Garuḍa Purāṇa 8
Garuḍa Purāṇa now proceeds to discuss about the persons who are authorized to perform last rites and its methods. Funeral rites can be performed by the deceased’s son, grandson, great grandson, brother and brother’s progeny. In the absence of male progeny, it is said that women can perform these rites. Annual ceremonies should also be performed to the deceased. When funeral rites and annual ceremonies are performed, all gods are satisfied and they bestow on the family of the performer health, wealth and happiness. Suppose, one does not have relatives, he should perform these rituals when he is alive. This ritual which is spread over a month is known jīvatśrāddha.
The Lord begins to speak about the necessity of performing śrāddha-s to the departed souls. A departed soul has many possible destinations. It can become one with the Brahman, not to be born again. It may be born as a demigod, animal, plant, etc. Irrespective of the nature of the soul’s transmigration, the piṇḍa-s offered in śrāddha ceremonies reach the transmigrated body of the soul. For example, the soul transmigrates as a god, the offered piṇḍa becomes nectar, if he becomes a gandharva, the piṇḍa becomes an object of enjoyment; grass to animals; meat to demons; blood to ghosts; and pulses and grains in case of humans. It is also said that it is important to offer food during such ceremonies to Vedic scholars. The piṇḍa-s offered to them become nectar to the soul. It is also said that it is important to uphold one’s traditions as declared in Śruti-s than enquiring into the reasoning.
It is said that there is a class of manes by name agniṣvātta pitṛ-s. They take charge of the remains of a body that was cremated. The agniṣvātta pitṛ-s carry the offerings, if made as prescribed in śāstra-s to the departed ones and give the offerings to them during their long journey to the world of Yama. The offerings are in the form of three piṇḍa-s during funeral rites or annual śrāddha ceremonies. Irrespective of the shapes and forms, the departed soul has attained during transmigrations, the piṇḍa offerings somehow reach them. When these manes become happy about the way in which a śrāddha ritual is performed for a departed soul, they in turn carry the food offered to the transmigrated soul, to whom a śrāddha ritual is performed. At the time of śrāddha ritual, these manes arrive at the place where the ritual is performed and remain afloat in the atmosphere. They enter the bodies of pandits in whom the departed souls are invoked and consume the food offered to them. There are special mantras and rituals for invoking the departed souls in the body of pandits. It is also said that the lord of death, Yama sends eleven ghosts to consume the offerings made in a śrāddha ritual. Particular reference has been made about the preparation of milk, rice and sugar to be cooked and served on the day of ritual.
It is also said that such rituals should be performed only within one’s means. Pomp, vanity and spending beyond one’s means are considered as sins and will invite curse from the ancestors and gods alike. If one wants to avoid transmigrations, he has to realize the Brahman and become one with Him, as declared by all the Upaniṣad-s. The soul of a deceased escapes through nine holes in a body and they are pair of eyes, pair of ears, pair of nostrils and mouth in the upper portion of the body and the organs of procreation and excretion in the lower portion of the body. Śāstra-s always consider navel as the centre of the body. If one has accrued good karmas, it is said that his soul will leave the body through any of the openings in the upper region of the body. If one has accrued bad karmas, his soul will leave through either of the two openings in the lower region of the body. A soul with good karma enters another human body and will enjoy the benefits of its good karmas. If one is able to win over his senses, mind and speech, he wins over māyā and is not likely to be reborn. It is also said that if one spends away both good and bad karmas, he is not reborn. When the fruits of all actions are surrendered to the Brahman, he does not accrue karmas at all.
(to be continued)
April 17, 2013 05:17 PM
Anaayaasena Maranam Vinaa dainyena Jeevanam
Dehaanthe thava saaujyam Dehimey Parvathi pathe.
By chanting this shloka and doing good karmas will a person get a smooth take off from this earth? Its immaterial if any of his kith and kin or Son performs shraadhas or not.
April 17, 2013 09:18 PM
Thanks for posting this. This is the meaning:
अनायासेन मरणं विनादैन्येन जीवनं।
देहि मे क्रिपय शम्भो त्वयि भक्तिं अचन्चलं॥
anāyāsena maraṇaṁ vinādainyena jīvanaṁ |
dehi me kripaya śambho tvayi bhaktiṁ acancalaṁ ||
Meaning: Give me a life without poverty. (If you can’t, then please) Give me death which should be without pain and without being neglected.
April 18, 2013 08:29 AM
Ravi - I can't believe it - Prabhakar is asking all the questions for me. Please let me know where he and you got those verses.
April 18, 2013 09:01 AM
I have this verse in Tamil version. After Prabhakar's comment, I posted the meaning. This should be in Mahābhārata, but I am not sure.
April 21, 2013 11:48 AM
Ravi sir, Thank you for providing the correct verses of the mantra. One more thing I would like to ask you. Amongst the Sahasranamas, Lalitha sahsranama is considered as equal to all the vedas. There is a saying that if a devotee with full faith worships the Divine mother, he will not take janmas or there will be no rebirth. At the end will the soul merge with the universal mother. In the phala shruthi of the sahasranama it is mentioned that a person gets an inclination to learn this sahasranama if it was his last birth on this earth.
April 21, 2013 12:23 PM
The question is what is devotion and full faith. These two are only a minuscule when we being to love Her. How do we ascertain that we love Her? When we recite Lalita Sahasranama or any other verses, you should have tears rolling down your cheeks. This is the only explicit symptom of love for Her. If one is able to enter this stage, this will surely be his last birth.
September 29, 2016 10:31 PM
how could a soul be punished when there is no body which is able to receive the pain ? why so many punishments related to pain without body in narka ?
September 29, 2016 10:39 PM
Soul is never punished, as soul is nothing but God. Our pains due to our own actions, which get embedded as powerful karmic impressions. We reap only what we sow.
November 03, 2017 03:30 PM
In death only the Bros body is given up by the soul, the subtle body (made up of mind, intelligence & false ego) is carried along with the soul. Whether this or the soul gets a temporary body to reap the reactions. It may also be noted that much of the interpretation in this article (may be in the site) is impersonal. Impersonalism is just 1/3 the understanding of the Supreme Absolute Truth & isn't the perfect understanding... refer Bhagavad-Gita.