49 - (Method of Final Release)

Garuda said:

1. O ocean of mercy! I have heard that this world of creatures is born out of ignorance. Now, I wish to hear the infallible method of Final Release. 

2. O God, O deity of deities, O lover of refugees in this insignificant world filled with the filth of sorrows! 

3. There are creatures staying in many bodies, being born and dying. There is no end to this process. 

4. They are always suffering, none of them is happy. O lord of moksha, tell me how one is released. 

The lord said: 

5. Hear, O bird, I shall tell you what you ask about Simply by hearing the same, you will get release from the world of mortals. 

6-7. There is God, transcendental self, indivisible Shiva, all-knowing, all-doing, lord of all, pure, without a second, self-luminous, without beginning, without end, unchangeable the highest of the high, attribute less and of the nature of existence, consciousness and bliss. 

8. The creatures are his parts and parcels. Like sparks of fire being struck by the beginningless knowledge, they separate into different bodies, through beginningless actions. 

9. They are controlled by virtues and vices in the form of bliss and sorrow. Their bodies have different castes, age and enjoyment born of their different actions. 

10. Then again in every birth, O bird, they obtain subtle bodies and after attaining moksha they acquire indestructible frames. 

 11. The departed souls enter into insentient objects, worms, birds, animals, men, deities but after release do not enter into any object or anybody at all. 

12. Passing through four types of bodies in order of their karman and leaving one body after the other a thousand times, taking birth in human form and acquiring knowledge due to good acts one obtains release. 

13. In the eighty-four lacs of bodies of creatures one does not acquire true knowledge anywhere unless one is born as man. 

14. Here, after thousands of crores of births a creature obtains human form only sometime due to the aggregate of virtue. 

15. Having obtained a rare human form he should endeavour for moksha. If he does not endeavour for it, there can be no greater sinner in the world. 

16. Born in the most beautiful human form he incurs the sin of slaying a brahmin if he neglects his self. 

17. Without human body it is not possible to obtain the supreme goal. One should be, therefore, very cautious to guard wealth in the form of his body and perform good actions. 

18. One should always protect self which is the receptacle of virtue. One should always try to look after the body at any cost. 

19. If alive, he may reap the result of his good actions. He may get a village, a field, a house or a wealth. But he may not get human body again. 

20. A wise man finds out means to preserve his body. Even a leper does not wish to discard it. 

21. Body is useful for Dharma, Dharma for knowledge, knowledge for meditation and meditation for immediate release. 

22. If a person cannot protect himself from evil then who else will do the same? 

23. If he cannot treat the disease here itself how shall he cure himself hereafter, at a place where there is no medicine?

24. Old age is like a tigress. Age runs away like water from a leaking pot. The disease kills like an enemy. Hence, one should practice virtue alone. 

25. So far as sorrow does not come, calamities do not approach, organs do not defunct, one should practice virtue. 

26. So far as this body remains intact he should practice virtue. One is a perfect fool who digs a well only when the house is on fire. 

27. Time fleets while man is ignorant due to the pressure of work he is engrossed. People do not realize what is harmful or what is wholesome for them. They are deaf to their own interest. 

28. Even after seeing the distressed, the dead, the fallen and the aggrieved people do not ever fear having drunk the wine of infatuation. 

29. Wealth is evanescent like a dream, youth is fading like a flower, age is fickle like a lightning. Knowing this who can entertain fortitude? 

30. A life of hundred years is too little. Half of that goes in sleep or idleness. Whatever little is left is wasted due to childhood, disease, old age and sorrows. 

31. Alas! Is not that man dead who is idle at a place of action, sleeps at a place of awakening and is confident at a place of fear? 

32. When the soul comes and stays in the body like the foam of water, when the company of the beloved is but temporary, how can a person stay fearless? 

33. He who does not know reality calls as useful what is useless, as permanent what is impermanent and as meaningful what is meaningless. 

34. Being infatuated by divine illusion he falters even seeing, misunderstands even hearing and misses sense even reading. 

35. Even when the crocodiles in the form of death, disease, old age are drowning this world in the ocean of time, he does not realize the Truth.

36. He does not observe that Time is running out at every moment, just as a pot of unbaked clay is not seen as broken inside water. 

37. It may be possible to wrap the wind, rend the ether, knot the waves but it is not possible to maintain perpetuity of the age. 

