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Liberation from Cycles of Rebirth - Garuda Purana

9/22/2019

Riddle of being born poor or rich, birds or worms, riot torn regions or prosperous regions etc., is lucidly explained by Vishnu Bhagwan in Garuda Purana. Shri Hari informed his vehicle Garuda in the Garuda Purana that wealth, sons, wife and family, kinsmen, even body are transitory; possessions are not eternal; death is certain. Relations soon fade away. Hence, why not accumulate good deeds. Sinful deeds bring misery. The good and evil karma goes into next birth. Attachment is the root cause of miseries. As a remedy for attachment, one should develop attachment to the good, discrimination, and purity of the eyes. Such person shall not be able to do bad deeds.

In chapter 15 of Garuda Purana, Vishnu Bhagwan has explained in detail about importance of meditation and devotion. Human Body has seven energy centers (chakras). Meditating on these chakras commencing from the base chakra with unwavering mind and by repeating the Ajapa-gayatri, upwards and downwards, the person feels oneness with the almighty.

Sri Hari further, tells Garuda that the path of devotion is far superior. For purification of mind rituals, performance of righteous duties and sacrifices (Tapas) are surely useful. But total devotion to Sri Hari yields a fruit which is the most valuable end everlasting. Meditation and devotion, if practiced as prescribed, one enjoys the eternal bliss of unification with the almighty.

One who, firm in non-attachment, worships me, thinking of no other, full-vision, with tranquil self, attains liberation.

Vishnu Bhagwan explains in chapter 15 as under:
Importance of meditation:

One should sit steadily cross-legged at dawn, and meditate upon the seven chakras, in the order of the Ajapa. The Gayatri called Ajapa is the giver of liberation. By doing Ajapa, the individual always gives up his separateness. (15/149/69-71)
There are seven chakras (energy centres). The contemplation should begin from the base:
Muladhara, is located at the root of the generative organ; It is four-petalled and resplendent, with letters from va to sa;
Swadhishthana, is in the region of the pelvis; the Svadhishthana resembles the sun, is six-petalled, and has the letters from ba to la;
Manipuraka, is in the navel; it is red in color and has ten petals, from da to pha;
Anahatam, is in the heart; it is twelve-petalled, from ka to tha, and is golden-coloured;
Visuddhi, is in the throat; its lotus is sixteen-petalled, with the vowels, and has the light of the moon;
Ajna is between the eyebrows; its lotus is two-petalled, has the letters ha and ksha, and is red in colour;
Sahasrara, it is at the top of the head & is the most resplendent, this lotus has a thousand petals, and is the seat of truth and bliss, ever auspicious, light-possessing and eternal.
1. One should meditate, in order, in the chakras from base, on Ganesha, on Vidhi (Brahma), on Vishnu, on Siva, on Jiva, on Guru, and on Parambrahman, all-pervading. (15/150/76)
2. It is said that the subtle movements of the breath in one day and night number twenty-one thousand six hundred. (15/150/80)
3. Breath goes out with the sound of "ha," and enters again with the sound of "sa." The individual is, indeed, always repeating the mantra. "Haṁsa, haṁsa,"-- Six hundred for Sri Ganesha; six thousand for Vedhas (Sri Brahma); six thousand for Sri Hari (Sri Vishnu); six thousand for Hara (Sri Shiva). A thousand for the Jivatman; a thousand for Guru; a thousand or the Chidatman (Parambrahman);--thus one should understand the respective numbers of the repetitions. (15/151/80)
4. Having worshipped mentally in all the chakras, with unwavering mind, he should repeat the Ajapa-gayatri according to the instructions of the Teacher. He should meditate in the Randhra, with the thousand-petalled lotus inverted, upon the Blessed Teacher within the Hamsa, whose lotus-hand frees from fear. He should regard his body as being washed in the flow of nectar from his feet. (15/151-152/81-88)
5. Having worshipped in the five-fold way he should prostrate, singing the praise of teacher (Guru). Then he should meditate on the Kundalini, as moving upwards and downwards, as making a tour of the seven chakras, placed in three-and-a-half coils. (15/151-152/81-88)
6. Then he should meditate on the place called Sushumna, which goes out of the Randhra; thereby he goes to the highest state of Vishnu.
7. One should meditate, between four o'clock and sunrise, on my form, self-illumined, eternal and ever-blissful. He should bring his mind to a state of steadiness, not by efforts alone, but under the instruction of a teacher, without whom he falls. (15/151-152/88-89)
8. Having done the inward-sacrifice he should perform the outward-sacrifice. Having done the purificatory ablution, and the Sandhya, he should worship Hari (Vishnu Bhagwan) and Hara (Shivji). (15/151-152/90)

Importance of devotion:
Sri Hari further, tells Garuda that the path of devotion is far superior for all those who are attached to the world. For purification of mind rituals, performance of righteous duties and sacrifices (Tapas) are surely useful. But total devotion to Sri Hari yields a fruit which is the most valuable end everlasting.

