22 - On attaining ghosthood

Garuda said: 

1-2. How do these ghosts come into being? How are they redeemed from pretahood? What are their features. What is their diet, O lord? How are the ghosts propitiated? O lord of deities, where do they stay? Please favour me, O lord, with an answer to these queries.

The lord said: 

3. It is the men of sinful actions actuated by their previous misdeeds who become ghosts after death. Please listen to me, I shall tell you in detail. 

4-5. He who desecrates wells, tanks, lakes, parks, temples, water sheds, groves of trees, alms-houses etc., and misdirects any one in religious rites for monetary gain is a sinner. After death he becomes a ghost and remains as such till the final deluge.

6. Out of greed if people upset the boundaries of villages and destroy pasture lands, tanks, parks, underground drainage, etc., they become ghosts. 

7. Sinful persons meet with death at the hands of Chandalas, infuriated brahmins, serpents, animals with curved teeth or in watery graves or struck by lightning. 

8-13. Those who meet with foul death such as committing suicide by hanging from a tree, by poison or weapon, those who die of cholera, those who are burnt to death alive, those who die of foul and loath-some diseases or at the hands of robbers, those who are not cremated duly after death, those who do not follow sacred rites and conduct, those who do not perform Vrushotsarga and monthly Pinda rites¹, those who allow Shudras to bring sacrificial grass, twigs and other articles of homa, those who fall from mountains and die, those who die when walls collapse, those who are defiled by women in their menses, those who die in the firmament and those who are forgetful of Vishnu, those who continue to associate with persons defiled due to births or death, those who die of dog-biting or meet with death in a foul manner, become ghosts and roam over the earth.

1. Pinda rite- the rite of offering a rice-ball to the manes at the obsequial ceremonies or Shraddhas.

14. One who discards one's mother, sister, wife, daughter or daughter-in-law without seeing any fault in them, obtains ghost hood surely. 

15. One who deceives his own brother, kills a brahmana or a cow, drinks liquor, defiles the preceptor's bed, steals gold and silk-garments, becomes a ghost, O bird. 

16. One who usurps a deposit, deceives a friend, enjoys other man's wife, kills other's faith, is cruel, definitely becomes a ghost. 

17. One who discards the family-customs, takes to other customs, is without knowledge and good character, definitely becomes a ghost. 

18. To illustrate this there is an anecdote narrated by Bhishma¹ to Yudhishthira.² O you of good rites, I shall narrate the same to you, on hearing which you may feel pleasure.

1. Bhishma—the son of Shantanu, king of the lunar dynasty His birth name was Devavrata. He was named Bhishma, a person of terrible vow, when he declared not to marry or assert his claim to the throne which passed on consequently to his step-brother Vichitravirya. For details see Puranic Encyclopaedia under Bhishma.

2. Yudhishthira- firm in battle'. Name of the eldest Pandava prince, also named 'Dharma, Dharmaraja, Ajatashatru'. Son of Kunti and Pandu and the grandson of Vichitravirya, he became the emperor of Hastinapur at the conclusion of the Great Bharata war after eighteen days' severe fighting.

Yudhishthira said: 

19. O grandfather, please tell me what those evil deeds are as a result of which one becomes a ghost and what are the means of redemption from the same on hearing which I shall not be deluded thus further. 

Bhishma said: 

20. I shall tell you entirely what those causes are whereby one turns a ghost and how he is set free after falling into a dismal hell impassable even to gods. 

21. I shall tell all those things, on hearing which a person is set free from ghost hood. 

22. O dear, there was a brahmin of rigorous sacred rites named Santaptaka. For practising penance, he went to a forest. 

23. He was a man of kind, compassionate nature. He used to perform homas and yogic practices as well as great sacrifices. He used to spend time usefully engaged. 

24. He strictly observed celibacy. He observed penances. He was soft-hearted, truthful and pure. He was afraid of the other world. 

25. He strictly followed the instructions of his preceptor. He was delighted in serving guests. He observed yogic practices. He was free from Dvandvas (like happiness and misery, heat and cold and such opposite pairs).

26. Practising yoga incessantly to conquer mundane existence, he subjugated the sense organs. Following the path of good conduct, he eagerly desired salvation. 

