Garudapurana 2.38

Venerable Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa — 38
Tārkṣya said:
Tell me of the liberation and heaven attained through gifts and tīrthas, O Lord;
by what does one attain liberation, by what does one dwell long in heaven?

By what does the radiance [of the soul] go from the heavenly world and the world of truth?
By what does one obtain human existence, or plunge into hells?

Tell me this with certainty, O giver of liberation to devotees;
say, dying in what heaven is there no rebirth?

Venerable Viṣṇu said:
Human existence in the land of Bhārata, among the thirteen castes —

having obtained that, one who dies in a sacred precinct has no rebirth:
Ayodhyā, Mathurā, Māyā, Kāśī, Kāñcī, Avantikā,

the city of Dvāravatī — these seven are known to bestow liberation.
Whoever says, "I have renounced," even when life-breaths have reached the throat,

departed, goes to the city of Viṣṇu; he is not born again upon earth.
By whom the two syllables "Ha-ri" are uttered even once,

by him is the belt tightened for going toward liberation.
Whoever remembers me constantly, saying: "Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa,"

I deliver him from hell, just as a lotus emerges breaking through water.
Where there is a śālagrāma stone, where there is a Dvāravatī stone,

where there is the union of both, liberation is there beyond doubt.
Where there is a śālagrāma stone, it causes the destruction of sins and faults.

From dying in its proximity, liberation of a living being is certain.
By planting, preserving, watering, meditating on, touching, and praising [it],
tulasī burns away the sin accumulated across lifetimes by men, O Bird.

One who has bathed in the mental sacred ford, the lake of knowledge whose water is truth, which removes the filth of passion and hatred,
is not smeared by sins.

The deity is not in wood, nor is he ever in stone;
for the deity exists in inner feeling; therefore, one should cultivate devotion.

Every morning fish-killers gaze upon the Narmadā;
they do not go to the city of Śiva; the disposition of the mind is paramount.

Whatever the conviction of the mind may be, such is the fruit of men's actions;
such is their journey to the other world, like the principle of the needle and the thread.

One devoted to surrendering his life for the sake of a Brahmin, for the sake of cattle, or in violent attacks upon women,
he indeed shall attain liberation.

One who dies in a fast, he indeed shall attain liberation;
one who dies in a fast is freed from all bonds.

Having given gifts to Brahmins, one then attains liberation;
these indeed are the paths of liberation, and likewise the paths of heaven.

In defending cattle, in the destruction of a realm, death in battle or at a tīrtha —
for an embodied being, whether highest, lowest, or middle, who is oppressed,
relinquishing oneself there, one obtains a long residence in heaven.

A wise person should learn two things: living and dying;
living through gifts and enjoyment, and dying in battle or at a tīrtha.

In Harikṣetra, in Kurukṣetra, and likewise in Bhṛgukṣetra,
in Prabhāsa, in Śrīsthala, on Arbuda, and in Tripuṣkara,

a person who dies in Bhūteśvara dwells in heaven
for the duration of a day of Brahmā; thereafter he falls to the earth.

Whoever gives a year's livelihood to a Brahmin free from fault,
having delivered his entire family, is honoured in the world of heaven.

Whoever gives a maiden in marriage to a Brahmin who has mastered the Vedas,
he too dwells in the world of Indra surrounded by his own families.

And having given the great gifts, a man attains that fruit.

Restoring stepped wells, wells, reservoirs, groves, and temples of the gods, / one obtains the reward of the original builder, / or by repairing them, that merit becomes doubled.

Having built even a small leaf-hut that wards off cold, wind, and heat, / if one gives it to a learned brāhmaṇa with a family,

that man is honoured in heaven for thirty-five million years.

The woman of the same caste and virtuous conduct who follows her dead husband / reaches heaven upon death for as many years as the hairs [on the human body].

She who abandons sons, grandsons, and relatives and follows her husband, / both of them attain heaven, adorned by celestial damsels.

Even having committed many sins and being ever inclined to harm her husband, / she who follows her husband washes away them all.

Even if the husband is a perpetrator of great sins and an evil-doer, / a woman devoted to him destroys all his sin.

He who makes a daily gift of even a mere morsel as a regular practice / departs on a celestial chariot fitted with four chowries.

Whatever sin a person has committed until the time of death, / all of that is destroyed by providing a yearly livelihood.

The sin acquired in three births—past, present, and future— / all of that is washed away by giving away a brāhmaṇa girl [in marriage].

A stepped well equals ten wells; a reservoir equals ten stepped wells; / a water-booth in a waterless forest equals ten reservoirs.

A stepped well in a waterless region, a gift given to an impoverished brāhmaṇa, / and he who shows compassion to living beings—he becomes a lord of heaven.

Through these and other good deeds one becomes a sharer in heaven; / having attained all that reward, he obtains supreme eminence.

Leaving aside worthless activity, one should be constantly devoted to dharma; / gift, self-restraint, and compassion—this is the threefold essence on earth.

Giving to a destitute holy person, worship of an unattended liṅga, / and the funeral rite of an orphaned corpse bestow the reward of ten million sacrifices.

Thus ends the thirty-eighth chapter in the Pretakalpa in the Dharmakāṇḍa, the second part of the Uttarakhaṇḍa in the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa, in the dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Garuḍa, entitled 'Ascertainment of the Causes for Reaching and Returning from Higher Worlds, Liberation, and Human Birth'.