Garudapurana 2.30

The glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa, chapter 30.
The blessed Kṛṣṇa said:
Listen, Tārkṣya, to the supreme secret, the best gift among gifts, / the highest of all gifts, most hidden from the sky-dwellers.

One great gift that should be given, the highest of the high, is cotton; / when it is given, earth, atmosphere, and heaven are pleased in turn.

All the deities, beginning with Brahmā, attain satisfaction from this rite. / This great gift should be given for the deliverance of the deceased.

He dwells for a long time in Rudra's world, and then becomes a king here [on earth], / handsome, fortunate, eloquent, prosperous, of unequalled prowess; / overcoming the world of Yama, he goes to heaven, Tārkṣya.

Whoever gives a cow, sesame seeds, land, and gold to a twice-born, / his sins accumulated through births are destroyed that very moment.

Sesame seeds and cows are a great gift, the destroyer of grave sins; / these two are given to a brahmin, never to another caste.

Sesame seeds, cows, and land are given as an ordained gift; / never to other castes, nor ever to the circle of dependents.

To the circle of dependents and to women, an unordained gift should be given. / During illness or during an eclipse, the two gifts are distinguished; / a gift given in illness serves [the person] at that very time.

What is given while [one is still] alive serves [him] even without consecration. / It is true, true, and again true: what is given when the senses are impaired,

and what the son approves of, that gift is unending. / Therefore he or his son should give as long as he lives for a long time, / because the transitional body and the deceased obtain pleasures therefrom.

In time of unwellness and illness, when the body falls and rests on the ground, / when the body [is laid out], gratification of the transitional [spirit] takes place thereafter.

For the lame, the blind, the one-eyed, and one whose eyes are half-opened, / spreading darbha grass over sesame seeds, the gift is declared imperishable.

Sesame seeds, iron, gold, cotton, salt, / the seven grains, land, and cows—each one is traditionally known to be purifying.

From the gift of iron Yama is satisfied; the King of Dharma [is pleased] from offering sesame. / When salt is given, there is no fear of Yama.

Through the gift of cotton, there is no fear of ghosts. / Cows rescue a man from the three kinds of sin.

From the gift of gold comes happiness in heaven; from the gift of land one becomes a king. / From giving gold and land, there is no suffering in hell.

All the messengers of Yama, having Yama's form, terrifying, / satisfied by the seven grains, all go granting boons.

By mere remembrance of Viṣṇu the supreme state is reached. / All this has been declared to you, the state that is reached by mortals.

Therefore they praise a son who gives at his father's command, / seeing his father lying on the ground with half-opened eyes.

A son who causes all gifts to be given at that time, / that son, the delight of his family, is superior even to the Gayā śrāddha.

When he is displaced from his own state, for a father who is then failing, / [rites] should be performed with effort by sons; they deliver the father.

What need of many gifts given? One should perform the father's last rites; / even the horse sacrifice, the great rite, is not worth a sixteenth part.

Virtuous indeed is that son, worshipped even by the gods, / who causes gifts to be given for an ailing father on the earth.

The gift of iron should be given with the hand touching the ground; / he does not encounter terrifying Yama, nor go to his abode.

An axe, a pestle, a staff, a sword, and a dagger— / these are seen in the hands of Yama for evil-doers.

Therefore, the ailing person should give a gift of iron to a brahmin; / this gift is spoken of for the appeasement of Yama's weapons.

Those in the womb, children, youths, and the elderly— / by these special gifts they burn away their sins.

Those with knives, the black and brindled ones, the Ṣaṇḍāmarkas, the Udumbaras, / the brindled and black messengers—they are pleased by the gift of iron.

Sons, grandsons, relatives, clan members, and friends / who do not give gifts when [one is] ailing are indeed equal to killers of brahmins.

Listen to the destination of one who meets his death touching the earth: / the deceased, having taken a transitional body, obtains good deeds after a year.

The three fires, the three worlds, the three Vedas, the three immortals, / the three times, the three junctures of day, the three castes, the three powers—

from the feet up to the waist, so far Brahmā presides; / Hari [presides] from the navel up to the neck in the human body;

the Lord, Maheśvara, manifest and unmanifest, resides in the head; / the three parts of the single form are Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Maheśvara.

I am the vital breath abiding in the body, in the collection of four elements; / I direct the mind toward dharma and adharma, happiness and suffering, what is done and what is not done.

Relying on the intellect of a living being, permeated by impressions of previous deeds, / I alone urge living beings into their actions; / beings surely go to heaven, hell, and liberation.

Whether situated in heaven or in hell, gratification takes place through a śrāddha. / Therefore, the wise man should perform the three kinds of śrāddha.

The Fish, the Tortoise, the Boar, Nārasiṃha, and Vāmana, / Rāma, Rāma, and Kṛṣṇa, Buddha, and Kalkin— / these ten names should always be remembered by the wise.

Living beings go to heaven in happiness; and falling from heaven, human beings, / having obtained happiness and wealth, endowed with compassion and kindness, / rich in sons, grandsons, and riches, would live for a hundred autumns.

And one should give a gift for the sick person, and have worship of Viṣṇu performed, / and one should chant either the eight-syllable or the twelve-syllable mantra.

And one should worship [him] with white flowers and food offerings cooked in ghee, / as well as perfumes and incense declared in the Śruti and Smṛti.

Viṣṇu is mother, Viṣṇu is father, Viṣṇu is kin and relatives. / Where I do not see Viṣṇu, what is the use of that abode to me?

Viṣṇu is in the water, Viṣṇu is on the land, Viṣṇu is on the summit of the mountain; / Viṣṇu is in the midst of wreaths of flames: the whole world is pervaded by Viṣṇu.

We are the waters, we are the earth, we are the darbha grasses, we are the sesame seeds; / we are the cows, we are the king, we are the wind, we are the creatures;

we are the gold, we are the grain, we are the honey, we are the ghee; / we are the brāhmaṇas, we are the gods, we are Śambhu, and the earth and intermediate space;

I am the giver, I am the receiver, I am the sacrificer, I am the sacrifice; / I am the taker, I am dharma, I indeed am the earth, I am the water.

I bestow the mind's disposition toward dharma and adharma through auspicious and inauspicious deeds, / whatever deed is performed anywhere, acquired from a previous life, O bird.

I bestow the mind's disposition toward dharma, and I alone also toward adharma. / Even he who produces torment—in dharma, I grant liberation.

Beneficial to human beings, O Tārkṣya, the Vaitaraṇī [river] is remembered at the end; / having crossed the torrent of sins by means of it, one goes to the world of Viṣṇu.

Whatever sin was done in childhood, and in youth, and in old age, / committed in every stage of life, and also in other births,

whatever deed was done by action, mind, or speech / at night, likewise in the morning, at midday, in the afternoon, and at the two twilights—

having given even once an excellent kapilā cow that fulfills all desires, / he rescues himself from the accumulation of sins at the time of death.

‘May cows be in front of me, behind, and at my sides; / may cows be in my heart; I dwell in the midst of cows.’

‘That Lakṣmī of all beings, and who is situated in the god, / may that goddess, in the form of a cow, remove my sin.’

Thus ends the thirtieth chapter, named ‘The Exposition of Various Gifts’, in the dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Garuḍa in the Pretakalpa of the Dharmakāṇḍa, the second part of the Uttarakhaṇḍa in the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa.