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good souls depart. It should be remembered that the crown of the head is the door used by the Yogin. The lower two avenues are rectum and genetal organ.
The way in which death takes place is in the following manner. At the moment of death, prána is influenced by Apāna. Consciousness is obscured by Tamas ( ATHE) and the joints begin to snap. The soul from the central navel is moved up by air and leaves the body. The siddhas and the Devas look at him with the celestial eye ( Divyacakşu ). The soul assumes the ātivāhika deha immediately. This body is conveyed by the messengers of Yama" ( Yamaduta ) and is laid along the way leading to the kingdom of death. The soul in this condition lives on the food and drink offered by his relatives. In the presence of the king of death, Citragupta looks into the records. Thereafter, he is lead to the hells, if he is a sinner. After this, there is' a description of the hells under the earth in great darkness. These hells are twenty eight crores in number under the seventh nether plane. Some of the names of the hells are given. Within these twenty eight crores, there are groups of five leading hells..
In the Garuda Purána, Uttarakhanda, there are important statements in connection with the doctrine of Karma. It is stated that persons whose souls depart from the body through the upper doors or avenues go upto higher regions and those who depart through the lower avenues go down to lower regions. The word avenue or Chidra (fease ) is ordinarily described as dvāra ( FR ) I. e. door.
It is well known that the number of prehuman states is eighty four lacs. In chapter III of the same work there is an account of the Karmans which lead to the state of preta (departed). An account of preta and its life is given in the text.
According to the Vayu-Purāṇa when a person is dead, nothing accompanies him except the Karma performed.2 It is 1. The nature of suffering is described at length in the Chapter 371 of the
Agni Purāna, verses 1-39, 2. Väyu Pulāņa, Chapter XIV yerse 32...
