20 - Functions of the Departed Soul

Garuda said: 

1. Having obtained a new body where does a preta shelter? Released from pretahood, where does he goes to live in? 

2-3. Passing through torments in hells which number eighty-four lacs and guarded by Yama and his thousand attendants how do the pretas get release and how do they roam about in this mortal world? 

The lord said: 

4. O king of birds, hear. I shall tell you about the region where the pretas live. Men attain pretahood by stealing other man's riches, by indulging in sexual intercourse with other man's wife or by doing acts of treachery. 

5. Having incurred sins, they seek for redemption in their progeny, Being bodiless as well as suffering from hunger and thirst they roam about here and there. 

6. Even the captives released from prison are frightened at their sight. They seek for means to kill their kith and kin. 

7. They bolt doors on their ancestors, put obstacles in the way of manes. Like thieves, they snatch the mane’s food in the way before it reaches them. 

8. They return home, stay on the roof and watch the activities of their kins. They cause disease and grief to their relatives. 

9-11. Having assumed the form of tertian and such-like fevers they cause diseases due to cold or wind like head-ache or cholera. They stay at the place of leavings or refuse, in the company of other ghosts and partake of food and drink left over by their relatives. 

12. In this way, the sinning pretas move about freely.

Garuda said:

13-14. How do the pretas behave and in what form? How is it possible to know their attitude, since the pretas do not speak to us? If you are pleased to do me a favour, you clear off my doubts. O lord, I hear that in the Kali Age many people become ghosts. Garuda said: 

15. The ghost torments his family people through the enemy. While he was in human body he was affectionate to his people, now that he is dead he becomes hostile to them. 

16. He who is devoted to Rudra, follows the path of righteousness, propitiates gods, satiates guests, speaks truth and pleasant words, is not tormented by the pretas. 

17. He who does not observe rites, has no faith in the sanctity of the Vedas, hates righteous acts and indulges in falsehood, is tormented by the pretas. By doing unrighteous acts, O Garuda, he becomes a preta in this Kali age. 

18. From the beginning of Satya yuga to the end of Dvapara, nobody became a preta and nobody suffered from preta. 

19-20. It is observed that of the many children born of one and the same mother, one is happy, one is addicted to bad habits, one is blessed with progeny, one is tormented by pretas, one abounds in wealth, one gets sons who die young, one is burdened with the offspring of daughters, one is at daggers-drawn with his relatives. This all is due to the bad intentions of the preta, O Garuda. 

21. A woman becomes barren in life or if she gives birth to children they die at an early age. There is a loss of wealth and cattle. These sufferings are caused by preta.

22. If there is a sudden change in his nature or an enmity with his relatives or an unexpected calamity, the suffering is due to preta. 

23. If a person loses faith in religion or if he loses the means of his livelihood or if he feels greedy in excess or if there is a regular quarrel at home, that suffering is due to preta. 

24-25. If he slays his parents or reproaches gods and Brahmins and is found guilty of murder that suffering is due to preta. 

26. When crops do not grow up, though the rains are abundant; when the expenditure goes up and income is reduced; when quarrels rise in gravity, that suffering is due to preta. 

27. When, on travel to a foreign land, he is distressed by the onrush of wind, lord of birds, that suffering is due to preta. 

28. When he associates with the people of low caste or when he performs disreputable acts or when he is interested in acts of unrighteousness, that suffering is due to preta. 

29. When the hoarded wealth is destroyed by misfortune or when the work in operation bears no fruit or when there is loss of wealth due to undue taxation or due to fire or theft, that suffering is due to preta. 

30. When an incurable disease sets in, or when children suffer from pain or when wife suffers immensely, that suffering is due to preta. 

31. When one loses faith in the Vedas, Smrutis, Puranas, and Dharmashastras, that suffering is due to preta. 

32. When one abuses gods, gurus and Brahmins in their presence or absence, that aberration of nature is due to preta. 

33. This is due to preta and to no other course when a person suffers from loss of livelihood or break in social position or break in the continuity of lineage. 

34. When women suffer from abortion or do not conceive or when children die at an early age that suffering is due to preta. 

35. When he does not perform the annual shraddha in sincerity and has no inclination either--that suffering is due to preta. 

36. When on pilgrimage he indulges in sexual intercourse of neglects his duties or when he fails to prosper though he has done acts of piety--that suffering is due to preta. 

37. When both husband-and-wife quarrel at meals, when there is a strong inclination to harm others that suffering is due to preta. 

38. When trade does not prosper though he has gone abroad where he lives in separation from wife, that suffering is due to preta. 

39. When he lives in foreign lands or when he loses position at home, that suffering is due to preta. 

40. When he is inimical to his people, regards his son as his enemy, when he has no interest in home and feels uncomfortable there, that suffering is due to preta. 

41. When he refuses to obey his parents and has no love for his wife, is of cruel nature, is lost in his own affairs, that suffering is due to preta 

42. If the funeral rites are not performed in the prescribed way, the soul of the deceased (in rebirth) deviates from the righteous path and falls in the company of the wicked. Then Vrushotsarga is the only rite to redeem him. 

43. O Garuda, a person becomes a ghost and undergoes sufferings if he dies an accidental death or if his body is not cremated properly. 

44. O best of birds, when the descendent knows all this, he should conduct those rites which may release the deceased from ghost hood. If he does not perform rites for the ghost he himself turns a ghost after death. 

45. The person whose house is haunted by a ghost does not feel happy or comfortable. He loses faith, pleasure, devotion, discrimination as well as wealth. 

46. His linage breaks either at the third or at the fifth generation. In each and every birth he lives a wretched, poor and sinful life.

47. There are people who have fierce, dreadful, disfigured and ghostly appearance, who have no regard or honour for their caste, progeny, parents, or womanfolk, who put on fashions, go an unpleasant way and talk loosely. Alas, it is painful to see them suffer, under the force of fate, from the recollection of their past sinful deeds.