[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Purāṇas](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana) › [Garuḍapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda) › [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt) › 1.49 # Garudapurana 1.49 English (machine translation) 1.49 - **Language:** English ## Contents - [1.49.40](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.40) — 1 part ### [1.49.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.1) The glorious and great Garuḍa Purāṇa — 49. Thus ends the section on installation. Brahmā said: Hari, the creator of the creation and all else, is to be worshiped by Svāyambhuva and others, / and by brāhmaṇas and the rest according to their own dharma; hear that dharma, O Vyāsa! ### [1.49.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.2) Performing sacrifices and officiating at sacrifices, giving gifts and accepting gifts, / teaching and studying: these are the six duties of the highest of the twice-born. ### [1.49.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.3) Giving gifts, studying, and sacrifice are the dharma of the kṣatriya and the vaiśya; / the staff \[of punishment is commended for the former, and\] agriculture is commended for the vaiśya. ### [1.49.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.4) Service to the twice-born is the means of dharma for śūdras; / artisanship is likewise a livelihood, and also the domestic sacrifice, according to dharma. ### [1.49.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.5) Begging for alms, serving the guru, study of the Veda, / performing the twilight rites, and tending the sacred fire: this is the dharma of the celibate student. ### [1.49.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.6) All the stages of life are twofold, forming a fourfold \[division\]: / the celibate student is either the temporary student or the lifelong student devoted to Brahman. ### [1.49.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.7) One who, having studied the Vedas according to rule, enters the householder stage of life / is to be known as the temporary student; the lifelong student continues until death. ### [1.49.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.8) Tending the sacred fires, honoring guests, sacrifice, giving gifts, and worshiping gods: / this, in brief, is the dharma of the householder, O best of the twice-born! ### [1.49.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.9) The householder is of two kinds: the indifferent and the practicing; / he who is engaged in maintaining his family is the practicing householder. ### [1.49.10](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.10) He who, having discharged the three debts and abandoned his wife, wealth, and the rest, / wanders alone is the indifferent one, intent on liberation. ### [1.49.11](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.11) Sleeping on the ground, eating roots and fruits, study of the Veda, austerity, / and proper sharing according to rule: this is the dharma of the forest dweller. ### [1.49.12](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.12) He who practices austerities in the forest, worships the gods, offers oblations, / and is constantly devoted to study of the Veda is the forest dweller, the best of ascetics. ### [1.49.13](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.13) He who, utterly emaciated by austerity, is solely devoted to meditation / is indeed to be known as an ascetic established in the hermit stage of life. ### [1.49.14](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.14) Always devoted to the practice of yoga, aspiring to ascend, with subdued senses, / the mendicant who strives for knowledge is called the supreme mendicant. ### [1.49.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.15) He who delights only in the Self, is perpetually contented, a great sage / endowed with complete self-restraint, that yogin is called a mendicant. ### [1.49.16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.16) Living on alms, sacred learning, silence, austerity, meditation in particular, / and thorough knowledge and dispassion: this is held to be the dharma of a mendicant. ### [1.49.17](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.17) Some are renouncers through knowledge, others are renouncers of the Vedas, / and some are renouncers of ritual action; thus the supreme mendicant is threefold. ### [1.49.18](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.18) The yogin is also to be known as threefold: the elemental, the warrior, / and the third is declared to belong to the final stage of life, having attained the form of yoga. ### [1.49.19](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.19) The first contemplation is in the former, but the difficult contemplation is in liberation; / and in the third, the contemplation of the Supreme Lord is declared to be the final one. ### [1.49.20](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.20) From dharma arises liberation; indeed, from wealth arises pleasure; / Vedic action is twofold: active engagement and renunciation. ### [1.49.21](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.21) Renunciation is preceded by knowledge, and active engagement is performance for the fire and the gods; / patience, self-restraint, compassion, charity, freedom from greed, continuous practice, ### [1.49.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.22) straightforwardness, freedom from envy, visiting pilgrimage places, / truthfulness, contentment, belief in the sacred, and restraint of the senses, ### [1.49.23](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.23) worship of the deities, worship of brāhmaṇas in particular, / non-violence, gentle speech, freedom from slander, and lack of harshness: ### [1.49.24](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.24) these are the duties of the stages of life. I speak next of the four castes: / the realm of Prajāpati is remembered as the destination for brāhmaṇas who perform their rites. ### [1.49.25](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.25) The realm of Indra is for kṣatriyas who do not flee in battle; / the realm of the Maruts is for vaiśyas who follow their own dharma. ### [1.49.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.26) The realm of the Gandharvas is for the śūdra castes who are engaged in service. / The realm that is remembered for the eighty-eight thousand chaste sages, ### [1.49.27](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.27) that very realm belongs to those who reside with the guru; / and the realm of the Seven Sages is indeed the realm of the forest dwellers. ### [1.49.28](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.28) For ascetics of controlled mind, renouncers who are chaste, / the bliss of Brahman is that realm from which a sage does not return. ### [1.49.29](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.29) For yogins, the immortal realm is called the ether, the supreme imperishable; / it is the divine bliss from which a liberated person does not return. ### [1.49.30](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.30) Liberation comes from knowledge of the eight limbs \[of yoga\]; hear it as I speak it in brief: / the restraints are five, beginning with non-violence; non-violence is not harming living beings. ### [1.49.31](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.31) Truth is speech beneficial to beings; non-stealing is not grasping what belongs to another; / celibacy is non-intercourse; non-possession is renouncing everything. ### [1.49.32](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.32) The observances are five, beginning with purity, twofold as external and internal; / cleanliness, contentment, satisfaction, austerity, and restraint of the senses, ### [1.49.33](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.33) sacred study is the recitation of mantras; surrender is worship of Hari; / posture is declared as the lotus posture and the like; breath control is the mastery of the vital breath. ### [1.49.34](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.34) With meditation on a mantra, it is "with seed"; the opposite is "without seed"; / thus it is spoken of as twofold, and also threefold: through inhalation, it is the inhale. ### [1.49.35](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.35) And retention (kumbhaka) from motionlessness, and exhalation (recaka) from expelling; it is threefold. / The mild consists of twelve measures (mātrā), the intermediate of twenty-four, ### [1.49.36](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.36) And the superior consists of thirty-six measures; and sensory withdrawal (pratyāhāra) is restraining \[the senses\]. / Meditation (dhyāna) is reflection on Brahman as the self; concentration (dhāraṇā) is steadiness of mind. ### [1.49.37](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.37) Abiding in the thought 'I am Brahman' is absorption (samādhi), abiding in Brahman. / 'I am the self, the supreme Brahman, truth, knowledge, infinite, ### [1.49.38](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.38) Brahman, consciousness, bliss; He is "That thou art", absolute; / I am Brahman; I am Brahman, bodiless, senseless, ### [1.49.39](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.39) Devoid of ego, mind, intellect, the cosmic intellect (mahat), and individuation (ahaṅkāra), / Having the light associated with waking, dream, deep sleep, and the rest, belonging to Him, ### [1.49.40](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.40) Eternal, pure, awakened, liberated, real, blissful, non-dual; / That person who is in the sun, that am I, undivided.' / Meditating thus, a brāhmaṇa is freed from the bonds of mundane existence. ### [1.49.40.p1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49.40.p1) Thus ends the forty-ninth chapter, entitled "Exposition of the Duties of Castes and Life-stages," in the Ācārakāṇḍa of the first section called Pūrvakhaṇḍa in the glorious Garuḍa Purāṇa. ## Linked texts (1) - [Garuḍapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda.1.49.1) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.49) · Pramāṇa