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## Namoththuna (Shakrastava) Commentary
**Chapter 3, Verse 123 of the Yoga Shastra:** Even for beings, happiness is generated, and even in the deepest darkness of hell, light shines. When the Lord enters the womb, wealth, prosperity, etc., increase in the family; even the unyielding feudal kings begin to bow. And famines, epidemics, etc., are eliminated, resulting in a state free from enmity, and the country and its people are free from calamities like excessive rain, drought, etc. Due to their influence, the throne moves, and gods, asuras, etc., bow down to their lotus feet. Thus, they are extremely influential.
**3. Fame:** By conquering raga-dvesha, parishaha, upsarga, etc., with valor, the Lord gains fame, and their reputation is always permanent. The celestial nymphs in the heavens and the serpent maidens in the netherworld sing songs of their fame. Gods and asuras constantly praise that fame.
**4. Detachment:** Even while enjoying the wealth and prosperity of gods and kings, the Lord does not have even a trace of attachment. When they accept initiation, they renounce all enjoyments and wealth and prosperity. What benefit do they derive from that wealth then? When karmas are exhausted, they are indifferent to pleasure and pain, to the world and liberation. Thus, the Lord is detached in all three states. This is what we have also said in the Vitaragastotra: "O Lord! When you enjoy the wealth of gods and kings, you do not experience even a trace of joy. Even then, your delight remains in detachment. Being detached from sensual pleasures, you have abundant detachment, and you remain indifferent to pleasure and pain, or to the world and liberation. Even then, you remain detached. In what state are you not detached? You are detached in all states."
**5. Liberation:** Liberation, in the form of the complete destruction of all afflictions, is always close to you.
**6. Form:** Your form is truly supreme. It is said that if one gathers the essence of the forms of all the gods into a single thumb, and compares it to the thumb of the Lord's foot, the form of the gods appears like coals in a burning ember. Therefore, the Lord's form is the most excellent.
**7. Vigor:** The Lord has the power to make Mount Meru a staff and the earth a canopy. It is heard that, soon after birth, Shri Mahavira Prabhu moved the big toe of his left foot to dispel the fear of Indra. Such is the vigor (power) and valor of the Lord.
**8. Effort:** The effort born from supreme vigor, which was so immense in the determination to destroy the karmas of the great images and the acceptance of the vows in a single night, etc.! And the yoga-nirodha of mind, speech, and body, and the excellent self-vigor manifested in that yoga, the unshakeable state like Mount Meru; and the effort born from the excellent self-vigor in the form of the manifestation of Shaileshikarana.
**9. Desire:** In the birth cycle, in the state of a god and in the state of a Tirthankara, there is an intense desire to liberate the world, which is immersed in the mud of suffering.
**10. Wealth:** You are filled with the complete knowledge of Kevala Jnana, which is the wealth obtained through valor by destroying the deadly karmas. This wealth of happiness is also unparalleled.
**11. Dharma:** You possess the great yoga-like Dharma in the form of Anasrava. The practice of Dharma in the form of the exhaustion of all karmas is even more excellent.
**12. Power:** The Samavasarana created by Indra and other gods due to their extreme devotion to the Lord, and the power in the form of Ashta-Pratihariya, etc., are possessed by the Tirthankara Lord. Thus, the praiseworthy qualities, consisting of twelve aspects like knowledge, etc., are spoken of by the wise.
In this way, from the two Alapaka (verses), one should understand the first aspect of the "Namoththuna" sutra, which is the object of praise, why, and how. We have said enough about this. Now we describe the second aspect, the reason for praise.
**Aigrana Tithyayarana Sayansambuddhana:** What is the meaning of Aigrana? It means "the one who initiates," i.e., the one who gives the first teachings of all kinds of ethics and Shruta Dharma. From this power, Shruta Dharma is known from them. Although it is said that the Dvadasanga was never, is not, and will never be, this is not true. And because the Dvadasanga was, is, and will be, it is called eternal. However, from the perspective of meaning, it is called eternal, and from the perspective of words, because the Dvadasanga is created in the reign of each Tirthankara, there is no contradiction in saying "the one who initiates Shruta Dharma."
Those who believe that liberation happens immediately upon attaining Kevala Jnana do not accept the Tirthankara. They say that Kevala Jnana does not occur until all karmas are exhausted. Due to this statement, the reason for the existence of the Tirthankara does not remain. Therefore, to refute this, it is said...