The Garuda Purana: Why should we read it ?

   

 The Garuda Purana is one of the spiritual mahapuran out of eighteen mahapuran present in Hinduism culture. In this puran most of the descriptions are about Vaishnavism literature. The prime deity of this text is lord Vishnu and this text is all about the conversation done between Vishnu and his vahana Garuda. 

    There is a hymn available about this puran that tells-

         Jatha suranam prabara Janardana,

       Jatha ayudhanam prabara Sudarsanam 

      Tatha puranesu cha Garudam cha mukhayam  

    Tadahurharitatwadarsane . i.e, among all deities Janardana (Vishnu) is the prime and among all weapons the Sudarshan is the prime like that among all puranas Garud puran is prime (as it is the direct words of the lord .) That's why in the preface of this puran it is written, all the men who read this text will find both their gratification and liberation because it paves the way of both the above two purushartha.

   Mainly this text is divided into three parts as,

1. Purva khand ( achar kand)

2. Uttar khand ( Dharm kand- preta kalp)

3. Bramh khand 

    In Achar kand all the mystic theories of the creation of universe,all facts about the planets, gems, the need of values and morals in life etc are described. In Uttar khand it contains the death,the nature of death, what happens after death, the journey of the soul, varies sacred rituals carried out after death etc are described and  Bramh khand  dedicated for lord Vishnu.

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 N.B: As Bharat is the land of diversity. Here also we can find diversity inside Hinduism also . As it is mentioned earlier that the puran is referred as Vaishnav puran also ,so the followers of shiva (shivaite) have problems to read. So the right way to read any text is to be neutral while reading after that one can find the furits of his investment. 

 So let's start the topic that why should we read Garud puran ?

*** There is a myth that this Puran though it is sacred but not kept in the house as it is the book of  dead and it only reads in the time of death. But the fact is there is no truth behind this myth . The preface of the book tells us that you can read as well  as keep this book as your own .The simple reply to that myth is  how can we know the facts without reading the hidden contents ...

1. Decodes the mystery of the universe-

   Einstein said,"Science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind." By reading this book one can get the mystic knowledge about the origin of the universe and many more .

2. Tells about different sciences and diseases and there Ayurvedic solutions-

 For disease we have a book named as Ayurveda but in Garud puran we also find some more types of diseases and it's cures. It helps to know about different types of infections. Another great fact is that one can get chance to know about different medicines.

3. Anti Vedic acts are signatures of sins-

  It says that when a person commits any sin ,his whole community is destroyed. Some signs are present for different sins. For example- murderer of any Bramhan becomes a consumptive , one who commits suicide is the worst soul among all etc.

4. Life is a precious gift of God-

 Among all lifes , the life of a human is the most precious because he has the VIVEKA i.e the power of thinking about what to do and don't ,the power of discrimination between good and bad etc . So if we don't use the Viveka then nothing can be achieved . So it advices to use the life as a valuable gift .

5. Divulge all secrets of death-

   Birth and death are the reality of life and the Garud puran has the uniqueness teachings that it decodes the death very clearly. All these lessons are quite interesting because science also can't disclose the mystery of death . In short, the ENDING is the BEGINNING of a new chapter.

6. The sacred rituals  are carried out after death,why?

 Garudji was very curious to know the reason behind all things done after the death of a body and asked his Swami. After that lord Vishnu very simply answered all the questions asked by the Vainateya (garud).

     After reading this one can find the answer of all the questions like why the death body being fired after death,why various rituals of Dana done ,why Sharaddha done , what is the value of Pindadana ,why Gaya is important etc.

**** There are some meaning and motive behind all these rituals that are happening till today and the reason behind those rituals are articulated there ( in Garud puran).

7. Punishment mentioned in Garud puran-

 It difference between heaven and hell.  According to this text what happens with the soul after his death of the body decides by his work done in his life period .

8. Meeting with forefathers-

  On the 11th and 12th day of death,Hindus are conducted prayers and rituals for a dead soul piece. During that time souls get the chance to unite with his relatives, ancestors,close friends etc. At heavens all ancestors are welcome to that new soul and greet them . All these things are happening exactly as we do after seeing our close one after a long time.

9. Moral behind rebirth-

 All the question like what/why/how the rebirth  of a soul happens are described in the text .. kindly go and read that book.

10. Women commit sins against husband are most unfortunate and vice versa-

 The puran beautifully explains the behaviour of a Nari and the Patibrata Nari and her duties .In the same time also tells the duties of the Nara i.e the husband . So that a Patni will help her Pati to attain liberation and simultaneously she will also liberated i.e behind every successful man there is a woman .

11. Teaches about yoga and Bramha Gita-

 Finally we reach the end of Garud puran where the last chapter describes about yoga their relevance and contains the morals of Bramha Gita and the Vishnu sahasranama etc.

     Aparts from this there are many others more in Garud puran. Perhaps some nineteen thousand hymns are there and how can I,a common man able to write about all those meaningful mysteries . It is a unique text , that it clearly picture out the real meaning of life in general and the death in particular which are rare to find . So every human being should need to understand it's importance and must read this book irrespective of any religion,sect etc etc without being biased ..

(Source- Garud puran and internet)

  Thank you for reading .......

  Jay mahakal...

  Be happy and supportive....