38. Since even this wide earth is burnt, even the lofty Meru is shattered, even the deep water of the ocean is dried, what can be said about the insignificant body? 

39. I have a son, wife, wealth and relations. Thus, while the goat of man thinks, the wolf of time takes him away by force. 

40. This has been done, this is to be done, this other is half done. Thus thinking one is taken by Yama. 

41. One shall do to-day what is to be done tomorrow, before noon what is to be done afternoon-- but whether done or not done, Death does not wait whether a person has completed the task or left it incomplete. 

42. Death-fire is there. Old age has shown him the way. Fierce diseases are his accompanying soldiers. The man attacked sees no protection. 

43. Split with the needle of greed, soaked in the oil of passions, cooked in the fire of anger and envy, man is eaten up by death. 

44. Death takes away even children, young people, old men and those in womb-such is this world. 

45. Not to speak of wife, mother, father, son and other relatives, the soul leaves even his own body and goes to the abode of Yama. 

46. This world has sorrow as the root. Whosoever possesses the same is sorrowful. Whosoever leaves it is happy. 

47. So leave in a moment this world which is the source of all sorrows, abode of all calamities and shelter for all sins. 

48. Man can get rid of setters of iron and wood but not the fetters in the form of his son and wife. 

49. So far as a being makes relations dear to heart, the cones of sorrow are being pegged in his heart. 

50. Eternally this world is destroyed by the thieves in the form of organs staying in the body who feed on the objects of pleasure and take away all wealth by deception. 

51. Just as the fish tempted by flesh does not see the iron-cone, so also a creature, tempted by enjoyment does not anticipate Yama's torture. 

52. The people going on the wrong path do not distinguish between good and evil. These men deserve hell, O bird, who are engaged only in filling up their bellies. 

53. Sleep, fear, sex and food are equal for all creatures. He who possesses knowledge is a man and he who is without knowledge is an animal. 

54. Foolish people are troubled by natural call in the morning, by hunger and thirst at midday and by sex and sleep at night. 

55. People love their bodies, wealth, wives, etc. Alas! being infatuated by ignorance they are born and they die. 

56. Therefore, one should always shun company. If it is not possible, one should associate with the great. 

57. Association with the good and discrimination are two clear eyes. Whosoever lacks them is a blind man who can go astray from the right path. 

58. Men are busy with their own affairs devolved on them by their ancestral profession or by their paticular stage in life. They do not know about true religion. Being deceitful they perish. 

59. Why should many preachers practising vows, but with their vision blinded by ignorance laboriously move here and there. 

60-61. Men engaged in ritual practices are satisfied with very little; being misguided they conduct sacrifices accompanied by mantras and oblations. 

Some fools infatuated by my illusion wish for moksha by torturing their bodies by fasts, taking cores but once in a day. 

62. Can the ignorant fools get release by torturing their body? Can a serpent die simply by beating the hole wherein it dwells? 

63. The imposters who guise themselves with matted hair and deer-skins and pretend to be pious move about deceiving people. 

64. For him who takes delight in the pleasures of the world and pretends that he knows Brahman, both Karman and Brahman are far distant. 

65. Alike at home and in forest, naked and shameless, the donkeys move here and there. Do they become unattached? 

66. If men achieve release by anointing mud and ash will they be released? 

67. Jackal, mouse and dear live in the forest and consume grass, leaves and water. Are they also ascetics? 

68. From their birth to their death, frogs and fish stay in the river such as Ganga. Do they become Yogins? 

69. Doves, Shilaharas and Chatakas do not drink water from the earth. Are they Vratins? 

70. People are content with their routine work. But that does not help them to reach the goal. It is the knowledge of truth or reality that effects release.¹

1. The perceptible world is a creation of Maya, a project of brahman. When brahman withdraws Maya (ma ya=non-existence or unreal creation) into his eternal existence nothing but brahman remains. The ignorance is, in fact, the attainment of brahman on the part of individual soul.

71. O lord of birds, ignorant fools, fallen in the dark well of six darshanas and bound by the noose of attachment, fail to realize the truth in the form of para-brahman. 

72. Floating on the surface of the ocean in the form of Veda-shastra and caught by the waves of six nigrahas,² the bad logicians suffer miserably.

2. Nigraha-flaw in argument whereby a disputant is put down in argument. Six or more nigrahas are explained in different texts of Nyaya philosophy.

