Garudapurana 2.24

The glorious Garuḍa Purāṇa, [chapter] 24.
Garuḍa said: / 'No one dies untimely'—such is the injunction of the Veda. / Why then does a king or a Vedic scholar meet with death?

What was spoken by Brahmā of old appears to be false— / namely that statement made by the Vedas that a human lives a hundred [years].

All classes, twice-born men, outcasts, / and foreigners live in the human world, in this realm called Bhārata;

yet that is not seen in the Kali age. Why is that, O God? Instruct me. / Whether from conception, a child, an old man, or a youth meets with death;

whether rich or poor, delicate or handsome, / whether unlearned or learned, a brahmin or another person;

the man devoted to austerities, inclined to yoga, possessing great knowledge, / devoted to all wisdom, prosperous, virtuous, and of peerless valour—

all this happens without exception on the surface of the earth. / Why then does a king or a Vedic scholar meet with death?

The Blessed Lord said: / Excellent, excellent, O highly wise one, you who are my dear devotee! / Listen to the secret word that dispels diverse errors.

Death appointed by the Creator quickly carries [a person] off and departs; / therefore I shall tell you, O King of Birds, son of Kaśyapa of great splendour.

'Man lives for a hundred [years]'—so it was declared by the Veda in ancient times; / but by the influence of unlawful deeds, he perishes swiftly.

Through neglecting the study of the Vedas, failure to observe family customs, / abandonment of prescribed duties through indolence, and continuous indulgence in forbidden acts;

by eating in anyone's house whatsoever, and delighting in another's field [or wife]— / through these and other grave faults, the decline of one's lifespan occurs.

The brahmin who lacks faith, is impure, an atheist, has discarded auspicious conduct, / delights in injuring others and in falsehood—[death leads him] to the abode of Yama.

A king who fails to protect, is ever devoid of righteousness, / cruel, addicted to vices, foolish, estranged from Vedic discourse, / and an oppressor of his subjects—such a king [the messengers] bring under the sway of death and Yama's command;

thence he goes to torment. Abandoning his own duties / and whatever primary means of livelihood there are,

he who constantly engages in the duties of others goes to Yama's world. / Whatever a śūdra does without rendering service to the twice-born,

whether high, low, or middling, he is tormented in the realm of Yama. / Bathing, giving, silent recitation, fire sacrifice, Vedic study, and worship of deities—

the day on which these are not practiced is wasted for men. / The body is impermanent, unstable, groundless, born of bodily juices.

In this body composed of food and water, I declare these qualities: / the food that is cooked in the morning surely perishes by evening;

what permanence, alas, can there be in a body nourished by the fluid of that [food]? / Knowing that half of one's life is already gone through one's own actions, O King of Birds,

a man should apply the supreme remedy for the destruction of sin. / Does the body belong to the giver of food, to the inseminator, or to the mother?

Or to both, or to the master, to fire, or to the dog? / What supreme sacrifice is there in that which is designated as worms, dung, and ashes?

Supreme effort must be made for the destruction of sin. / The sin accumulated across many births is threefold;

when one attains human birth, then everything burns. / Remembering all his births, despondent, his consciousness restored,

and perceiving his stays in the womb and the destinies born of his karma, / if he dwells in the human womb, then he is a sinner.

Wherever [the soul] wanders among egg-born and other creatures, / there are mental agonies, physical ailments, afflictions, and the ruin of youth and beauty.

Freed from the womb, covered by the darkness of ignorance, / and entering the stage of childhood, O best of birds, he knows nothing.

Blind with darkness in youth, whoever sees is entitled to liberation. / From conception onwards, death overtakes a child, an old man, or a youth,

the rich or the poor, the delicate or the deformed, / the ignorant or the learned, the brāhmaṇa or other people.

The man devoted to austerities, inclined to yoga, endowed with great knowledge, / given to great charity, glorious, righteous, and of matchless valor— / yet without a human body he cannot experience pleasure or pain.

A human being meets death bound by the bonds of past actions. / From conception up to five years, [death] is brought to fruition by minor sins;

having passed beyond five years, it is brought to fruition by great sins. / Because he fills the womb, even when dead he departs and returns again.

Through the power of gifts, a mortal who dies may live for a long time on earth. / Sūta said: / Having heard these words of Kṛṣṇa, Garuḍa spoke as follows.

Garuḍa said: / When a child dies, how should one perform the rites such as the offering of rice balls, / both for those lost in the womb and for a child up to the tonsure ceremony?

How, what, and by whom should gifts be given? What rule is remembered after death? / Having heard what was said by Garuḍa, Viṣṇu then replied.

The blessed Viṣṇu said: / If a fetus miscarries or flows away from a woman, / the impurity lasts for as many days as the months the fetus remained [in the womb].

One who desires his own welfare should perform no [funerary rites] for it. / But if a child dies after birth up to the tonsure ceremony,

milk and food are given to children according to one's capacity. / From tonsure up to five years, cremation of the body is prescribed.

Milk should be given for him, and an auspicious meal given to children. / When one dies who is older than five years, [the rites] ordained for his own caste—

all these rites should be performed, along with [the gift of] a water-jar and milk-rice. / It should be given, O best of birds, for he has the connection of a debt.

Death is indeed certain for the born, and rebirth is certain for the dead. / Therefore, O tiger among birds, one must perform rites to put an end to future embodiment.

Whatever pleases him should be given. If one does not give it, [the child] is reborn in an impoverished family, / short-lived, destitute, and bereft of pleasure and devotion.

A mortal would obtain rebirth [under such conditions]; therefore, gifts should be given when a child dies. / A traditional verse is sung in the Purāṇa; it always seems true to me:

Sweet food should be given as a meal, but the capacity for giving is difficult to attain. / The capacity to enjoy food when there is an edible meal, the capacity for sexual pleasure with excellent women,

and the capacity to give when there is wealth—this is the fruit of no small austerity. / From giving, one attains pleasures; from resorting to sacred places, happiness; / and one who dies after pleasant speech is learned and foremost among knowers of dharma.

From not giving gifts a person becomes poor; from being poor he commits sin; / through the power of sin he goes to hell, and becomes poor again, and a sinner yet again.

Thus ends the twenty-fourth chapter, entitled "Ascertainment of the Causes of Premature Death and the Funeral Rites for Children," in the Pretakalpa of the Dharmakāṇḍa, belonging to the second part of the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa, in the dialogue between the blessed Kṛṣṇa and Garuḍa.