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The King's Regret Soon everyone in the town of Patan came to know that the great scholar saint, Hemchandracharya was no more. Rich and poor, learned and illiterate, hundreds joined the funeral procession, which was led by the devotee Kumarpal, the ruler of the kingdom.
When the mortal remains of the sage were placed on the sandalwood pyre and subjected to the flames, Kumarpal's eyes were filled with tears. Never before had the people seen their ruler crying like a child in plain sight of one and all. His minister came up to him and politely said, “Your majesty, you must give way to grief like a common person. We have lost a great man, but everyone who is born is bound to die one day and great men are no exception. Besides, our guru's spirit is still with us as the soul does not die."
Kumarpal tried to compose himself. After he had recovered, he said, “I am not weeping over my mentor's death, for he had to pay his debt to nature just like any other man."
"Then, way do you shed these tears?" the minister asked.
"You know that a Jain monk is forbidden by canonical law to partake food at a king's palace.
1 Path to Righteousness 36
Jarducation mematona"
Pomprare personaruse om
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