|
Page1
Vidyaranya was
a great scholar-saint who lived in the fourteenth century.
After Adi Sankaracharya, he was an important person who did a lot for the preservation of
Hinduism and the spread of the Vedas and the Vedanta.
Vidyaranya
was a disciple of Vidyasankara or Vidya Tirtha who was the Head of the Sankaracharya Mutt
of Sringeri. There is a shrine for Vidyasankara at Sringeri.
Once Vidyaranya was living in a cave in the Vindhya
Mountains.
One morning a Brahmarakshas came there and said: "Holy
one! I am suffering from hunger and thirst. Won’t you give me something to eat?"
A Brahmarakshas is a spirit. It eats a lot of food. When a
very learned person fails in his duty to impart knowledge to others and also lives an
irreligious life, he is said to become Brahmarakshas after death and suffer pangs of hunger and thirst.
Author - Dharamsey M. Khatau
|
