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Garudapurana 1.225

English (machine translation) 1.225

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1.225.1

Sūta said: / Knowing the three afflictions—internal and the rest—he who understands the wheel of rebirth, / with knowledge and dispassion arisen in him, attains absolute dissolution.

1.225.2

I shall declare the wheel of rebirth beginning from the moment of death, / without which the goal of man is not achieved, being merged into the supreme Self.

1.225.3

The man dwelling above, having abandoned his body, attains another; / in twelve days he is conducted to Yama's abode by Yama's messengers.

1.225.4

Whatever water his kin offer with sesame seeds there, / and whatever funeral rice-ball they offer, he consumes in Yama's realm.

1.225.5

Having gone, he enters hell on account of sin, and heaven on account of his merit; / the evil-doer goes to hell, while the merit-maker goes to heaven.

1.225.6

Cast down from heaven or hell, he enters the womb of women; / and that twofold seed of his comes into existence, centered at the navel.

1.225.7

First comes the bubble-like embryo, and from that indeed blood;
from the mass of flesh comes an oval shape like a lump of meat, which is then called the sprout.

1.225.8

Subordinate limbs—fingers, eyes, nose, mouth, and ears—
arise from the limbs, and after that the nails and so on.

1.225.9

From the skin, body-hair is born, and after that the hair on the head;
and staying head downward, the human being is born in the tenth [month].

1.225.10

Then the deluding Vaiṣṇava māyā encloses him completely;
[then follow] infancy, childhood, youth, and also old age.

1.225.11

Then death: a human being experiences the fruits of various deeds;
thus in this cycle of existence he is whirled about like a waterwheel.

1.225.12

Released from hell, he is born in sinful wombs;
by accepting gifts from a fallen man, a wise man would descend to a lower womb.

1.225.13

Released from hell, a beggar becomes a worm;
by committing a deceit against his teacher, a twice-born becomes a dog.

1.225.14

Desiring in his mind his wife or indeed his wealth without a doubt,
[or] doing dishonor to a friend, a creature is born an ass.

1.225.15

Tormenting his parents, he is born as a turtle;
he who, having trusted in the food of his master, cheats him,

1.225.16

overcome with delusion, is born as a monkey when dead;
a stealer of a deposit, released from hell, is born a worm.

1.225.17

A spiteful person, released from hell, becomes a rākṣasa;
and a man who violates trust is born in the womb of a fish.

1.225.18

Having stolen barley and grain, when dead he is born a mouse;
from touching another’s wife, he is born a terrible wolf.

1.225.19

From intimacy with a brother's wife, a man is born a cuckoo;
from approaching the wife of a guru or the like, a man is born a boar.

1.225.20

An obstructor of sacrifices, gifts, and marriages becomes a worm;
he who eats food without having offered it to gods, ancestors, and brāhmaṇas,

1.225.21

being released from hell, is born as a crow;
and from insulting an elder brother, he is born in the womb of a krauñca bird.

1.225.22

A śūdra who has approached a brāhmaṇa woman is born in the womb of a worm;
having begotten a child upon her, he becomes a wood-boring insect.

1.225.23

An ungrateful person [becomes] an insect, a vermin, a moth, or a scorpion;
a man who kills an unarmed man is born a donkey.

1.225.24

A killer of women and a killer of children is born as a worm;
stealing food, a man is born a fly.

1.225.25

Stealing clarified butter, one becomes a cat; a thief of sesame seeds becomes a mouse;
stealing ghee, a mongoose; [stealing] sweet meat, a crow.

1.225.26

Stealing honey, a man becomes a gadfly; stealing cakes, an ant;
stealing water, an evil-minded person is born as a crow.

1.225.27

When firewood is stolen, he is born a green pigeon or a dove;
stealing a vessel of gold, he is born in the womb of a worm.

1.225.28

When cotton cloth is stolen, a krauñca bird; a stealer of fire becomes a heron;
stealing pigment and leafy vegetables, he is born a peacock.

1.225.29

A man who steals red cloth attains the state of a jīvañjīvaka pheasant;
[stealing] auspicious perfumes, a musk-rat; stealing a hare, he becomes a hare.

1.225.30

Eunuchs [are born] from stealing an ornament; a stealer of wood becomes a grass-insect;
stealing a flower, one is poor; a man who steals from a beggar becomes lame.

1.225.31

A stealer of vegetables becomes a green pigeon; a stealer of water, a cātaka bird;
a stealer of a house, having gone to the most terrible hells such as Raurava,

1.225.32

stealing grass, shrubs, creepers, vines, and bark, goes to the state of a tree;
this very order is seen for stealers of cattle, gold, and the like.

1.225.33

A stealer of learning becomes mute after going through many hells;
and when an oblation is made in an rekindled fire, one is born with sluggish digestion.

1.225.34

Censuring others, ungratefulness, trespassing on others' boundaries,
cruelty, ruthlessness, and cohabiting with another’s wife,

1.225.35

seizing another’s property, impurity, and reviling the deities,
binding men through trickery, stinginess, and the slaughter of men—
by these characteristics one should recognize those released from hell afterwards.

1.225.36

Compassion toward beings, concord, rites for the other world,
truth, speech for the sake of benefit, and belief in the authority of the Vedas,

1.225.37

service to gurus, gods, sage-seers, and perfected sages, self-control among the virtuous,
dwelling in good actions, and friendliness: these they know to be the mark of heaven;
from the knowledge of the eight-limbed yoga one attains the ultimate fruit.

1.225.37.p1

Thus ends the two hundred and twenty-fifth chapter, entitled 'Discourse on the Ripening of Actions and Related Topics', in the Section on Conduct, called the first part of the first section in the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa.

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