Garuḍa Purāṇa as pilgrims of the inner world
Garuḍa Purāṇa verses are not merely doctrines of death—they are reflections of the living subtle body, maps for the soul’s journey through its own veils. What appears as myth and moral tale is actually a deeply coded manual for Sādhanā, for tattva-jñāna, and for transmuting this human life into a luminous passage toward mokṣa.
The “journey of the soul” described after death is, metaphorically, the ascent of consciousness through the subtle body—mirroring the yogic raising of energy through the chakras in pursuit of final release (mokṣa). The obstacles and purifications in the death journey reflect, in coded form, the inner obstacles a yogin meets and overcomes through disciplined sādhanā.
The eternal dialogue between Viṣṇu and Garuḍa in the text is a restatement of the guru-shiṣhya (teacher-student) dynamic in the Upaniṣads, emphasizing guidance, inquiry, and revelation. All stages of existence are to be read as unfolding of Brahman-consciousness, and every mythic event as a facet of inner spiritual truth (e.g., crossing rivers, meeting “judges,” and undergoing purification are all rites of passage into higher awareness)
✦ The Inner River: Vaitaraṇī as the Karmic Nāḍī
In the Garuḍa Purāṇa, the Vaitaraṇī is not just a grotesque river of blood, excreta, and corpses—it is the soul’s confrontation with accumulated impressions (saṃskāras) upon death. Symbolically, this is the karmic current that weaves through the Suṣumṇā Nāḍī itself. Think of it as a mirror-river: every thought not met in awareness becomes a creature in that river—a crocodile of greed, a leech of regret, a shark of unconscious guilt.
You don’t have to wait until death to cross it.
Whenever you sit in stillness, and feel the old impressions rising—tension in the belly, shame in the heart, resistance in the throat—you are standing at the edge of your personal Vaitaraṇī.
The texts say it can only be crossed by truth, dāna, and inner purity. Which means: by honesty with yourself, by generosity of presence, and by sādhanā that purifies the inner currents. This river runs between every exhale and inhale. When you rest as the witness, the river turns clear. When you cling to identity, the river floods with beasts.
✦ Chitragupta: The Inner Recorder of Your Subtle Mind
We meet Chitragupta, the divine accountant, scribing every act, word, and thought. But he is not somewhere else. Chitragupta lives in you—he is your citta, chitra + gupta, the deep impression-storing intelligence just beneath awareness. Every reaction you suppress, every intention you deny, he records. Not with judgment, but with precision. He is your subconscious.
You cannot lie to Chitragupta. But you can witness what he records, and in that very witnessing, dissolve it.
This is the power of svādhyāya—self-inquiry not as therapy, but as revelation. When you close your eyes and feel a heavy emotion arise, you are reading Chitragupta’s entries. Each time you respond with stillness instead of reaction, a page is erased.
He is not your enemy. He’s your karmic librarian. Honor him by watching yourself truthfully.
✦ Śravaṇa and Śrāvaṇī: The Agents of Awareness
These two messengers of Yama—Śravaṇa and Śrāvaṇī—are often feared in story, but revered in silence. Their names mean listening—not hearing, but deep, total, surrendered listening.
Every moment you listen to yourself without judgment, they bow to you.
They report your subtle state to Yama—not as punishment, but as reflection. Symbolically, they are your own inner perception and felt-sense, what in Yoga we might call dhyāna and sākṣitva. Your awareness, when sharp and silent, becomes the dūta of your own liberation.
They remind us: What you listen to, you become. And what you listen to within, you redeem.
✦ The 21 Narakas: Layers of Unconsciousness
The Garuḍa Purāṇa describes 21 hells. But don’t externalize them.
Each naraka is a psychological or energetic entrapment—a loop of ignorance and unconscious patterning. Some are clearly symbolic:
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Tāmisra — blinding darkness: denial of truth
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Andhatāmisra — deeper darkness: delusion from ego
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Raurava — screaming hell: unprocessed pain that cycles
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Kumbhīpāka — boiling cauldron: inner restlessness and guilt
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Asipatravana — forest of swords: emotional self-harm
You don’t fall into these hells after death. You carry them now in your breath, your reactions, your avoidance.