73. A person well versed in the Vedas, Agamas and Puranas but ignorant of Reality is not distinct from a magician whose utterances resemble the caw-caw sound of a crow.

74. Those who are worried about the sources and objects of knowledge take recourse to Shastras which they study day and night but they are miles away from the goal of Ultimate Truth. 

75. Literary compositions are decorated by the figures of speech, syntactical arrangement of words and by variety of meters. The fools who are worried cannot derive any solace from them. 

76. Reality is something else and people suffer due to something else. The meaning of the scriptures is something else and people define something else. 

77. A few proud people without traditional knowledge misinterpret the Vedas which they do not rightly understand. 

78. They study the Vedas and discuss. But they do not realize the Ultimate Reality just as a spoon does not know the taste of food. 

79. The head carries the flowers, the nose knows the scent. The people study the Vedas. But very few persons understand the same. 

80. Not knowing the Reality of the self, a fool is infatuated by the shastras. When the goat stands in the shed, the shepherd seeks for it in the well in vain. 

81. The knowledge of the shastras is not competent to destroy the infatuation accruing from worldly affairs. The wick of a lamp cannot remove darkness which light alone can do. 

82. For the ignorant person the study of shastras is useless as a mirror is useless for the blind. But for the wise the same works as the means of true knowledge. 

83. Shastras are the source of knowledge which one desires to attain. But that is not an easy affair. One may not achieve knowledge even in one thousand divine years.

84. Scriptures are many, age is short. Obstacles come in battalion. One should pick up truth from falsehoods as a goose picks up milk from water. 

85. Having studied the Vedas and realized their essence the wise man should leave all the shastras just as one desiring corn leaves the husk.

86. Just as one satiated with nectar has no use of food, no one who is in search of Reality has anything to do with the shastras. 

87. One cannot obtain release by reading the Vedas or the shastras. Release comes from experience, not otherwise, O son of Vinata. 

88. A particular stage (ashrama) in life is not conducive to release; nor any system of philosophy, nor any ritual nor the combined knowledge of the shastras. 

89. The word of Guru alone can grant release. All knowledge is in vain. Among thousands of scriptures the word of Guru alone is vivifying 

90. The knowledge of the non-dual entity derived from the word of Guru can effect release. The practice of the ritual or the study of the crores of scriptures is quite in vain.

91. Knowledge is twofold: One arising from the study of scriptures, the other arising from discrimination. Sabdabrahma is known from the scriptures and Parabrahma is known from discrimination. 

92. Some seek for the knowledge of non-dual brahman (i.e., brahman without Maya) and some for that of the Dual (brahman with Maya). But they do not realize reality devoid of dvaita and advaita. 

93. Two words mine (mama) and not mine (na mama) signify bondage and release. By mine the person is bound and by not mine he is released. 

94. That is the right action which does not put one into bondage. That is the right knowledge which brings him release. All other action is but a labour and all other knowledge is but an artisanship. 

95. So far as actions thrive, so far as desire subsists, so far as organs are active, there can be little talk of realizing the Self. 

96. So far as one takes pride in body, so far as affection for worldly objects is there, so far there is persistence in efforts, so far as desire to do is there. 

97. So far as mind is not steady, so far as one does not meditate on scriptures, so far as Guru's blessing is not there, there can be little talk of realizing the Self. 

            98. Penance, vow, pilgrimage, muttering of mantras sacrifice, worship, talk of the Vedas and Shastras are meaningful only when one knows Reality. 

99. Therefore, by all efforts and in all conditions, focus your attention on atman, O bird, if you desire release. 

100. Tortured by the threefold suffering one should take shelter in the shade of the tree of moksha which has blossoms of dharma and knowledge and fruits of heaven and release. 

101. Therefore, one should derive knowledge of Reality from one's preceptor. Thus one is easily released from the bondage of one's actions. 

102. Now, hear, I shall tell you the last step by which one can attain the final goal. 

103. When the hour of great departure arrives he should without fear cut off all attachments with the weapon of detachment. 

104. The calm man should leave the house, start on pilgrimage and bathe in the holy waters. Then having prepared a seat as prescribed he should sit upon it with detachment. 

105. With a pure mind he should meditate upon the pure, three-syllabled Om signifying brahman. Without forgetting the brahma-bija one should conquer the breath and control the mind. 

