Garudapurana 2.29

The glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa — [Chapter] 29
Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: / Well asked by you, O auspicious one, for the benefit of humankind! / Listen attentively to everything concerning the rites for the dead,

free from any contradiction of rites, extracted from the Vedas and smṛtis, / which has not been seen by the gods along with Indra, nor by yogins contemplating yoga;

more secret than the secret, dear child, not told to anyone anywhere. / Since you are my devotee, O highly fortunate one, I will tell you everything.

For a man without a son there is no state [of good afterlife], nor heaven, none at all; / by whatever means possible, the birth of a son must be brought about.

A son delivers from hell if liberation does not occur. / The cremation must be performed by the son; fire should be given by the grandson.

Upon the ground, [strewn] with sesamum seeds and darbha grass, there should be a hut containing minerals; / and five jewels in the mouth, by which the soul ascends.

One should smear the ground with cow-dung and scatter sesamum seeds and darbha grass; / released upon that very [ground], the dying man burns away every sin.

The root of darbha leads one situated [there] to heaven, there is no doubt in this; / certainly [it leads] those on earth who are accompanied by sesamum seeds on the darbha grass.

Everywhere the earth is pure where there is no smearing [already]; / where a smearing has been made, it becomes purified there by smearing again.

Yātudhānas, piśācas, and rākṣasas of cruel deeds / enter the dying man released on an unsmeared spot—there is no doubt in this.

Daily fire oblations, ancestral rites, and washing the feet of brahmins— / performing these upon the ground without a diagram makes it fruitless.

The dying man is not released on earth without a diagram; / Brahmā, Rudra, Viṣṇu, Śrī, and the fire-god / attend upon the diagram; therefore, one should make a diagram.

Whoever dies otherwise—whether child, old man, or even youth— / he indeed goes into another womb, or wanders about with the wind.

As iron and copper are mixed together, in just such a way a birth is produced; / therefore, for him who has become [as] wind, there is neither ancestral rite nor water offering.

Sesamum seeds, produced from my sweat, O Tārkṣya, are purifiers; / asuras, dānavas, and daityas are satisfied by the gift of sesamum seeds.

White sesamum seeds, black sesamum seeds, and sesamum seeds resembling cow's urine— / may they burn away the sins committed by my body.

A single droṇa of sesamum seeds is equal to a droṇa of gold with sesamum seeds; / given in water oblations, gifts, and fire oblations, it becomes inexhaustible.

Darbha grass sprang from my hair, and sesamum seeds were produced from my sweat. / Deities are satisfied by gifts, and ancestors likewise by ancestral rites, / and Brahmā by the prescribed ritual procedure, and the universe by sustenance.

With the sacred thread over the left shoulder, Brahmā and the others attain satisfaction; / with it over the right shoulder, the ancestors and the celestial deities are satisfied.

From the right-shoulder position onwards [is] Brahmā, while Keśava is in the middle of the darbha; / one should know Śaṅkara to be at the tip of the darbha: the three gods reside in kuśa grass.

Brahmins, mantras, kuśa grass, fire, and tulasī, O King of Birds— / these do not become contaminated remnants, even when used again and again.

Kuśa grass becomes a remnant in rice-balls; brahmins, in eating for a ghost; / mantras, when fallen among śūdras; and the fire of the funeral pyre.

Tulasī, brahmins, cows, Viṣṇu, and the eleventh lunar day, O Bird, / are the five boats for good people sinking in the ocean of mundane existence.

Viṣṇu, the eleventh lunar day, the Gītā, tulasī, brahmins, and cows / are the six-footed path that bestows liberation in the boundless, difficult world.

The three kinds of purifying sesamum seeds, darbha grass, and a tulasī leaf— / these avert a bad destination for a dying person who is heading [toward it].

With darbha grass held up in both hands, one should sprinkle the ground with water; / at the time of death, one should place darbha grass in both hands of the dying man.

He who is laid upon darbha grass and covered around with darbha grass, / even if devoid of mantras, that man indeed goes to the world of Viṣṇu.

He who dies lying upon the roots of darbha-grass on the earth, with darbha-grass in his hand, / is purified by atonement in this shoreless ocean of saṃsāra.

Lying upon a bed of darbha-grass that has been smeared with cow-dung, / through the gift offered there he casts away all sin.

Salt is that divine essence granting all desires to men, / because all flavors of food are not pleasing without salt.

It is dear and auspicious to the ancestors; therefore, it bestows heaven, / since this salty flavor arose from Viṣṇu’s body.

Therefore yogins especially praise the gift of salt. / For brahmins, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, women, and śūdra folk,

when the life-breaths of the afflicted depart upon the surface of the earth, / salt should then be given: it is the opening of the door of heaven.

Thus ends the twenty-ninth chapter, entitled "Ascertaining the Necessity of Giving a Son, Darbha Grass, Sesame, Tulasī, Cows, Land, Plastering, Copper Vessels, and the Rest in Rites for the Departed," in the section on Dharma within the Pretakalpa, the second part of the Latter Section of the glorious and great Garuḍa Purāṇa, in the dialogue between Kṛṣṇa and Garuḍa.