Illustrated Namokara Mahamantra

Author(s): Shreechand Surana, Surendra Bothra
Publisher: Diwakar Prakashan

Page 14

अमृत कलश
अरिहंताणं
चिन्तामणि रत्न
सुदर्शन चक्र
श्रुत दोहन
(:
THE GREATNESS OF NAMOKĀRA The Jain ācāryas have said :
Jiņa sāsanassa sāro caudas puvvānam jo samuddhāro,
Jassa mane navakāro saṁsāro tassa kim kuņai? -Namaskār stotra, 25
जिणसासणस्स सारो, चउदस पुवाणं जो समुद्धारो। जस्स मणे णवकारो, संसारो तस्स किं कुणइ ? This namokāra mantra is the essence of Jain dharma. It is the butter churned out of the fourteen pūrvas (the ocean of the knowledge revealed by the Tirthamkara). He, who absorbs this remains untouched by the mundane world.
The bearer of the fruit of heaven and liberation, the great namokāra mantra is far superior to the other wish-fulfilling divine things like-(cintamani ratna (wish-fulfilling gem), kalpavrksa (divine tree), kāmadhenu (divine cow), kāmakumbha (divine pitcher), amsta kalaśa (ambrosia pot), etc.
Illustration : Look at the illustration and observe the following: 1. The butter or the essence extracted by churning the fourteen pūrvas is the five line mantra
beginning with namo arihantānam. 2. According to mythology, when the gods and demons jointly churned the ocean the best of the
thing they got was the pitcher of ambrosia. Similarly, by churning all knowledge, science, scriptures and mantras the ambrosia-pot we got is known as the panca paramesthi namaskāra
mantra 3. Through its divine power the wish-fulfilling-gem bestows the desired things like house, gems,
cloth, etc. But this mahamantra bestows everything even without asking, just by chanting. 4. As the sudarśana cakra (the disc weapon) of the Vasudeva annihilates all enemies, so the
namokara mantra destroys all impediments, fear, suffering, disease, poverty, etc.