106. He should control the organs from the objects of senses with intellect as his companion. The mind drawn away, by the actions should be possessed for the good by the intellect. 

107. “I am brahman the supreme shelter. I am brahman the highest stage,” having thus concluded he should concentrate his personal self on the universal self. 

108. Pronouncing Om the one-syllabled brahman and remembering me whosoever leaves his body obtains the highest state. 

109. Where the hypocrites devoid of knowledge and self-control do not reach, the wise obtain that state. 

110. The wise who are without ego and infatuation who have left attachment and vices, who contemplate on soul, whose desires have turned back, who are free from the effects of joy and sorrow, attain that imperishable state.

111. He obtains release who bathes in the holy tirtha of mind whose pond is knowledge, water is truth and which is devoid of filth of attachment and envy. 

112. Whosoever meditates on me with full devotion without attachment for any worldly object, who has imbibed complete awareness and whose mind is all pleasure. 

113. With a desire to die whosoever leaves his house and stays in a holy place where he breathes his last, can obtain release. 

114. Ayodhya, Mathura, Maya, Kashi, Kanchi, Avantika Puri and Dvaravati-- these seven places of pilgrimage can grant release. 

115. Thus I have told you, O Garuda, about the ways of release. Preaching the same with knowledge and control, one may obtain release. 

116. Those who have realized self can get release. Those who resort to the ritual can go to heaven. Those who commit sins go to hell. Others rotate on the wheel of birth and death.¹

1. The Bhagavadgita declares that after leaving the worne-out or diseased body the soul enters the new one immediately, as a man discarding worne-out clothes puts on new ones. But this is not true of each and every individual soul. Some souls wander in aerial bodies for indefinite time, some go to heaven, some to hell, staying in either place till their merits or sins are exhausted (kşhine punye martyalokam vishanti). Some enter the womb very soon, to reap the fruits of their actions in human, animal or other form on the globe of this earth.

Suta said 

117. Thus, having received the answer of his queries from the mouth of the lord, Garuda was delighted and he bowed to the lord of the world. 

118. “My doubts have been cleared, 0 lord, by your words"-so saying he took leave of Vishnu and went to the hermitage of Kashyapa. 

119. One may assume body sooner or later after death. There is no inconsistency in this approach.

120. Garuda repeated what he had heard from the lord. Marica was also delighted on hearing the words of Lord Vishnu. 

121. O brahmanas, I have removed your doubts and told you the most wonderful Purana known as Garuda. 

122-123. Garuda got it from Vishnu. Bhrgu got it from Garuda, Vasishtha from Bhrgu, Vamadeva from Vasistha, Parashara from Vamadeva, Vyasa from Parashara and I from Vyasa. Thus, I have told you the secret of lord Vishnu. 

124. A man who hears the same or narrates the same is blessed with pleasure here as well as hereafter. 

125. Whatsoever sorrows having been told about them who go to the city of Yama, whosoever hears about them gets release. 

126. After hearing about the results of actions described here, men may become averse to pleasures. The account is, therefore, meaningful for the listener. 

127. O ye that have controlled your organs, praise the lord from whom this voice has come out like a stream of nectar, by drinking (or hearing) even a drop or a handful of syllables of which a man may attain union with Paramatman. 

Vyasa said: 

128. The sages were fully satisfied having drunk the Vaishnavi nectar of words coming out of the mouth of Suta, replete with the essence of scriptures. 

129. They praised the Suta who knew the essence of the shastras. 

130. Thus having heard through the mouth of Suta the words of lord Vishnu allaying the doubts of Garuda the sage Shaunaka was fully satisfied. 

131. The sages honoured Suta with liberal praise saying, "O Suta you deserve a very high praise." Then they bade him farewell, the sacrifice being over. 

132. This holy Garuda Purana destroys sins committed by the listeners. This should be heard therefore. 

133. Having heard the Purana, gifts of bed, etc., should be given in charity or else it would not be fruitful. 

134. First of all, this Purana should be worshipped, when the reciter with the fee in cash, clothes, ornaments and cows. 

135. To obtain merit the reciter should be honoured devoutly with gifts of gold, corn, earth and other things. 

136. The man who hears it or narrates it gets rid of fierce tortures in hell and shaking off his sins aside enters heaven where he enjoys the company of celestial nymphs.