Garuda Purana — Preta Kalpa, Shloka 72
Santaptaka’s Encounter with Five Pretas and Their Liberation through Viṣṇu’s Presence
एतस्मात्कारणात्प्रेतः शीघ्रगो ऽहं तु नामतः / रोधक उवाच / अहन्तु शूद्रजातीयः पुराभूवं मुनीश्वर
etasmātkāraṇātpretaḥ śīghrago 'haṃ tu nāmataḥ / rodhaka uvāca / ahantu śūdrajātīyaḥ purābhūvaṃ munīśvara
«ဤအကြောင်းကြောင့်ပင် ကျွန်ုပ်သည် ပရေတာ (သေပြီးနောက် လှည့်လည်သောဝိညာဉ်) အဖြစ် ‘Śīghraga’—‘အလျင်သွားသူ’ ဟူသော အမည်ဖြင့် လူသိများသည်» ဟု ဆို၏။ ရೋಧကက ပြောသည်—«အို မုနိရှွရ၊ ကျွန်ုပ်သည် ယခင်က Śūdra အမျိုးအစား၌ မွေးဖွားခဲ့ပါသည်»။
Rodhaka (a preta narrating his identity)
Afterlife Stage: Pretayoni
Concept: Post-death states and even appellations are consequences of specific actions; the preta’s condition is causally explained.
Vedantic Theme: Karma shapes subtle-body experience (liṅga-śarīra gati) until knowledge/devotion dissolves bondage.
Application: Reflect on causality of actions; avoid harm and betrayal; cultivate dharma to prevent preta-bhāva and fear after death.
Primary Rasa: bhayanaka
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
Related Themes: Garuda Purana Pretakalpa: classification of pretas and causes of preta-yoni; Garuda Purana: dialogues where pretas narrate their karmas and names
FAQs
This verse shows a being explicitly identifying as a preta and even being known by a specific name, indicating that the post-death condition is treated as a distinct, describable state with characteristics and identity shaped by causes (kāraṇa).
By stating “for this reason” and then giving a preta-name (“Śīghraga”), the verse implies that post-death experience and attributes are causally determined—suggesting a karmic or situational basis for how the departed being moves and is recognized in the intermediate realm.
Treat actions as having consequences beyond one lifetime: cultivate dharma and perform appropriate death-related rites for ancestors, remembering that the tradition views the post-death condition as influenced by causes created in life.