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346
THE WAY OF LIFE
in your shops, whenever you get sometime, you contemplate upon and assimilate what you hear during this discourse. ACHARYA SHRI HARIBHADRASOORISHWARJI
Haribhadra was the court-priest in the royal court of Chitor. He had attained an absolute mastery over all the Vedas, Vedangas and the fourteen branches of knowledge. He was a very famous scholar but besides being a great scholar, he also had a weakness or a defect in his character. He was extremely egoistic and proud of his learning. He believed that he was the greatest scholar in the world. It is said that he always had a bandage tied to his belly. He used to say, "I am such a great scholar that I should not bow to anyone. That is why, I aways tie my abdomen with a bandage”.
Haribhadra always carried a ladder with him. He used to say, “If any scholar desiring to engage himself in a disputation fears me and flies into the skies I will climb to the skies by means of this ladder and will drag him into a disputation”. He used to carry with him a small net also. He used to say, "If any scholar fearing me conceals himself in a lake or in a river, I will catch him with this net and will defeat him in a disputation". "I will achieve a victory". He was absolutely confident of this. He had a sound and profound scholarship. No scholars who came to the court of Chitor went back victorious. Haribhadra, the priest used to defeat them all in arguments, harshly.
One morning he happened to be going on a road in the city. There was a Jain Upashray on the side of the road. In the morning, the Sadhvis in the Upashray were carrying on their spiritual studies. One Sadhvi was reading out the scriptures with a clear and articulate voice. Even those walking on the road could hear her voice. At that time, the Sadhvi was memorising a sloka written in Prakrit.
चक्कीदुर्ग हरिपणगं चक्कीण केसवो चक्की । - केसव चक्की केसव दु चक्की केसी य चक्की य ॥
(anter um fagfoto) Haribhadra heard this sloka and he stood still there. He tried to understand the sloka but he could not. He tried again
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