82
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 9, Ch. 10]
prescribed funeral ceremonies for his family members to save them from the path to hell.
PURPORT
After giving up the body, one is transferred to another body, but sometimes, if one is too sinful, he is checked from transmigrating to another body, and thus he becomes a ghost. To save a diseased person from ghostly life, the funeral ceremony, or  śrāddha  ceremony, as prescribed in authorized  śāstra , must be performed. Rāvaṇa was killed by Lord Rāmacandra and was destined for hellish life, but by Lord Rāmacandra's advice, Vibhiṣaṇa, Rāvaṇa's brother, performed all the duties prescribed in relation to the dead. Thus Lord Rāmacandra was kind to Rāvaṇa even after Rāvaṇa's death.
TEXT 30
ततो ददर्श भगवानशोकवनिकाश्रमे । 
    क्षामां स्वविरहव्याधिं शिशपामूलमाश्रिताम् ॥३०॥
tato dadarśa bhagavān 
    aśoka-vanikāśrame 
    kṣāmām sva-viraha-vyādhim 
    śiṁśapā-mūlam-āśritām
tataḥ—thereafter; dadarśa—saw; bhagavān—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; aśoka-vanika-āśrame—in a small cottage in the forest of Aśoka trees; kṣāmām—very lean and thin; sva-viraha-vyādhim—suffering from the disease of separation from Lord Rāmacandra; śiṁśapā—of the tree known as Śiṁśapā; mūlam—the root; āśritām—taking shelter of.
TRANSLATION
Thereafter, Lord Rāmacandra found Sītādevī sitting in a small cottage beneath the tree named Śiṁśapā in a forest of Aśoka trees. She was lean and thin, being aggrieved because of separation from Him.