Behold, you fools! You search for a thousand Gods… Will you not listen to the many thousand scriptures that describe consciousness (lit. wisdom) as the real god? Will you not listen to those who say that such consciousness is the real Shiva? Or will your pride be destroyed only after stumbling through frenzied religions? All such states are ones filled with Parasakthi. This state of peace is the state of Vedanta; this has been experienced by the wise. Such consciousness is the soul of everything that exists. Slowly, the number of Gods have grown, but have been reduced to mere stories, and several fake religions have been inspired — how do you not see it?

And the actual text:

ஆயிரந் தெய்வங்கள் உண்டென்று தேடி
    அலையும் அறிவிலிகாள் ! - பல்
லாயிரம் வேதம் அறிவொன்றே தெய்வமுண்
    டாமெனல் கேளீரோ ?

மாடனைக் காடனை வேடனைப் போற்றி
    மயங்கும் மதியிலிகாள் ! - எத
னூடும்நின் றோங்கும் அறிவென்றே தெய்வமென்
    றோதி யறியிரோ ?

சுத்த அறிவே சிவமென்று கூறுஞ்
    சுருதிகள் கேளீரோ ? - பல
பித்த மதங்களி லேதடு மாறிப்
    பெருமை யழிவீரோ ?

வேடம்பல் கோடியொர் உண்மைக் குளவென்று
    வேதம் புகன்றிடுமே - ஆங்கோர்
வேடத்தை நீருண்மை யென்றுகொள் வீரென்றவ்
    வேத மறியாதே.

நாமம்பல் கோடியொர் உண்மைக் குளவென்று
    நான்மறை கூறிடுமே - ஆங்கோர்
நாமத்தை நீருண்மை யென்று கொள் வீரென்றந்
    நான்மறை கண்டிலதே.

போந்த நிலைகள் பலவும் பராசக்தி
    பூணு நிலையாமே - உப
சாந்த நிலையே வேதாந்த நிலையென்று
    சான்றவர் கண்டனரே.

கவலை துறந்திங்கு வாழ்வது வீடென்று
    காட்டும் மறைகளெலாம் - நீவிர்
அவலை நினைந்துமி மெல்லுதல் போலிங்கு
    அவங்கள் புரிவீரோ ?

உள்ள தனைத்திலும் உள்ளொளி யாகி
    ஒளிர்ந்திடும் ஆன்மாவே - இங்கு,
கொள்ளற் கரிய பிரமமென் றேமறை
    கூவுதல் கேளீரோ ?

மெள்ளப் பலதெய்வம் கூட்டி வளர்த்து
    வெறுங் கதைகள் சேர்த்துப் - பல
கள்ள மதங்கள் பரப்புதற் கோர்மறை
    காட்டவும் வல்லீரோ ?

ஒன்று பிரம முளதுண்மை யஃதுன்
    உணர்வெனும் வேதமெலாம் - என்றும்
ஒன்ரு பிரம முள துண்மை யஃதுன்
    உணர்வெனக் கொள்வாயே.

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30-32. 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.

I find the Garuda Purana very interesting, for the simple reason that this Purana is one of the few places where Hinduism formally designates certain actions and thoughts as wrong. For instance:

34. Those who eat, having neglected their wives, children, servants and teachers, and having neglected the offerings to the forefathers and the Shining Ones,–these certainly go to hell.

Or:

52. The very sinful man who sets fire to a house, a village or a wood, is captured by the messengers of Yama and baked in pits of fire.
53. When his limbs are burnt with fire, he begs for a shady place, and then is led by the messengers into the forest of sword-like leaves.
54. When his limbs are cut by its leaves, sharp as swords, then they say, ‘Ah, ha! Sleep comfortably in this cool shade!’
55. When, afflicted with thirst, he begs for water to drink, then the messengers give him boiling oil to drink.
56. Then they say: ‘Drink this liquid and eat this food.’ As soon as he drinks it he falls down, burning inside.
57. Getting up again somehow, he wails piteously. Powerless and breathless he is unable even to speak.

