Garudapurana 2.48

Glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa — 48 / Tārkṣya said: / Those humans who dwell in the mortal world, across all castes, go to death / at their own time due to the exhaustion of their own merits; people say this—tell me about that!

They travel along a very difficult path, remaining on the road prepared by the Creator. / By what merit do they attain joy? By what do family, strength, and youth remain?

Sūta said: / Having heard this, the Lord then spoke to Garuḍa, remembering the body, the fear of karma, and the form— / he by whom the earth and the moving and unmoving world were created, he by whom the mighty ruler Yama was appointed.

The Holy Lord said: / [Abandoning] dharma, wealth, pleasure, and the long accumulation of liberation, another, second [body] of those walking on Yama's path, / entering [it], measuring the size of a thumb, he indeed there, having reached that body, [goes] to his own abode.

Seized by the noose, he weeps repeatedly; stationed in a body in a very holy land, O twice-born, / worship of the king of gods, giving satisfaction to the ancestors and gods, out of delusion was not performed, nor the continuation of sons.

“I have no relative as I walk on Yama’s path; no deed was done by me desiring a twice-born body. / Having obtained the state of a brāhmaṇa, extremely rare to attain, I did not study the Vedas, the Purāṇas, and the Saṃhitās. / A fine gem obtained and held in hand has gone! O body, cross over somewhere what was done by you!”

The kṣatriya who, by the strength of his arms in battle, drank blood from the forehead region onto his face— / indeed, that was the drinking of soma performed in a great sacrifice; even while living he is dead, and he goes to liberation.

Numerous places were made by him, and many censured [substances] were drunk; / but grasping a weapon in battle, he who advances against enemies is freed from sin.

Whether belonging to the kṣatriya lineage, the vaiśya lineage, or the śūdra lineage, or of low caste, / a slayer of warriors, gods, twice-born, or children; a killer of women, the elderly, the distressed, or ascetics—

whoever turns his back when these are assailed, all the gods turn their backs on him. / The ancestors do not drink his water with sesame seeds, nor does the fire receive what is offered [by him].

When battle has arrived, if one has taken up a weapon facing the enemy army out of hatred or out of fear, / and does not advance, O King of Birds, but retreats afterward, his kṣatriya power is entirely lost. / Only after giving gold and this earth to a twice-born does he afterward return here to the world.

A gift is truly given during an eclipse to an eminent twice-born, a bath was perpetually taken by him at a good sacred place, / and having gone to Gayā, the offering of funeral cakes to ancestors was ever performed by him who dies in battle.

He who, having abandoned a kṣatriya body, grieves on the battlefield: 'At the slaying of my lord and the seizure of cattle, / or at the slaying of women and children on the road for the sake of a caravan, I did not strike and did not cast down my own sheath [of weapons]!'

A vaiśya then grieves over his own deeds when seized by the noose: 'I accumulated nothing, / nor was the truth spoken by me in buying and selling, thoroughly deluded out of attachment for the sake of my family!'

“Having obtained a śūdra body, glorious gifts were never given to the twice-born, nor worship of the twice-born; / […] / no reservoir of water was made on the surface of the earth, and no distinguished vipra, uninitiated, was honoured.”

“Abandoning my own duties, complacent in pride, my own body was not given up by me at a good sacred place; / no dharma was magnified, nor was the worship of gods performed by me for the sake of liberation.”

Having obtained a body produced from a lump [of food], and likewise the castes called outcasts and mlecchas, / these enter a body made of wind, striving not upon the crowded path of dharma.

Mutually cutting down their own dharma, accomplishing their object while walking upon their own path, / hear, O King of Birds, those pleasant words which they speak:

“The essence among worlds must be the three worlds, and among all continents that called Jambu; / among all regions the land of the gods, and among all living beings man alone.

And the four castes are praised here; among the castes, the men devoted to dharma are praised. / Through dharma all happiness is attained; situated on the great path, one attains knowledge.

When my life was ended, having abandoned my body, O bird, I existed among worms and insects; / I was a reptile, I was created a mosquito, I was a quadruped, I was a wild boar.

For situated in the womb, one knows everything, but once born one immediately forgets this. / Whatever was contemplated by me when in the womb, I became a child, a youth, and advanced in age.