To escape these, one doesn’t need just fire rituals. You need inner tapas—the fire of conscious attention. The practice? Feel fully what you avoid. Enter the “hells” of your psyche with the light of awareness. This is yogic alchemy.
✦ Four Doors of Dharmarāja: The Inner Senses as Gates
Dharmarāja’s city has four gates—guarded, oriented to different directions.
Internally, these are the gates of the four subtle inputs:
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Eastern Gate – Eyes: the gate of perception, shaped by desire
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Southern Gate – Tongue: speech and consumption, shaped by taste and identity
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Western Gate – Ears: gate of impressions, shaped by memory
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Northern Gate – Mind/Intuition: the subtle gate, shaped by silence
If these gates are purified, the dharma of your inner world is upheld. If they’re polluted, chaos arises.
You purify them not by force, but by pratyāhāra—a loving withdrawal of attention from outer to inner, until your own soul becomes the city of dharma.
✦ Dāna as Ego-Offering, Not Charity
While the text lists dāna—food, gold, water, knowledge—it’s deeper essence is offering what you cling to. That’s the only real gift.
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Dāna of food = offering control
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Dāna of water = offering emotion, flowing unblocked
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Dāna of knowledge = offering certainty, opening to mystery
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Dāna of protection = offering safety, embracing vulnerability
In this way, dāna becomes a śūnya-karma—an action empty of ego, full of presence. And every such act rewires Chitragupta’s record. Not for some celestial reward, but to untangle your inner knotting.
✦ The Inner Garuḍa
The Garuda Purāṇa is not a tale of death. It is a map of inner awakening.
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The Yama outside is your own conscience.
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The messengers are your inner perceptions.
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The hells are your states of ignorance.
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The rivers are your emotional currents.
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The gates are your senses.
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The scribe is your karmaśaya (seedbed of actions).
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The liberation is available now—through honest, embodied presence.
Let this Purāṇa live in your practice. Not just as story, but as mirror. And as we journey together through this human life, may we awaken not only beyond death, but in the middle of our breath.
Let every moment become a crossing.
Let every thought become a dāna.
Let every silence become the path home.
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Garuda Purana as a Manual of Sadhana and Self-Realization
✦ This commentary weaves the ancient text of the Garuḍa Purāṇa into a deeply personal, inner map of awakening. Each chapter is interpreted as a reflection of the subtle body, Sushumnā-nāḍī, and the layers of karma, awareness, and realization. Sanskrit verses will be included with Devanagari, IAST, and English translation, along with sādhanā suggestions.
✦ The Soul’s Departure – The First Unveiling
The soul leaving the body symbolizes the withdrawal of prāṇa into Suṣumṇā. This chapter is the beginning of inner death – not of the body, but of identification.
When the body meets its end, the soul journeys to the abode of Yama. Wherever the mind dwells at death, there it is born again.
Inner Interpretation:
This is the essence of pratyāhāra. Begin to die consciously—not physically, but egoically. Watch the habits of identity loosen their grip. Your next life is shaped by the thoughts you feed now.
Sādhanā Suggestion:
Evening practice: Reflect, “What was the tone of my mind today? Where will this tone take me if I die tonight?” Adjust accordingly. This is daily rebirth.
✦ The Journey through Vaitaraṇī – Facing the River of Samskāra
Vaitaraṇī is the karmic nāḍī, heavy with unresolved impressions.
Interpretation:
Vaitaraṇī river is within you – a stream of suppressed memory and unconscious habit. The beasts are your own guilt, shame, and avoidance. This is the nadī that your prāṇa must rise through.
Sādhanā:
During seated meditation, when difficult emotions arise, do not escape. These are the beasts. Witness and breathe. Vaitaraṇī turns from blood to light through presence.
✦ Chitragupta – The Inner Scribe
The karmic record keeper is your subconscious citta.
Interpretation:
Chitragupta is your deep memory—your samskāra bank. It is not judgmental; it is accurate. He writes what you impress.
Sādhanā:
Before sleep, journal one act, one thought, and one omission of the day. Offer it to Chitragupta within. Ask, “Am I proud to be writing this on the soul’s wall?”
From a yogic view:
- The Ajñā chakra functions like Citragupta when awakened.
- It reveals one’s entire karmic trajectory in clarity when the veil of avidyā is removed.