Sri Hari concludes saying that the man who follows all the things detailed above would find union with Him and gets eternal liberation from the cycle of birth and death. He enjoys the eternal bliss of unification with the Supreme Being.
(15/152/91-94).

Vishnu Bhagwan explains in chapter 16 the Law of Liberation as under:

The unmoving things, worms, birds, animals, men, the righteous, the thirty-three deities, are also the liberated, according to their order. Through millions of myriads of thousands of births some time a being obtains human birth, through the accumulation of merit. (16/155/11-16)
The difference in human being and other living beings is wisdom. Human body is must to perform meritorious deeds. Old age comes, life goes like water from a broken pot; diseases attack like foes. Therefore should he strive for the best? Riches are like unto a dream; youth is like a flower, life is fickle as lightning. Half of the life is wasted in sleep and idleness, owing to the miseries of childhood, disease and old age. (16/156-157/17-32)
Attachment is the root cause of miseries. As a remedy for attachment, one should develop attachment to the good, discrimination, and purity of the eyes. Such person shall not be able to do bad deeds. (16/160-161/56-57)
Persons desire to the highest truth (Sat-Chit-Ananda) by doing fasts and other restraints, become ascetics, take bath in Ganges, by the repetitions of mantras, oblations and other things, and by elaborate rituals. Direct knowledge of the Truth is the cause of liberation. (16/161-162/59-70)
Knowledge of the Vedas, the Sastras and the Puranas cannot destroy the illusions of the world of change. The Sastras are numerous; life is brief; and there are tens of millions of obstacles; therefore the essence should be understood, as the swan taking the milk in the water. Knowledge is said to be of two kinds: study and discrimination. The study is of Sabda Brahman; Para Brahman is reached by discrimination. (16/163/73)
Two phrases make for bondage and liberation: "Mine" and "Not-mine." The being saying "Mine" is bound; saying "Not-mine" is released. If actions are performed with self-interest & being mobilized by five senses; pride of the body & mine-ness are existing and mind is not calm, then realization of truth is not possible. To reach Truth, one should do austerities, meditation, vows, pilgrimage to sacred waters, recitations, oblations, worship and reading of the prescribed texts of the Vedas and Sastras. Therefore, if one desires liberation for himself, he should every effort, always, and under all circumstances he attached to Truth. (16/165-166/93-99)
One should practice mentally upon the supreme three-fold pure Word of Brahman i.e. AUM. He should, with breath controlled, restrain his mind, not forgetting the Brahma Bija. He should withdraw the senses from the sense-objects by the mind, and should fix his mind, drawn away by karmas, with understanding, upon the pure. "1 am Brahman, the Supreme Abode; I am Brahman, the Highest Goal,"--having realized this and placed the self in the self he should meditate. (16/167/103-107)
He who, when leaving the body, utters the one-syllabled Brahman, "Om," remembering me, goes to the Highest Goal. Free from pride and delusion, with the evils of attachment conquered, always dwelling in the Higher Self, with desires overcome, released from the contracts known as pleasure and pain, they go, undeluded, on that eternal path. (16/167/108-110)
He who bathes in the water of the Manasa, which removes the impurities of attraction and repulsion, in the lake of knowledge, in the waters of Truth,--he verily attains liberation. (16/168/111)
He who, firm in non-attachment, worships me, thinking of no other, full-vision, with tranquil self,--he verily attains liberation. (16/168/112)
He who, expecting to die, leaning his home, dwells at a sacred bathing-place, or dies in a place of liberation (Ayodhya, Mathura, Gaya, Kasi, Kanchi, Avantika, Dwaravati), he verily attains liberation. (16/168/113-114)
Knowers of Truth attain liberation; righteous men go to heaven; sinners go to an evil condition; birds and others transmigrate. (16/168/116)

Reference:

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

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