It also showcases a face of Hinduism that I’ve never encountered elsewhere:

49. Some of the sinful are cut with saws, like firewood, and others thrown flat on the ground, are chopped into pieces with axes.
50. Some, their bodies half-buried in a pit, are pierced in the head with arrows. Others, fixed in the middle of a machine, are squeezed like sugar-cane.
51. Some are surrounded closely with blazing charcoal, enwrapped with torches, and smelted like a lump of ore.
52. Some are plunged into heated butter, and others into heated oil, and like a cake thrown into the frying-pan they are turned about.
53. Some are thrown in the way, in front of huge maddened elephants, and some with hands and feet bound are placed head downwards.

Wikipedia lists punishments with corresponding sins:

How do we feel about the Garuda Purana? How is it relevant to our every day life? Is it relevant at all? It’s clearly very restrictive, and I’m sure many of us break the “rules” that it lays down. Should this bother us? How does this change our perception of Hinduism?

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There is much to be said; Carnatic music is as old as the vedas, and I shall not even attempt to try to summarize three thousand years of tradition in three hundred words. That said, it serves us well to briefly survey the roots of carnatic music for a better understanding of what it denotes. Carnatic music stems directly from the sama veda, expanding from a three note chant to the framework that it has acquired today. This article describes, in great detail, the relation. It is said that “one of the yogic approaches that awakens the Kundalini is the naada or naadopasana or devotion through music.”

That is:

It is believed that the root of our spinal column, there is a chakra or stahanam (place/location). Starting from here and going up to the crown of a person’s head, Prana, passes through knots or granthis. There are three knots, Mooladhara Kshetra, Manipoora or Vishnu Granthi and Agnya chakra or Rudra granthi. The path, sound takes through these granthas is called srotha. And, the practice of taking the sound to the prana and achieving liberation is called nada yoga.

Since the vedas, several composers have contributed to the field, most notably the Trinity of Carnatic music.

Carnatic music has been inextricably intertwined with bhakti (or devotion), and most compositions are an expression of this bhakti. Some of the songs are associated with staggering displays of bhakti. For instance,

On Deepavali day,in the year 1835, Dikshithar performed puja as usual and asked his students to sing his song “Meenakshi Me Mudam” in the raga Gamakakriya. As his students sang the line Meena lochani pasa mochani ["The lotus-eyed one who liberates from worldly pleasures"], he raised his hands and saying Sive Pahi, ["Shiva! Protect me"] left his mortal coil.

Or, as Syama Shastri painfully cries out in his Maayamma (Ahiri, Adi):

mAyammAyani nE pilacitE mATlADarAdA – nAtO-ambA

When I am calling out to you Mother, why don’t you respond and speak to me?

Is it fair O Meenakshi, who else is there but you?

Arguably the most famous of the Trinity, Shree Tyagaraja writes in his krithi (song) Sangeeta Gnyaanamu bhakthi vina (Dhanyasi, Adi):

Sangeetha Gnyanamu Bhakti Vinaa Sanmaargama Galadhe Manasa

O Mind (“Manasa”)! Mere knowledge (“gnyanamu”) of music (“sangeetha”) without (“vinaa”) devotion (“bhakthi”) can never lead (“galadhe”) to the right (“san”) path (“maargamu”).

and that “there is no other way to salvation than knowledge of music integrated with unalloyed devotion.” In his Swara raaga sudhaa (Shankarabharanam, Adi), he states the same:

svara rAga sudhA rasayuta bhakti svargApavargamurA O manasA.

The validity of such a claim is obviously questionable, but regardless of whether you believe in his sentiment, the lyrical finesse of this sentiment is indeed admirable.