27. He spent years in the secluded forest. Then the idea of visiting holy centres entered his mind. 

28. He thought within himself “I shall keep immersed my body in the waters of a holy river till I die.” Accordingly, he hastened to a holy centre where he took bath at sunrise. He performed the rites of Japa and Namaskara (obeisance) and started on journey. 

29-31. One day, this brahmin of great penance lost his way and reached a forest full of thorny shrubs, secluded and devoid of big trees. While he was hurrying up, he saw five terrible ghosts. 

On seeing these five awful ghosts of deformed features he was terrified and he closed his eyes in sheer fright. Then, he cast off his fear and became bold enough to ask in sweet words “O sires, how is it that you are so deformed?" 

32. What was the sin committed by you? Wherefore have you attained this deformity? Where are you proceeding in company? 

The lord of the ghosis said: 

33. O excellent brahmin, our ghost hood is the outcome of our own misdeeds. We had been engaged in harassing others. Hence, we became victims of foul death. 

34. In this state of our ghost hood we are oppressed with hunger and thirst. We are unable to speak. We have lost our mental equilibrium. We have lost consciousness too. 

35. We are Pishachas born of our own misdeeds. We do not know the difference between one quarter and another. We are extremely distressed. We do not know where we go. 

36. We have neither fathers nor mothers. This ghost hood is due to our own misdeeds. We are extremely dejected and sorrowful because the attack is all too sudden. 

37. O Brahmin, we are delighted on seeing you. We feel refreshed. Please wait a little. I shall narrate everything from the very beginning. 

38. My name is Paryushita. This ghost is known as Suchimukha. The other one is Shighraga and the others are Rohita and Lekhaka. These are our names and we are ghosts.

The brahmin said: 

39. How can ghosts, the outcome of evil actions, have names? You may have some purpose in view in having these names. Please tell me. 

The Pretaraja (King of ghosts) said: 

40. O excellent brahmin, While I myself took all sweet things I left stale things for brahmins to eat. 

41. While I was on earth as a man, I showed the hungry brahmins the exit door. Hence, my name is Paryushita. 

42. O excellent brahmin, whenever a brahmin begged him for food, out of hunger, this ghost used to run away, hence, he is called Shighraga. 

43. This other one irritated many brahmins with sharp tongue when they came to him for food, hence he is called Suchimukha. 

44. In his life on earth, this ghost ate sumptuously, in isolation, the food-stuffs offered to gods and manes in the absence of brahmins. Hence, he is known as Rohaka. 

45. Whenever a needy person requested him for something, this ghost pretended to be silent and went on scratching on the ground. As a result of this he is known as Lekhaka. 

46-47. Thus, acquiring our ghost hood and names from our misdeeds we have got ourselves deformed too. 

This Lekhaka is goat-mouthed; Rohaka is mountain faced; Shighraga is cow-faced; Suchimukha is needle-mouthed; I, Paryushita, am crane-necked. 

48-49. Taking this illusory form, we wander over this wide region. We suffer from terrible distress. O Brahmin, you can judge from our deformred faces with protruding lips and twisted shape. Our teeth are long, our bodies huge, our faces crooked, due to our misdeeds. Thus, I have told you how we turned ghosts. 

50. We have become somewhat wise on seeing you. If you wish to hear more, you can ask us further whatever you like to know.

The brahmin said: 

51. The creatures on this earth subsist on food, I wish to know precisely what you all eat for your subsistence.

The ghost said: 

52. If you are inclined to hear what we eat, O noble sir, listen attentively. 

The brahmin said: 

53. O king of ghosts, please tell me what you eat. 

Thus requested the ghosts began to explain their diet respectively.

The ghosts said: 

54. O brahmin, our diet is extremely loathsome, despised by all living beings. On hearing it from us you are sure to hate us. It is so despicable. 

55. Mucous, secretions, faeces and urine together with other exudations, filth as well as leavings of food constitute our diet. 

56. We eat, drink and revel in the house where people do not pay attention to cleanliness and where they scatter litter carelessly. We haunt unclean beings as well. 

57. We reside and enjoy in the house where there is no purity and where people do not observe truthfulness and restraint and where outcastes, robbers, etc. join together and take meals. 

