[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) › 2.36 # Garudapurana 2.36 English (machine translation) 2.36 - **Language:** English ## Contents - [2.36.37](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.37) — 1 part ### [2.36.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.1) The glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa—36. / Tārkṣya said: / Why is fasting \[unto death\] meritorious and the bestower of an imperishable state, / if, having abandoned one's own home, one dies indeed at a sacred place? ### [2.36.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.2) If, failing to reach a sacred place, he dies, or if death comes to him at home, / what state does he attain who has become a hut-dwelling ascetic? ### [2.36.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.3) He who takes renunciation either at a sacred place or even at home, / how should it be done for him, even if he has not met his death? ### [2.36.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.4) If mental faltering occurs after an observance has been made, O Lord, / through what does his accomplishment come about, whether through doing it or not doing it? ### [2.36.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.5) The Holy Kṛṣṇa said: / If anyone indeed meets death after undertaking fasting \[unto death\], / discarding the human body, he shines equal to me. ### [2.36.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.6) As many days as he may live once the fast has been undertaken, / they are equal to sacrifices complete with sacrificial fees. ### [2.36.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.7) If he dies having adopted renunciation either at a sacred place or at home, / he too obtains every day double the aforementioned fruit. ### [2.36.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.8) When severe disease arises, and fasting \[unto death\] is adopted and performed, / disease does not arise again, and he truly shines like a god. ### [2.36.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.9) If a man takes renunciation when he is afflicted, / he is not born again on earth in this cyclic existence, the ocean of sorrow. ### [2.36.10](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.10) Day after day, feeding of brāhmaṇas should be given, / a vessel of sesame according to one's capacity, the gift of a lamp, and worship of the gods. ### [2.36.11](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.11) For one of such conduct, sins both high and low are burned away; / upon death, he attains liberation just like all the great sages. ### [2.36.12](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.12) Therefore fasting \[unto death\] grants the abode of Vaikuṇṭha to mortals; / therefore, whether healthy or at the very end, one should accomplish the mark of liberation. ### [2.36.13](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.13) The man who abandons sons, wealth, and other things and departs for a sacred place, / for him the deities beginning with Brahmā become granters of contentment and prosperity. ### [2.36.14](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.14) He who turns toward a sacred place, having undertaken the vow of fasting \[unto death\], / should he die even along the way, he dwells in the realm of the sages. ### [2.36.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.15) If, having undertaken the vow of fasting \[unto death\], he dies even in his own home, / leaving his families behind, he wanders alone in heaven. ### [2.36.16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.16) If a man gives up food and water in this manner, / and has drunk the water of my feet, he is not born again on earth. ### [2.36.17](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.17) Forest deities protect him who has gone to that sacred place and sits upon an animal skin; / the messengers of Yama, in particular, do not approach his side. ### [2.36.18](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.18) The man who attends on a sacred place, freed from all sins, / if he dies or is cremated there, he shares in the fruit of that sacred place. ### [2.36.19](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.19) Even if he constantly visits it, should he die elsewhere, / that wise man becomes a Veda-knowing twice-born in an auspicious land and family. ### [2.36.20](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.20) If a man lives on after having undertaken fasting \[unto death\], O Tārkṣya, / he should summon brāhmaṇas and give away all his possessions. ### [2.36.21](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.21) He should perform the complete cāndrāyaṇa fast, permitted by those twice-born; / thereafter he must not speak untruth, and should practice only dharma. ### [2.36.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.22) And whoever, having gone to a sacred place, comes back to his home, / he, permitted by the brāhmaṇas, should then perform an expiation. ### [2.36.23](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.23) Or having given gifts of gold, cattle, land, elephants, and horses, / if he reaches a sacred place at the time of death, he is fortunate. ### [2.36.24](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.24) Having set out from home for a sacred place when death is at hand, / at every step there is the gift of a cow, provided no injury occurs. ### [2.36.25](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.25) The sin that was committed at home is purified by bathing at a sacred place; / but if one commits a sin there, it is indeed like a coating of diamond. ### [2.36.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.26) He would suffer, there is no doubt about this, as long as the moon, sun, and stars endure; / yet gifts given there truly become imperishable. ### [2.36.27](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.27) When afflicted, gifts must be given even by impoverished men: / cows, sesame, gold, and especially the seven grains. ### [2.36.28](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.28) Seeing a generous man, all the dwellers of heaven are delighted, / always along with the sages, Dharma, and Citragupta. ### [2.36.29](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.29) As long as wealth is under one's own control, so long should one entrust it to a brāhmaṇa; / upon death, everything falls under the control of others—who will give it out of compassion? ### [2.36.30](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.30) The wealth that is placed in the hand of a brāhmaṇa by sons for the sake of the father, / by that, he has enriched himself along with his sons and great-grandsons. ### [2.36.31](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.31) What is given for a father is said to be a hundredfold; for a mother, a thousandfold; / for a sister, a hundred thousandfold; and what is given to a brother from the same womb is imperishable. ### [2.36.32](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.32) If out of greed they do not give, or out of negligence or delusion, / once dead, they all lament: 'Such misers, such sinners \[are they\]!' ### [2.36.33](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.33) Of wealth acquired with excessive hardship and by nature fickle, / there is only one beneficial course—giving; the others are calamities. ### [2.36.34](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.34) Death laughs at the protector of the body, and the earth laughs at the guardian of wealth, / just as an unchaste woman laughs at her own husband who is affectionate toward his son. ### [2.36.35](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.35) When indifferent, the righteous and gentle person, even having acquired vast wealth, considers both himself and his riches as merely grass, O Tārkṣya. ### [2.36.36](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.36) He has no afflictions, and indeed no snare of delusion; at the time of death, he has no fear arising from the messengers of Yama. ### [2.36.37](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.37) Seven thousand years \[of heaven\] by dying in water; eleven in fire; and sixteen in the air; sixty in great battle; eighty in a cowshed; and by fasting \[to death\], O Kaśyapa, imperishable is the destination. ### [2.36.37.p1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36.37.p1) Thus in the venerable Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa, in the Uttarakhaṇḍa, in the second part, in the Dharmakāṇḍa, in the Pretakalpa, in the dialogue between Kṛṣṇa and Garuḍa, the thirty-sixth chapter, named "Ascertainment of the Destination of One Dead by Fasting." ## Linked texts (1) - [Garuḍapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda.2.36.1) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.2.36) · Pramāṇa