Life, Death, After Death & Rebirth - Garuda Purana

The Garuda Purana, a Vaishnava Purana is one of eighteen Mahapuranas, containing 8,000 to 19,000 verses. The modern era version of Garuda Purana is likely of 800 to 1000 century AD. It contains dialogues between Bhagwan Vishnu and his vehicle, Garuda about death, afterlife, sins, life in hell, location of hell, Yama, punishments meted out to the sinners, types of funeral rites to be performed for the departed, modes of liberation from rebirth cycle etc.

Garuda Purana is supposed to be chanted after the demise of a person; and especially in the 13-day mourning period. It is associated with many superstitions such as – it is inauspicious to keep the text at home; it is inauspicious to read it in any other period except the mourning period etc. etc. Nothing could be farther than the truth. In fact, this is the scripture which deals at length, about consequences of good & bad deeds, why a few people enjoy all comforts & others toil and how to be liberated from the cycle of birth-death. Chanting of Garuda Purana during mourning period was probably prescribed with the intention that the loved ones of deceased would better realize the importance of good deeds and liberation from rebirth cycle. 

Grauda Purana addresses the burning questions about life, death and after death. It provides great insight on the following:

1. Reasons for vast variety of living beings, deeds some persons being born as pauper, sick and others with silver spoon and consequences of good or bad.
2. Life after death, the journey of the soul, death and its aftermath, rebirth or reincarnation.
3. Importance of charity.
4. Significance of mourning of 13 days’.

 
Reasons for vast variety of living beings and some persons being born as pauper, sick and others with silver spoon
(Numbers in bracket hereunder are reference of Garuda Purana - chapter/page/verse)
 

1. It is explicitly explained that the sinners undergo horrifying tortures in hells after death and are born in different forms such as plants, animals, human, etc. depending upon the sins committed by them. Those, who are reborn as human beings, may be infested with grievous maladies, body and mental pains etc. In a human womb, one recollects all his past actions and repents for his sinful actions. Once he is born, he again forgets all his past actions.  The moment he is born, his soul is engulfed by ignorance. (1/3/19-25; 4/37/60-64)
2. Virtuous persons, who have done great tapas, are of good vows, truth-speaking, tranquil, renouncing, accomplished, and purified by good actions, go to heaven. After enjoying heaven, they are reborn in noble family. (14/133/29-30; 15/140/1-2)
3. The meritorious soul takes birth in a high family. He grows up in his parents' house, endowed with learning and modesty in association with the wise. In his youth, he is divinely handsome, wealthy and benevolent, arising as the result of great merit, austerities, and pilgrimages to sacred waters, done in past life. (15/143/20-23)

 
Life after death, the journey of the soul, death and its aftermath, Rebirth

1. When the subtle body leaves the gross body, it is known as death of gross body. Subtle body accompanies the Atman as outward covering in migrating to another body. The subtle body is able to see the entire universe and its karmic account and impressions (Samskars) being embedded in it.  Subtle body undergoes pains or pleasures in the hell or heaven as the case may be as the gross body undergoes pains or pleasures in the earth. (The constitution of gross, subtle and causal bodies is discussed in another article named as “Anatomy of body and soul”)
2. The Sinner goes through sixteen zones successively to reach the place of the Yama. (1/8/58-59). It is mentioned that sinner covers distance of about 88,000 yojanas {1 yojana = 8 miles (13 km)} between the earth and Yama’s world. In 348 days he reaches Yama’s city, being dragged by Yama’s servants” (5/84-85). Yama Loka is estimated at 1,032,000 Kilometers (As per modern science, distance between the earth and the moon is 384,400 KMs and the distance between the earth and the sun is 149,598,000 KMs). (8/65-67/32-52)
3. There are eighty-four lakhs of hells, of which are twenty-one are most dreadful. (3/28/60)
4. During the embryo development in womb, month wise formation is as under:
5. Ist month –head,
6. 2nd month - arms and other parts of the body
7. 3rd month - Nails, hair, bones, skin, linga and other cavities;
8. 4th month - Seven bodily fluids;
9. 5th month - Hunger and thirst arise;
10. 6th month - Enveloped by the chorion & it moves to the left of the womb.
11. 7th month – it gains consciousness and remembers the Karma generated in hundreds of previous births
12. 8th - 9th month – He/she is cast out forcibly, bending down his head, he comes out with anxiety and painfully breathless and with memory destroyed. (6/46-49/2-25)