What you call “Citragupta” in the Purāṇic story is actually your own conscience sharpened by sādhanā.
✦ Śrāvaṇa and Śrāvaṇī – The Subtle Listeners
These are not outer messengers, but inner witnesses – your subtle body’s capacity to hear and feel.
Interpretation:
They bring truth to the surface. You cannot lie to your inner śrāvaṇa. You feel it. Cultivate deep listening in meditation – not to thoughts, but to the tone behind them.
Sādhanā:
Daily practice: Sit in silence. Ask within, “What am I avoiding hearing?” Let Śrāvaṇī reveal it.
These two are not merely external beings, but symbolic of our subtle faculties of awareness:
- Śravaṇa (hearing): the power of inner listening – our ability to be aware of our own thoughts, intentions, and deeds.
- Śrāvaṇī (receiving): the subtle receptivity in the subconscious where karmic impressions are stored.
Together, they reflect the witnessing consciousness within us that silently tracks all inner and outer movements. In yogic terms, these faculties are tied to the Ajñā chakra, where our karmic patterns are seen clearly once the veil is lifted.
✦ Twenty-One Hells – The Mind’s Inner Prisons
These hells are not afterlife places. They are mental states you already visit.
Interpretation:
Each hell is an unconscious loop:
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Tāmisra: Blind anger
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Raurava: Unexpressed pain
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Kumbhīpāka: Boiling mind of regret
Sādhanā:
Identify which inner hell you fall into most often. Create a ‘rescue mantra’ or breath practice to return to center.
The “hells” are not just post-death locations. They reflect energetic distortions within the suṣumṇā nāḍī, caused by adharmic karma:
- For example, violence creates inner contraction in the Mūlādhāra, making grounding and security impossible.
- Dishonesty affects the Viśuddha, choking one’s voice and clarity.
- Greed and lust distort Svādhiṣṭhāna and Maṇipūra, causing inner agitation and compulsion.
A sādhaka experiences these “narakas” during life whenever they live against dharma. These distortions manifest as anxiety, depression, illness, confusion, or disconnection.
The message is clear: cleanse the suṣumṇā, purify karmas, and return to sattva through inner alignment.
✦ Four Gates of Dharmarājapuri – The Senses as Sacred Portals
The city of Yama has four gates—East, South, West, North—each a subtle door of perception.
Interpretation:
These gates symbolize your four major sensory gates:
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East (sight): influenced by form and beauty
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South (taste): bound by attachment and indulgence
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West (sound): shaped by memory and story
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North (mind): refined, inner gate of insight
Sādhanā:
Each day, focus on one gate. Observe what enters. Cleanse it with mantra or intentional silence.
These four gates represent the four sheaths (kośas) or layers of human identity:
- Annamaya kośa (physical body)
- Prāṇamaya kośa (vital energy)
- Manomaya kośa (mind/emotion)
- Vijñānamaya kośa (discriminative intelligence)
Depending on where our identity is anchored, the “gate” we exit this life through changes. Only one who pierces all four sheaths and enters the Ānandamaya kośa attains the gateless gate — mokṣa.
For the sādhaka, transcend identification with body, energy, and thought. Cultivate intelligence rooted in soul-awareness.
✦ Dāna – Inner Offering as Liberation
Dāna isn’t charity—it’s ego-offering. True giving is letting go of self-protection.
Interpretation:
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Giving food = releasing control over nourishment and pleasure
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Giving water = letting emotion flow without resistance
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Giving knowledge = surrendering need to be right
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Giving shelter = opening the heart to the other’s suffering
Sādhanā:
Consciously offer one thing each day that the ego resists giving.
✦ Śravaṇa and Śrāvaṇī – The Witnesses of Karma
In the outer narration, Śravaṇa and Śrāvaṇī are described as Yamadūtas who watch and report every action of a being to Citragupta.
Symbolic Interpretation:
These are not external agents. They represent our inner awareness and subtle recording faculties — the prāṇic impressions and manasā-saṁskāras (mental imprints) that record every act. Śravaṇa is the witnessing capacity tied to buddhi (discriminating intellect), and Śrāvaṇī is the reactive tendency associated with manas (emotional mind). Together, they feed all karmic memory to Citragupta, the Ajñā chakra’s karmic “server”.
