Shloka 23

Yamamārga, Antyeṣṭi-vidhi, and Daśāhika Piṇḍa-dāna

Road to Yama and Ten-Day Offerings

Devanagari script

तदैव नीयते दूतैर्याम्यैर्वोक्षन्स्वकं गृहम् / निर्विचेष्टं शरीरं तु प्राणैर्मुक्तं जुगुप्सितम्

Transliteration

tadaiva nīyate dūtairyāmyairvokṣansvakaṃ gṛham / nirviceṣṭaṃ śarīraṃ tu prāṇairmuktaṃ jugupsitam

Translation

ထိုခဏတည်းမှာပင် ယမမင်း၏ ဒူးတများက ထွက်ခွာသူကို ခေါ်ဆောင်သွား၍ “လာ—သင်၏ကိုယ်ပိုင်အိမ်ရာ (ကံကြောင့်ဖြစ်သောလောက) သို့ ခေါ်သွားမည်” ဟု ဆိုကြသည်။ ထိုအချိန်တွင် အသက်ရှူမှုတ်ကင်းသွားသော ကိုယ်ခန္ဓာသည် မလှုပ်မရှား လဲလျောင်းကာ စွန့်ပစ်ခံ၍ ရွံရှာဖွယ် ဖြစ်နေသည်။

Word by Word

• tadā: then
• tadā: Kriya-visheṣaṇa (Adverbial)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tadā (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; कालवाचक क्रियाविशेषण (temporal adverb)

• eva: indeed; just
• eva: Nipata (Particle/निपात)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: eva (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; अवधारण (emphatic particle)

• nīyate: is led; is taken
• nīyate: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √nī (धातु; नयने)
• Form: लट् (Present), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd), एकवचन; आत्मनेपद; कर्मणि प्रयोग (passive)

• dūtaiḥ: by messengers
• dūtaiḥ: Karana (Instrument/करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: dūta (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd/Instrumental), बहुवचन

• yāmyaiḥ: of Yama
• yāmyaiḥ: Karana (Instrument/करण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: yāmya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd), बहुवचन; विशेषणम् (dūtaiḥ)

• vokṣan: speaking; saying
• vokṣan: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √vac (धातु; वचने)
• Form: शतृ-प्रत्ययान्त वर्तमानकृदन्त (Present active participle), पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st), एकवचन; ‘वक्षन्’ (speaking)

• svakam: one’s own
• svakam: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: svaka (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; विशेषणम् (gṛham)

• gṛham: house; home
• gṛham: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: gṛha (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन

• nir-viceṣṭam: motionless; inert
• nir-viceṣṭam: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: nir (उपसर्ग) + viceṣṭa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; विशेषणम् (śarīram)

• śarīram: body
• śarīram: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: śarīra (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन

• tu: but; indeed
• tu: Nipata (Particle/निपात)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tu (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; विरोध/अन्वय (contrastive particle)

• prāṇaiḥ: by the vital breaths; life-forces
• prāṇaiḥ: Karana (Instrument/करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: prāṇa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd), बहुवचन

• muktam: released; abandoned
• muktam: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: √muc (धातु; मोचने)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्ययान्त भूतकृदन्त (past passive participle), नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; विशेषणम् (śarīram)

• jugupsitam: loathsome; disgusting
• jugupsitam: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: √gup (धातु; गोपने) with desiderative stem jugups- (जुगुप्स्)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्ययान्त भूतकृदन्त (PPP) from desiderative ‘jugups-’ (to loathe), नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd), एकवचन; विशेषणम् (śarīram)

Speaker

Lord Vishnu (in discourse to Garuda/Vinatā-putra)

Pretakalpa Layer

Afterlife Stage: Yamaloka Journey

Philosophical Teaching

Concept: The body is not the self; once prāṇa departs it becomes inert and repulsive, while the jīva continues under karmic direction.

Vedantic Theme: Deha-ātma-bheda (difference between body and self); anityatā and vairāgya as supports for liberation.

Application: Practice non-identification with the body; prioritize inner cultivation and ethical action over bodily vanity.

Verse Rasa

Primary Rasa: karuna

Secondary Rasa: bhayanaka

Geographic Context

Type: processional path/escort route

Cross References

Related Themes: Garuda Purana Pretakalpa: Yamadūtas escorting the departed; descriptions of the corpse’s condition (general parallel)

Characters & Entities

• Yama
• Yamadūtas

FAQs

What is the importance of Yamadūtas in the Garuda Purana?

This verse presents Yamadūtas as the agents who escort the departed immediately after death, initiating the post-death journey according to karma.

How does this verse explain the path of the soul?

It distinguishes the departing being from the physical body: the body becomes motionless once prāṇa leaves, while the departed is led onward by Yama’s messengers toward a karmically determined destination.

Practical application of this wisdom today?

It encourages detachment from the body and emphasis on ethical living, since the post-death journey is portrayed as governed by one’s actions rather than by physical identity.