As Tyagaraja so eloquently puts it in his Nidhi Chaala Sukhama (Kalyani, Misra chaapu):

mamata bandhana yuta narastuti sukhamA surapati tyAgarAja nutuni kIrtana sukham

Is it not obviously the height of bliss to sing the glory of the eternal compassionate Lord, rather than flatter or praise a short-lived mortal bloated with arrogance and self conceit?

There is more:

In his composition, Sribapriya Sangeethopasana in Atana, he conjures up visions of the mind travellin in the swaras – “Sapthaswara Chaari” and melodic ragas manifesting themselves in delightful forms – “Ranjimpa chesedu ragambulu, manjulamagu navatarambulethi.” He stresses other and nearer terrestrial benefits of sangita gana – “Prema Bhakthi [devotion], Sujana Vathsalyamu [wealth], Srimath Ramaa vara Katakshamu [the blessing of Shri Rama], Nema Nishta Yasodhanamu” as the rewards of acquiring Sangita Sastra gnana.

Two weeks ago, I came across an equally endearing understanding of naadopaasana. Every year, as part of the Season, at the Margazhi Mahotsavam, artists pick a theme and base the concert on it. Usually, this involves a deity, composer, raagam, etc. For his concert this year, Shri TM Krishna, did not specify the theme beforehand; he sang about mountains, and love, and fishermen. Later he announced that the theme of his concert was bhakti and explained to a puzzled audience that bhakti doesn’t need a Rama or a Krishna, but that bhakti is an intrinsic quality that can take any form — it was bhakti regardless of what he sang about — whether that was mountains, or women, or love. For those who understand tamil, here is the clip (skip to ~5.00)!

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(All my translations are from here!)

Krishna replies (in the words of Shri Madhavacharya):

A person can beneficially perform karma yoga or prescribed Vedic activities as well as renunciation of the rewards of actions; but between the two karma yoga is preferable. Both are equally authorised and when karma yoga includes the renunciation of the rewards from one’s actions it becomes superior for without a sense of detachment and renunciation activities are influenced by the dualities of life such as success and failure and become a source of misery.

I’ve read a couple of poor interpretations of the above verse. It is important to keep in mind the context of the above verse: Krishna is convincing Arjuna to fight the battle on hand. For Arjuna, the path to moksa is that of action. For him, karma yoga is indeed preferable! In the next few verses, Krishna affirms that that, in fact, both paths (action and renunciation) lead to the same goal, that only the foolish differentiate between the two…As verse 5 so eloquently states:

य: पश्यति स: पश्यति // yah pasyati sah pasyati

yah – he who, pasyati – sees, sah – he. One who sees this, sees it.

In verse 7:

One who works in devotion, who is a pure soul, and who controls his mind and senses, is dear to everyone, and everyone is dear to him. Though always working, such a man is never entangled.

And verse 8:

A person in the divine consciousness, although engaged in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving about, sleeping and breathing, always knows within himself that he actually does nothing at all. Because while speaking, evacuating, receiving, opening or closing his eyes, he always knows that only the material senses are engaged with their objects and that he is aloof from them.

This ties into an important idea of Vedanta philosophy: the atman. The atman is the soul in every human being that transcends physical existence. It is identical to the brahman or the divine God. Here, Krishna suggests that the atman of a vishuddhatma (pure soul) is but a witness to his activities. He is ambivalent towards the worldly joy and sorrow that he experiences. He is aware that he is the cause of nothing, that his body is enshrouded by maaya.

Verses 18 and 19 expand further on this, equating the atman of a vishuddhatma to the brahman himself:

The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].

Those whose minds are established in sameness and equanimity have already conquered the conditions of birth and death. They are flawless like Brahman, and thus they are already situated in Brahman.

In the last verse of the chapter:

The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.

Krishna explains that to place one’s love in something unchanging as God (or brahman or atman) is to protect it, thereby assuring one continuous happiness. To be (metaphysically) a witness to one’s actions is to elevate oneself: to transcend maaya and to experience uninterrupted bliss.

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