✦ Citragupta – The Inner Karmic Mirror
Citragupta is the one who reveals a being’s karma at the threshold of judgment.
Symbolic Interpretation:
Citragupta is not a scribe in the sky but the deep karmic field encoded within our subtle body, especially centered around the Ajñā chakra. This is where the accumulated saṁskāras (mental impressions), vāsanās (latent desires), and guṇa-based conditioning are stored — akin to a spiritual hard drive. Every moment of life is recorded not just by memory but by vibrational impact on our energy field.
Gupta = hidden, Citra = painted — thus, Citragupta is the hidden painting, the inner imprints (saṁskāras) left by all karma.
In yogic terms, Citragupta reflects the karmic knots (granthis) that block the suṣumṇā. If unresolved, they are presented as judgment after death — but also visible during meditation as recurring tendencies, guilt, or confusion.
✦ The Four Gates of Dharmarāja’s City
Yama’s city is said to have four gates. These are not geographical but energetic.
Symbolic Interpretation:
The four gates are symbolic of the four sheaths or bodies through which karma operates:
Sthūla śarīra (Gross body) – Physical habits and actions
Sūkṣma śarīra (Subtle body) – Emotions and desires
Kāraṇa śarīra (Causal body) – Vāsanās and saṁskāras
Mahākāraṇa or Turīya field – The gateway beyond karma
In sādhanā, these gates can be observed as layers to pass through in deep meditation. The journey through these gates is a journey inward — toward awakening from identification with karma.
✦ The 21 Narakas – Inner Karmic Distortions
These hells are described as destinations for various sins — boiling in oil, eating iron, being crushed, etc.
Symbolic Interpretation:
These are not places below the earth. They are psychic distortions in the suṣumṇā nāḍī that manifest through guilt, pain, addiction, fear, and compulsive tendencies. Each Naraka corresponds to a specific karmic blockage that prevents energy from rising upward.
For example:
Tāmisra – Inner darkness, forgetfulness of the Self
Raurava – Raging internal fires of anger and resentment
Mahāraurava – Chronic self-hatred or intense existential suffering
Kumbhīpāka – Consumption of toxic sensory experiences
These are experiences in this life, not just post-death destinations. Liberation begins by recognizing and purifying these inner hells through tapas (discipline), viveka (discernment), and bhakti (soul alignment).
✦ Bhakta vs. Abhakta and the Logic of Rebirth
The text differentiates between those who worship and those who don’t. It also details how rebirth is determined.
Symbolic Interpretation:
Worship (bhakti) here means not mere ritual, but turning the energy upward, toward the Source. A bhakta is one whose life force gradually moves toward sahasrāra (crown) and inner truth. An abhakta is energy-locked in lower chakras (root, desire, ego). The latter cannot enter higher dimensions until the pull of lower karmas dissolves.
Rebirth is not just about moral scorekeeping. It is the magnetic pull of unresolved desires and patterns, directing the consciousness to the form that can express them — be it a body, a mindset, or a loka.
Thus, the message is: “You are reborn where your frequency belongs.”
"Bhakta vs. Abhakta" is a distinction between:
- Those living from the inner Self (aligned with soul)
- Versus those trapped in egoic cycles (aligned with body-mind only)
The bhakta moves in clarity; their suṣumṇā is awakened. Their inner being is open to grace (śakti), and thus their transition is smooth, subtle, and luminous.
The abhakta, disconnected from soul, faces confusion, fear, and turbulence in the after-death states — because the same chaos lives within them while alive.
It reminds us: Your relationship with the inner Self determines the quality of your death and rebirth. The real bhakti is inner surrender, not outer ritual.
✦ Paśu vs. Puruṣa – Animal Nature vs. Soul Nature
A key distinction is made between the paśu (the bound being) and the puruṣa (the Self-aware one).
Symbolic Interpretation:
Paśu is the egoic self, caught in rāga-dveṣa (likes-dislikes), bound to instinctual drives — food, sex, survival, status. It is Mūlādhāra to Maṇipūra chakra-bound life. Puruṣa is the witnessing Self, whose identity is not ego but ātmā.
