The prescription is proclaimed: the Creator at the first piṇḍa,
the one who has Garuḍa on his banner at the second, and the messengers of Yama at the third.

When this third piṇḍa is offered, the life-principle that was supported [in it] is freed from the defects of the body;
and one should kindle the pyre with fires.

Having swept, smeared, furrowed, and raised the altar,
sprinkling it and properly setting up the fire there according to the rule,

and having worshipped with flowers and unhusked rice the deity named Kravyāda:
"You are the creator of beings, the source of the world; you are the protector of the universe,

and the destroyer; therefore lead this dead person to heaven!"
Having thus worshipped Kravyāda, one should perform the oblation of the body.

And when the body is half-consumed by fire, one should then offer an oblation of clarified butter;
one should perform the fire oblation according to rule with the formula "To the hairs, svāhā!"

Having placed that deceased person on the funeral pyre, one should then offer an oblation of clarified butter,
saying, "To Yama, to the Finisher, to Death, and to Brahmā!"

One [oblation] should be given into the mouth of the fire, and likewise one into the mouth of the deceased;
one should kindle the fire above, and then the funeral pyre on the eastern part.

"You were born from this one; may this one be born again from you!
May he go to the heavenly world! Svāhā!" The purifier burns.

Having thus offered the oblation of clarified butter mixed with sesame seeds, accompanied by mantras,
the cremation must then certainly be performed by the son.

One should then weep profusely; in this way there will be peace for him.
Having performed the rite of bone-gathering there after the cremation,

one should offer a preta-piṇḍa that alleviates the torment of burning, O Bird.
Up to that time, the spirits watch that deceased person who longs for his relatives.

After the cremation, bathing with clothes on should be performed by the sons;
one should then offer water with sesame seeds, saying: "May [this] remain by name and clan!"

Then applause should be clapped by all the townspeople; / they should say, “Viṣṇu, Viṣṇu!” and speak of the deceased by his virtues.

All the people together, having come completely to his house, / [should place] cow dung and white mustard seeds on the right side of the door,

having deposited [water for] the god Varuṇa, and stepping inside one's own dwelling, / one should chew neem leaves, sip clarified butter, and enter the house.

Some sprinkle the cremation site with milk, O King of Birds. / One should not shed tears; one should offer him handfuls of water.

Since the deceased helplessly feeds on the phlegm and tears shed by relatives, / therefore one must not weep; rites should be performed according to one's ability.

And one should offer milk and water in an earthen vessel for three days / at sunset, O Tārkṣya, on the balcony or in the courtyard.

Bound, his heart bewildered, craving a body, followed by his retinue, / looking back at the cremation ground, the courtyard, and the house, he is led away by the minions of Yama.

Rice-balls should be given into the pit for ten days, day by day, / and handfuls of water should be constantly offered for the deceased.

An increase [of water-handfuls] should be made as long as the ten-day rice-ball offering lasts. / The rite must be performed by the son, or in his absence by the wife;

in her absence, by a disciple; in his absence, a brother born of the same womb. / He should cause water and the rice-ball to be offered at the cremation ground or at another sacred site,

with cooked rice, barley meal, vegetables, roots, fruits, and the like. / Whatever one offers on the first day, that one should offer on subsequent days.

For ten days sons and others make rice-balls here. / Each day they are divided into four parts, O King of Birds:

Two parts, which bring satisfaction to the five elements, are for the body; / the third is for the messengers of Yama, and on the fourth [the deceased] subsists.

Through nine days and nights the deceased attains full formation; / for the creature whose body is fully formed, intense hunger arises on the tenth day.

There is no procedural rule, no mantra, no svadhā, invocation, or blessings; / whatever is offered having pronounced the name and lineage is the ten-day rite.

When the body is burnt, a body is produced once again in this manner, O bird: / by the rice-ball on the first day, the head is formed;

on the second, the neck and shoulders; on the third, the heart is formed; / by the fourth, the back is formed; and on the fifth, the navel;

on the sixth and seventh, the waist and private parts; and on the eighth, the thighs; / on the ninth, the palate and feet; and on the tenth day, hunger arises.

Having obtained a body, filled with hunger, he stays at the house and the door. / The rice-ball that is on the tenth day, one should offer it with meat;

for once the body is formed, the deceased is exceedingly hungry; / therefore without meat, his hunger is not appeased.

On the eleventh and twelfth days the deceased eats for two days. / Whether for a woman or a man, one should pronounce the word 'preta'.

A lamp, food, water, clothing, or whatever article is given, / should be given with the word 'preta'; it brings joy to the dead.

On the thirteenth day that deceased is led onto the great path, / having occupied the body born of rice-balls, hungry day and night.

For sinners, the path has cold and heat, stakes, carnivorous beasts, and fire, / and consists of hunger and thirst; for those of accomplished souls, all is pleasant.

And on the path containing the forest of sword-leaves are these miseries; / afflicted constantly with hunger and thirst, tormented by the messengers of Yama,

every single day the deceased travels two hundred / and forty-seven yojanas in a day and night.

Seized by Yama's nooses, crying out “Alas, alas!”, / having abandoned his own home, he follows toward the city of Yama.

In due order that deceased goes to the city of Yama through pleasant and unpleasant [regions], / having passed through various prominent cities along the path:

the city of Yama, Sauripura, Nagendrabhavana, the slopes of Gandharva mountain, / Kroñca, Krūrapura, Vicitrabhavana, full of perils and causing distress,

Nānākrandapura, Sutaprabhavana, dreadful Payovarṣaṇa, excessively cold Bahudharmabhītabhavana, and ahead, the city of Yama.

On the thirteenth day that deceased, seized by Yama's servants, / goes alone on that path like a captive monkey.

Thus, as he walks on the path, crying out, “O son! O son!”, / he continually laments, “Alas, alas! What have I done?

From what is human birth attained?” So he speaks as he creeps along; / “Human birth is attained only by an accumulation of great merit.

Having obtained it, my wealth was not given to beggars; / it has fallen into the hands of others,” so he speaks and wails in a choked voice.

He is tormented exceedingly by the servants, and remembers his past bodily deeds:

“No one gives happiness or misery; the idea that another gives it is foolishness. / One always experiences the action performed previously; O embodied soul, somehow cross over what was done by you!

I did not give, nor did I sacrifice into the fire; I performed no austerity in the caves of the snowy mountain; / I did not resort to the great waters of the Ganges. Ah, O embodied soul, somehow cross over what was done by you!

I gave no daily gift, nor food for the cows; no gift of the Veda, nor books of scripture; / in the past no [sacred site] was visited, nor was a pilgrim's path followed. O embodied soul, somehow cross over what was done by you!

No water reservoir was constructed in a waterless place for the sake of human beings or beasts and birds; / no pasture was made for the satisfaction of cows. O embodied soul, somehow cross over what was done by you!

I did not enjoy the happiness of union with a husband, nor did I enter into the fire upon his death, / nor did I observe vows when he died. O embodied soul, somehow cross over what was done by you!

My body was not emaciated by month-long fasts, nor by cāndrāyaṇa fasts, nor by austere restraints; / a woman’s body, a vessel of much sorrow, was obtained by me because of improper deeds performed in the past.”

The words spoken by men have been told by me; now listen attentively, O bird: / having obtained the body of a woman, an embodied soul speaks of the actions performed previously.

Thus ends the fifteenth chapter, named 'The Description of the Extent of the Realm of Yama, its Majesty, and the Journey Thither', in the Pretakalpa on Dharma in the second part of the Uttarakhaṇḍa of the glorious Mahāpurāṇa composed by Garuḍa, in the dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Garuḍa.