58. We take delight in haunting the house where no mantras are recited, where no oblation is offered, where no homa is performed and where people do not read the Vedas¹ regularly nor perform religious rites.² 

1. Vedas-Originally there were only three Vedas: Rg, Yajus and Saman, collectively called 'Trayi: 'the sacred triad' but, a fourth, the Atharvaveda, was subsequently added to them. Each of the Vedas has two parts—the Mantra and the Brahmana, According to the orthodox faith of the Hindus, the Vedas are not human composition, being directly revealed by the supreme Being Brahman, They are called Shruti, 'what is heard or revealed' as distinguished from Smruti, 'what is remembered' or 'is the work of human origin'. 

2. Religious rites--as the worship of deities, observance of Vratas. 

59. We hover round the house where gods are not honoured, where the householder is a vile wretch, without shame and decency and where the poor husband is controlled by his sturdy wife. 

60. We enjoy gaiety in the house where covetousness, fury, somnolence, sorrow, fear, haughtiness, lethargy, quarrels and deception reign supreme. 

61. We lick up the urine mixed with semen from the vaginal passage of the widow having illicit intercourse with her paramour. 

62. Dear friend, I am ashamed to tell you about the food we take. O pious brahmin, we lick up the menstrual blood from the generative organ of a woman. 

63. O noble brahmin, prefering penance to riches, and engaged in performing the sacred rites¹, I ask you, out of frustration. Please tell me the means of warding off ghost hood. It is better to die a hundred times than turn a ghost.

1. Sacred riles as the sacraments (Samskaras described in the Gruhya sutras.

The brahmin said: 

64. A person who is assiduously engaged in fasts such as Krucchra², Chandrayana³ is never born as a ghost.

2. Krucchra--As expiatory rites, various kinds of Krucchras (mortifications of the body) are enumerated by Manu (11. 211-216). They are Krucchra-santapana, Atikrucchra, Taptakrucchra and Parakakrucchra. 

3. Chandrayana-A religious observance or an expiatory rite regulated by the moon's age (the period of its waxing and waning) in which the daily quantity of food consisting of fifteen mouthfuls at the full moon is diminished by one mouthful every day during the dark fortnight till it is reduced to zero at the new moon and is increased in like manner during the bright fortnight. Yajnavalkya smruti 3. 324 et seq, and Ms 11.216:

65. He who observes fast, keeps awake at night and is purified by meritorious deeds is never born as a ghost. 

66. He who performs Ashvamedha and other sacrifices, makes liberal gifts and builds monasteries, parks, drinking water-sheds and cowpens is never born as a ghost.

67. He who helps brahmins to give their virgin daughters in marriage, according to his capacity, he who enables students to study, and he who accords shelter and refuge to the needy is never born as a ghost. 

68. If a man takes food offered by a fallen man and dies with that food undigested in his stomach, he is supposed to have courted a foul death and hence, he becomes a ghost. 

69. If a priest officiates at the sacrifice of an unworthy person and neglects that of a worthy sacrificer, if a man lives in the company of despicable people he becomes a ghost. 

70. He who associates with drunkards or indulges in intercourse with a woman addicted to wine or eats meat unconsciously becomes a ghost. 

71. He who misappropriates a brahmin's wealth, or the property of the temple or that of his preceptor and he who takes money from his son-in-law before giving his daughter in marriage becomes a ghost. 

72. He who forsakes his innocent and guiltless mother, sister, wife, daughter or daughter-in-law becomes a ghost. 

73. All these are sure to be born as ghosts--a man misappropriating a trust property, a man treacherous to his friend, a man fond of another man's wife, a faithless man and a deceptive wretch. 

74. A man hating his brother, a murderer of a brahmin, a slayer of a cow, a wine-addict, a defiler of the preceptor's bed, one who casts off customary rites, or one who is fond of telling lies, a stealer of gold or one who takes possession of plots of land illegally-all these are born as ghosts. 

Bhishma said: 

75. When the brahmin spoke thus, the beating of drums was heard in the sky. The gods showered flowers over the brahmin. 

76. Five celestial chariots arrived there and took the ghosts away; the ghosts having taken leave of the saintly brahmin. 

77. The ghosts were relieved of their sins after the pious speech of that brahmin. They all achieved the highest region (Vaikuntha). 

78. On hearing this anecdote, the lord of birds quaked like the Ashvattha tree. He asked the lord again, for the benefit of human beings.