 
(As per modern science –

1. By end of Ist month – It has a recognizable head, nervous system, body and the beginning of minute limb buds.
2. By end of 2nd month - Vital organs continue to be formed, and the digestive, respiratory and urinary systems are taking shape. The eyelids have formed, but will not open for several more weeks. The circulatory system has been established and the heart is beating strongly. The head of the embryo is still very large in proportion to the body.
3. By end of 3rd month - The kidneys of the growing fetus begin to secrete urine. Soft nails have formed on the ends of the fingers and toes. The buds which will eventually form 20 milk teeth are already in place in the gums and the sex organs have developed. The face is properly formed and the head begins to take on a more rounded appearance ;
4. By end of 4th month - All limbs are properly formed and the joints are moving vigorously. Fingers and toes have assumed their proper shape and the nails are fully formed.
5. By end of 5th month - Hair appears on the head of the fetus.
6. By end of 6th month - vital organs are now fully formed and are functioning.
7. By end of 7th month – the fetus is now legally viable, which means that it is capable of a separate, independent existence. 
8. By end of 8th month – Fetus is now perfectly formed and the head is in proportion to the body.
9. By end of 9th month – The baby is now fully mature )

 
Importance of charity

1. The Garuda Purana lays emphasis on charity. Charity is of four type’s viz. Nitya (daily), Namittika (casual), Kamya (desiring a special result) and Vimala (free from dirt). Charity is more fruitful, if given by one who is healthy and fully conscious to the right & deserving person, out of one’s own earnings and not by borrowing. It multiplies yield of good deeds (karma). (8/69/64)
2. It prescribes charity of sesame seeds, iron, gold cotton, salt, seven grains (Rice, barley, wheat, kidney beans-Rajma, masa, panic seeds; dwarf-peas), a plot of ground and cow by dying person.  Apart from this, one has also to gift umbrella, footwear, clothes, ring, gourd, wooden plank to sit, vessels and food. These gifted items help the jiva (the subtle body) during its journey from the earth to Yama Loka.  
3. Offering made by the son gives strength to the departed during the journey from earth to Yama loka. (1/7/47-48; 8/72/90-94)

Significance of Mourning of 13 days’

1. The subtle body takes time to understand and accept that emotional attachment with loved ones was with its previous body.
2. Symbolic ceremonies have to be performed on earth, during these 12 nights and 13 days, to make this disentanglement process easier for the soul. Prayers and intentions of offerings offer solace to the departed soul.
3. This disentanglement process is completed within a time frame of 12 nights and 13 days.

 
The major “verse-wise” details from Chapter one to fourteen are explained below (chapters 15 & 16 are dealt in separate articles):
 
Chapters I to VII deal with Hells (mentioned below in bracket as chapter/page/verse).

1. sinfully-inclined go miserably to the torments of Yama.(1/3/17)
2. According to the good or the bad actions, some disease arises causing body & mental pains, living in deformed body, decayed senses, the numbing of the intelligence etc. (1/3/19-25)

1. Ten days the son should offer food. Every day these are divided into four portions. Two portions give nourishment to the five elements of the body; the third goes to the messengers of Yama; he lives upon the fourth which gives strength to the departed. (1/7/47-48)
2. Having passed successively, through these sixteen zones on the way, the sinful man goes to the place of the King of Righteousness. (1/8/58-59)
3. There are eighty-four lakhs of hells, of which are twenty-one are most dreadful. (3/28/60)
4. Those who always delight in wrong deeds, who turn away from good deeds, go from hell to hell, from misery to misery, and from fear to fear.(4/30/2)
5. Sinfully inclined persons are born as unmoving (trees, bushes, plants, creepers, rocks and grasses etc.) or insects, birds, animals and fish etc. It is said that there are eighty-four hundred thousands of fates of birth-fates. All these evolve and are born in the human kingdom amongst low outcastes, with leprosy, as blind, infested with grievous maladies, etc. (4/37/60-64)
6. Mortal is born when the male and female elements are bound together by the union of man and woman. By the first month the head, by the second the arms and other parts of the body are formed; by the third occurs the formation of nails, hair, bones, skin, linga and other cavities; By the fourth the seven bodily fluids; by the fifth hunger and thirst arise; by the sixth, enveloped by the chorion, it moves to the left of the womb. The bodily substances are formed of the foods and liquids of the mother, and the creature at the time of birth lies in the disgusting hollow of the loins, amid foeces and urine. Enveloped by the womb and bound outside by the sinews, it feels pain all over its body, caused by the mother's eating many things--pungent, bitter, hot, salt, sour and acid. With its head placed in its belly and its back and neck curved, it is unable to move its limbs,--like a parrot in a cage. From the beginning of the seventh month, though he gains consciousness, he who is in the womb trembles. There he remembers, by divine power, the Karma generated in hundreds of previous births,--and remembering, sobs for a long time, obtaining not the least happiness. Having this insight, the creature says, "I seek refuge in Vishnu. “If I am released from this womb I will lay myself at Thy feet, and I will take the means by which I may obtain liberation. Cast out forcibly, bending down his head, he comes out with anxiety and painfully breathless and with memory destroyed. (6/46-49/2-25)
7. After hundreds of lives one obtains human birth on earth. (6/40/51)