If what was contemplated in the womb was destroyed through delusion, it is remembered again when the body has gone to death; / when that is destroyed, what was contemplated in the heart has gone, and is remembered again when the body has entered the womb.

When that is destroyed, it is contemplated again in the heart: ‘Deception of others was committed by me for my own treasury, / through gambling, deceit, and the occupation of theft, transgressing dharma in protecting my body.

Wealth was acquired by myself with difficulty; the wealth desired by the mind was not enjoyed by me, / giving betel, sweet food, and dairy products to the fire, gods, guests, and kinfolk.

During a lunar eclipse or during the conjunction of the sun, the supreme and best sacred place was not served. / Your own sheath [of the body] is filled with feces and urine; O embodied soul, somehow cross over that which was done by you!'

“The form of the Three-strided One standing here on earth was not seen, not bowed to, not worshipped by me; / nor was the Lord of Prabhāsa praised with devotion. O embodied soul, somehow cross over that which was done by you!

Having gone near the best sacred place on earth, wealth was not given by me into the hand of the wise; / bathing the body according to rule, [nothing was given] to the twice-born or the teacher. O embodied soul, somehow cross over that which was done by you!

No worship was done to the Mother, nor to Viṣṇu and Śaṅkara, nor Gaṇeśa and Caṇḍī, nor even the Sun, / with offerings, sandalwood accompanied by oblations. O embodied soul, somehow cross over that which was done by you!

A human body equal to a god was obtained by me; all this has gone through delusion, O ruler of the earth! / He whose mind is thoroughly bewildered would not see the path. O embodied soul, somehow cross over that which was done by you!”

Having pondered in the mind these words, O bird, which bring dharma, wealth, and renown, / those who reside in a good land devoted to dharma attain liberation in the world of men.

While speaking thus, he is struck by hosts of Yama's messengers with clubs made of death, / remembering: “Alas, destiny! Alas, destiny! That wealth which was earned by myself was not given away!

No gift of land, no gift of cows, no gift of water, and no gift of garments, / nor fruit with betel or unguent was given by you on earth. Why do you grieve?

Your father is dead, and your grandfather; she by whom you were borne in her own womb is dead; / all that kinfolk is dead as well. All this was seen by you whose life is gone.

Your treasury has been burned by fire; your accumulation of wealth and grain was taken by sons; / that well-spoken word and accumulation of dharma which was performed—that alone shall go following behind you.

No dead man is seen to return—neither king, nor ascetic, nor foremost twice-born. / That mortal who is dead was bold; he who was on the surface of the earth has gone to destruction.”

Thus those attendants speak along with kinnaras. Summoning courage, filled with grief, / having heard the exceedingly wondrous speech of the attendants, he who attained the human condition speaks, O King of Birds:

“By the power of giving, one is seated in a celestial chariot; dharma is a father, compassion suitable for a mother, / speech speaking sweet meaning is a wife, and bathing at a good sacred place is an excellent circle of kinsmen.

When all good deeds are placed in the hand, heaven then becomes like your servant. / He who is virtuous will obtain great happiness; the sinner will obtain every varied suffering.

That man who is righteous in conduct, who has conquered pride and anger, trained in learning, not tormenting others, / content with his own wife, distant from another's wife—is he not to be revered on earth?

A giver of sweet food, one who has performed the agnihotra, a knower of Vedānta, one who lives a thousand moons, / one who fasts for a month, and a chaste wife—these six are to be revered by me in the world of living beings.

Even a man endowed with such conduct, when a stepped well with a regular well, a pond with water, / an auspicious cistern, or a temple of God has been built by that man in his heart's home—that is supreme dharma.”

An annual grant of maintenance given to a knower of the Vedas, the marriage of a maiden, release from debt for a twice-born, / and land well ploughed to relieve the torment of thirst—all this is merit.

Whoever hears or recites this chapter containing the essence of merit with purity of intention, / he is truly noble, endowed with dharma, and surely goes to the supreme dwelling of the universe.

Thus ends the forty-eighth chapter, entitled 'The Explanation of Dharma and Adharma that Bring Happiness and Sorrow to Man', in the conversation between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Garuḍa, in the Pretakalpa of the Dharmakāṇḍa, in the second part of the Uttarakhaṇḍa of the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa.

The glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa: Chapter 49. / Garuḍa said: / 'Ocean of compassion, I have heard of the soul’s wandering through transmigration on account of ignorance.