An Account of The Way of Yama.

Garuḍa said: What is the path of misery in the world of Yama like? Tell me, O Keśava, in what, way
the sinful go there.

The Blessed Lord said: I will tell you about the Way of Yama, bestowing great misery. Although you
are my devotee, when you have heard it you will become agitated.

There is no shade of trees there, in which a man may take rest, and on this road there is none of the
foods by which he may support life.

No water is to be seen anywhere that he, extremely thirsty, may drink. Twelve suns blaze, O Bird, as
though at the end of a pralaya.

There the sinful soul goes along pierced by cold winds, in one place torn by thorns, in another stung
by very venomous serpents.

The sinful in one place is bitten by ferocious lions, tigers, and dogs; in another stung by scorpions; in
another burnt by fire.

In one place there is a very terrible forest of sword-like leaves, which is recorded as two thousand
yojanas in length and breadth,Infested with crows, owls, hawks, vultures, bees, mosquitoes, and
having forest-fires,--by whose leaves he is pierced and torn.

In one place he falls into a hidden well; in another from a lofty mountain; in another he treads on
razor-edges and on spear-points.

In one place he stumbles in the awful black darkness and falls into water; in another in mud
abounding in leeches; in another in hot slime.

In one place is a plain of hot sand, made of smelted. copper; in another a mound of embers; in
another a great cloud of smoke.

In some places are showers of charcoal, showers of stones and thunderbolts, showers of blood,
showers of weapons, showers of boiling water, And showers of caustic mud. In one place are deep
chasms; in others bills to climb and valleys to descend.

In one place there is pitch darkness; in another rocks difficult to climb over; in others lakes filled with
pus and blood, and with excrement.

In the midst of the way flows the terribly horrible Vaitaraṇî River, which when seen inspires misery, of
which even an account arouses fear. Extending a hundred yojanas, a flow of pus and blood,
impassible, with heaps of bones on the banks, with mud of flesh and blood, Unfordable, impassible
for the sinful, obstructed with hairy moss, filled with huge crocodiles. and crowded with hundreds of
dreadful birds.

When it sees the sinful approaching, this river, overspread with flames and smoke, seethes, O
Târkshya, like butter in the frying-pan: Covered all over with dreadful throngs of insects with piercing
stings, infested with huge vultures and crows with adamantine beaks, Filled with porpoises, with
crocodiles, with leeches, fishes and turtles, and with other flesh-eating water-animals.

Very sinful people, fallen into the flood, cry, O Brother, O Son, O Father!'--again and again wailing.
Hungry and thirsty the sinful drink the blood, it is said. That river, flowing with blood, carrying much
foam, Very dreadful, with powerful roaring, difficult to see into, fear-inspiring,--at the very sight of it
the sinful swoon away.

Covered with many scorpions, and with black snakes,--of those who have fallen into the midst of this,
there is no rescuer whatever.

By hundreds of thousands of whirlpools the sinful descend to the lower region. They stay for a
moment in the lower region, after the moment rising again.

O Bird, this river was created only that the sinful should fall into it. It is difficult to cross and gives
great misery, and its opposite cannot be seen.

Thus along the Way of Yama, of many kinds of pain, giving extreme misery, go the sinful, crying and
weeping and laden with misery.

Bound by the noose, some of them being dragged by hooks, and pierced from behind with points of
weapons, the sinful are led on.

Others are drawn along by a noose through the end of the nose, and also by nooses through the
ears; others, by the nooses of death being dragged along, are pecked by crows.

Some go on the way neck, arms, feet and back bound with chains, bearing many loads of iron, And
being beaten with hammers by the awful messengers of Yama; vomiting blood from the mouth,
which then they eat again, Bewailing their own karmas these beings, becoming exhausted, full of
very great misery, go on towards the mansion of Yama.

And the stupid, thus going on the way, calling on son and grandson, incessantly crying out, 'Oh, oh,'
repents:-- 'By great meritorious effort birth as a human being is gained. Haying obtained that, I did
not do my duty,--also, whatever have I done!

'I made no gifts; no offerings to the fire; performed no penances; did not worship the deities; did not
perform service at a place of pilgrimage as prescribed;--O Dweller in the Body, make reparation for
whatever you have done!

'I did not duly honour the assemblies of Brâhmiṇs; did not visit the holy river 1; did not wait upon
good men; never performed any benevolent acts;--O Dweller in the Body, make reparation for
whatever you have done!

' Alas, I did not excavate tanks in waterless places, either for the benefit of men or for the sake of
animals and binds; did not even a little for the support of cows and brahmins;- -O Dweller in the
Body, make reparation for whatever you leave done!

'I made no daily gifts and did not give food daily to the cow; did not value the precepts of the Vedas
and the Śâstras; did not listen to the Purâṇas, nor worship the wise;--O Dweller in the Body, make
reparation for whatever you have done!'

'I did not follow the good advice of my husband; never preserved fidelity to my husband; did not pay
due respect to my worthy elders;--O Dweller in the Body, make reparation for whatever you have
done!

'Not knowing my duty I did not serve my husband, nor after his death enter the fire. Having become
widowed I performed no austerities;--O Dweller in the Body, make reparation for whatever you have
done!
'I did not emaciate myself by monthly fasts by the course of the moon, nor by detailed observances.
Owing to my bad deeds in former lives I got a woman's body, which is a source of great misery.'

Thus having lamented many times, remembering the past incarnation, crying 'Whence did I attain
this human state?' he goes on.

For seventeen days he goes on alone with the speed of the wind. On the eighteenth day, O Târkṣya,
the departed reaches the City of Saumya.