21 - Ghosts and their Release

Garuda said: 

1. O lord, I am desirous of asking you how the ghosts ultimately get free and when men are no longer afflicted by them. 

2. How do the symptoms of ghostly affliction decisively vanish? How can ghost hood be warded off lest it should recur again? 

3. What is the time-limit, if any, of ghost hood? In how many years does a long-standing ghost hood disappear utterly? 

The lord said: 

4. I shall tell you how the ghosts become free and also how the person knows that he is tormented by a ghost. 

5-7. He (the ghost-afflicted man) shall explain the signs and symptoms to the astrologer. If he dreams of a holy plant like a Champaka or of a mango tree laden with fruits or if he dreams of a Brahmin or of a bull or of himself in a place of pilgrimage or of the death of a kinsman and if in dream he takes this as truth, this is all due to pretadosha¹. Mysterious events do often occur if the ghost has bad intentions.

1. Preta-dosha-bad intention of the ghost. The dead have to pass through the state of preta before they attain to the status of pitru. For their release from pretahood, the abservance of obsequial rites is necessary. If the descendent abstains from performing the obsequy, the ghost turns malevolent and proves harmful to him.

8. If a person desires to visit a holy place and his heart is set upon it, but somehow there is a break in carrying out his desire, that is due to the bad intention of a ghost. 

9-10. The evil intentions of the ghost come in the way of holy man whose pious activities are disturbed at each step or take an evil course or if a person falls a victim of eradication and turns cruel, O lord of birds, that is due to the bad intent ions of a ghost. 

11. If a person performs holy rites for the redemption of a ghost, he will find his actions fruitful. The ghost shall be satiated permanently. 

12-13. O Tarkshya¹, take this as truth that he who performs such rites becomes contented. He will make his soul permanently wedded to weal; the ghost will have a long-standing satiety. When the ghost is satisfied he will wish his kinsmen well for ever.

1. Tarksya--an epithet of Garuda.

14. There are certain sinful, wicked ghosts who harass their descendants. But, they too, when propitiated, cease to harass them. 

15. O lord of birds, they too, when their time comes, become free due to their sons' rites and they bless their kinsmen with opulence and flourishing wealth. 

16. The wretch of deluded soul who in spite of seeing, hearing and feeling the depredations of the ghost does not succour, is tarnished with the curse of the ghost. 

17-18. In every birth he takes he will become extremely indigent, sick, devoid of progeny and cattle and he may not get proper livelihood either. The ghosts perpetrate all these things. Then they go back to Yama's abode. From that place, when their evil actions wear off, and the appointed time arrives, they get release. 

Garuda said: 

19-20. Sometimes astrologers say that there is an affliction of ghosts but no specific indication is there as to the name of the ghost, his clan, etc; neither bad dream nor harassing activity is observed. O lord of deities, what should be done then? Please tell me precisely. 

The lord said: 

21-22. Brahmins say only what is true. They never tell lies. Fully believing in what the Brahmins say the person (advised and warned of ghosts) shall devoutly pray to the manes, per form purashcharana² rite and offer oblations to Vishnu.

2. Purashcharana --a rite preparatory to another rite, e.g., the Nandimukha rite is preparatory to the site of marriage.

23. By means of japas, homas and danas he should sanctify his body. O lord of birds, if this is performed, all obstacles and hindrances are dispelled. 

24. He is never afflicted by Bhutas and Pishachas¹ or other sorts of ghosts. By performing rites of oblations to Narayana with the ancestors in view he shall be freed of all sorts of affliction. This is my sworn statement.

1. Bhutas and Pishchas--malevolent beings, instigators of evils.

25-27. If there is an affliction of ghosts, the victim is never relieved by any other activity. Hence, one shall with due endeavour devoutly pray to the manes. He who repeats Gayatri mantra² with the manes in view, either in the ninth or tenth year, ten thousand times and performs homas a thousand times, after having previously performed Narayana Bali³, Vrushotsarga⁴ and other rites shall be free from all sorts of tortures. He will attain all sorts of pleasure and the best of worlds. He shall be honoured by his cousins and kinsmen.

2. Gayatri mantra-The holiest of all the mantras chanted by thousands of devotees at their morning, midday and evening ablution or ritual. It is so called because it is composed in the Gayatri metre. It runs thus 

Tat savitur varenyam

bhargo devasya dhimahi

dhiyo yo nah pracodayat

3. Narayana bali--A day-long rite performed by the descendent of the deceased who died without the rite of dipa-dana etc. at the time of death. 

4. Vrushotsarga rite of releasing the bull in favour of the deceased.

28. There is no godhead on par with either one's father or mother. Therefore, one should always worship the manes with hearty devotion. 

29-31. One's father is the instructor in wholesome things and he is a visible deity. Other deities may be the lords of bodies (but not the progenitors). Verily, this physical body can yield either hell or heaven or salvation. Who is more worthy of respect and honour than he (i.e., father) due to whose favour one is born in bodily form? 

After pondering over this, if one gives anything to the pitrus, O bird, that returns to him which he enjoys. This is what those who know the Vedas say.

32. He who saves his father from the hell named put is called putra here and hereafter.¹

1. Putra-so called because he protects his father against falling into the bell named pum: Manu IX. 138.

33. If one's father or mother dies either due to accident or due to a foul play, one shall have to adjourn religious rites, pilgrimages, nuptial rites and the annual Shraddha. 

34. He who reads this chapter entitled Svapnadhyaya or hears it, wherein the various dream symbols of ghosts have been indicated, will never see the same himself. [He will not be afflicted by ghosts].