Kalikal Sarvagna Hemchandracharya

Author(s): Anandsagarsuri, Sagaranandsuri
Publisher: Manav Mangal Bombay

Page 35

"When Bhishma Pitamah expired and his relatives wanted to perform his cremation, they were in search of a holy place where none had been cremated so far. So they took the corpse to a very high mountain and were preparing for cremation when they heard a divine voice from the heavens :
'अत्र भीष्म-शतं दग्धं, पांडवानां शतत्रयम् । द्रोणाचार्यसहस्रं तु, कर्णसंख्या न विद्यते ॥'
Earlier, at this place, a !undred Bhishmas, three hundred Pandavs and a thousand Dronacharyas have been cremated. And Karnas cannot be counted."
Further, the Acharya said, "If at this one place, hundreds of pandavs of the same name have been burned, in this whole world how many more Pandavs would have been born and died ? And, if some Pandavs out of them have expired on Shatrunjay, what is there to be surprised about ?"
The 'pandits' upon hearing the authority from their own Shastras were totally nonplussed.
This incident is an eye-opener and shows what a broadminded thinker the Acharya was and how tolerant he was of others.
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