The journey is not to reject the paśu but to transcend and integrate it, allowing the paśu to become the purified vehicle of the puruṣa.
✦ Together, it forms the psychic cartography of the soul’s bondage and possibility.
Karma is not stored in books, but in the vibrations of your subtle body
Hell is not below; it’s within you when energy stagnates
Citragupta is not a god outside, but your own Ajñā-based karmic mirror
Liberation is not after death — it’s a process of releasing inner entanglements now
✦ The Chakras – From Root to Revelation
The chakra system described in the Purāṇa is an inner staircase of liberation.
Interpretation:
Each chakra holds karmic energy. You ascend not by force, but by awareness:
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Mūlādhāra: Release fear
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Svādhiṣṭhāna: Flow desire without clinging
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Maṇipūra: Use power with humility
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Anāhata: Let grief become compassion
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Viśuddha: Speak truth, even if voice trembles
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Ājñā: Witness duality without reacting
Sādhanā:
Meditate up the spine, resting awareness in each chakra. Breathe into the karmic residue. Offer it as firewood.
✦ The Foolishness of Unconscious Life
Eating, excretion, and sex—when unconscious—bind the soul.
Interpretation:
The animal instincts are sacred when seen clearly, dangerous when indulged blindly.
Sādhanā:
Before eating or any sensory act, pause. Ask: “Am I escaping or embodying?”
✦ The Chakras in the Purāṇic Mirror
This is a rare gem. Garuḍa Purāṇa, like the Yoga Śāstra, outlines the six primary chakras in subtle detail. But here, they are linked to death, karma, and rebirth—not just prāṇa.
Mūlādhāra – Seedbed of karma. The unconscious urge to exist.
Svādhiṣṭhāna – Desire and purification through water. Emotional residue.
Maṇipūra – Fire of digestion, power, and personal will. Also egoic fire.
Anāhata – Unstruck sound. Karma turns to dharma here. Heart opens.
Viśuddha – Voice as vibration. Karma dissolves in honest expression.
Ājñā – The karmic command center. The point where duality can end.
This system is not merely to be visualized. It’s to be realized, by witnessing how each chakra holds karmic dust—and how prāṇic awareness and mantra can transmute it.
✦ Tattva-jñāna and Sādhanā for Mokṣa
Here the Purāṇa shifts from death to inner resurrection.
It describes the 24 tattvas—from prakṛti down to earth—forming the subtle body. Recognizing them is not intellectual; it’s deconstructive: you peel away each layer of identity until only puruṣa remains.
The practice is clear:
See the five gross elements as impermanent.
See the five senses as visitors, not self.
Witness the mind, ego, buddhi as tools—not your essence.
What remains is the Śuddha Puruṣa—pure awareness.
This is mokṣa, not a post-death location, but a moment-to-moment freedom from identification.
✦ Tattvagñāna – Knowing the Building Blocks
The 24 tattvas are not just philosophy—they are the layers of your perceived self.
Interpretation:
- Mahat → Buddhi → Ahaṃkāra → Manas → Indriyas → Elements
To know tattva is to know: “I am not this.” It is neti-neti sādhanā.
Sādhanā:
Reflect: “Am I reacting from buddhi or ahaṃkāra?” Watch identity dissolve.
✦ The Paths to Mokṣa
Symbolism: Three gates to liberation—Jñāna, Bhakti, Karma
Interpretation:
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Jñāna: Cut the rope of delusion through inquiry
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Bhakti: Melt the ego in devotion
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Karma: Act with complete surrender
Sādhanā:
Choose one path for 21 days. Let it purify one gate of your being.
✦ Falśruti – The Karma of Speech
Speech is not small. Each word seeds a world.
Interpretation:
Lying outside begins with lying inside. Falśruti is not fear—it’s a mirror.
Sādhanā:
Spend a day in mauna (silence), or speak only what is both true and kind. Observe how your inner Chitragupta reacts.
✦ Falśruti – The Power of Inner Speech
Even falśruti—warnings against false promises and insincere speech—points us back inward.
Your words to others are echoes of your inner dialogue.
When you lie to others, it often mirrors where you lie to yourself.
To practice vāg-yoga (discipline of speech) is to treat every word as mantra, every silence as sacred. And eventually, you speak from the Source—not from identity.
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