 
Chapter VII to XIII deal with Ceremonies for the dead

1. By the Shraddha, performed even by a stranger, the departed attain a happy state. (7/60/66)
2. The sinful man is not able to sin while chanting the name Hari and hence is uprooting the sins. (8/63/12-16)
3. The fast of the eleventh day, the Gita, the water of the Ganges, the leaves of the holy basil, the foot-water and names of Vishnu--all these are givers of freedom at the time of death. (8/64/26-27)
4. By eightfold gifts sesame, iron, gold, cotton stuff, salt, the seven grains (Rice, barley, wheat, kidney beans-Rajma, masa, panic seeds; dwarf-peas), a plot of ground, a cow,--every one of these is said to purify. (8/65-67/32-52)
5. A gift made to a deserving person multiplies a hundred-thousand-fold. It brings unending fruit to the giver and does not harm the recipient. (8/69/64)
6. Bodies are transitory; possessions are not eternal; death is always near;--one should accumulate righteousness. All the gifts made by human beings in this world clear the way for them on the path of the world of Yama (8/72/90-94)
7. The man, who neglects righteousness, goes and comes in misery. The fruitfulness of birth as a human being depends upon the pursuit of righteousness alone. Wealth, sons, wife and fancily, body, kinsmen,--all these are transitory. Therefore righteousness should be sought. So long as a man is alive he has a father and other relatives; but when they have known him to be dead, their affection soon fades away. The wealth disappears from the house, and the relatives from the cremation-ground. The good and evil karma he has made goes with him. (8/73/95-102)
8. Sesame, darbha-grasses and holy basil are three holy things, and they prevent an ailing man from going to a miserable condition. (9/77/10-13)
9. The rites of a departed include funeral fire (up to twenty-seven months old is buried), oblations, fourth day collection of bones should be done and dropped in Ganges, tenth day ceremonies, etc. The ten-day' ceremony; having done which, a good son is released from the hereditary debt. (8-9/P-82-96)
10. Death is certain for those who are born, and birth is certain for the dead. This is inevitable and therefore a wise man should not grieve over it. (9/P-96/3-8)
11. Nobody should form an excessive attachment to anybody; the body is only a dream. (9/98/9-11)
12. Sandhya prayers, giving, reciting, fire-offering, religious study, offering to the forefathers, feeding of Brahmins and the observance of vows should not be done during the death pollution. (13/116/22-22)
13. Sapinda ceremony should be on the twelfth day, the third fortnight, the sixth month or at the end of the year. (13/117/28-30) Sapinda ceremony includes worship with mantras, feeding Brahmins with pleasant food and giving gifts of bed, pillows, an umbrella, lamps, fan, a seat, a vessel, a water-pot, a mirror, and a canopy of five colors to one Brahmin. 
14. A man should make every effort in devotion to the forefathers, for by devotion to the forefathers he becomes happy either in this or the other world. All the ceremonies, concerning the deceased, giving merit to and satisfying the desires of the son, and giving liberation to the forefathers. (13/129/120-121).
15. Any man who is poor, but hears this account, even he, absolved from sins, obtains the fruit of gifts. (13/129/122)

  
Chapter XIV deals with Heaven.

1. In the world of yama, there is shining city of Justice which is reached by the very meritorious. (14/127/3-5). Chitragupta records the good and evil of men. (14/132/16-23). Those who have done great tapas, are of good vows, truth-speaking, tranquil, renouncing, accomplished, and purified by good actions go there. (14/133/29-30)

 
Reference:

1. Garuda Gurana, Gita Press Gorakhpur.
2. https://www.hinduwebsite.com/