Illustrated Namokara Mahamantra

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

Page 38

POISONOUS SNAKE BECOMES A GARLAND OF FLOWERS This is an incident hundreds of years old. A merchant named Dhanagupta had a daughter named Srimati or Somalatā. In beauty she was like the moon and in virtues like Lakśmi (goddess of wealth) and Saraswati (the goddess of wisdom). Her mother had imbibed religious values in her since her childhood. When she started speaking, the first thing she learned to utter was the namokāra mantra.
When commencing any work, Śrīmati would pause for a moment and meditate over her favourite deities uttering....namo arihantānam, ņamo siddhāņam.... This would fill her with a renewed enthusiasm and energy. She succeeded in all, she did. She loved the namokāra mantra more than her life, it was the anchor of her life.
Buddhapriya, a young man from the same town, fell in love with the intelligent, beautiful, cultured and responsible Srimati. He started making efforts to get her hand in marriage.
The primary condition put by the merchant Dhanagupta was that the groom should be religious and virtuous. Buddhapriya put up a convincing show of pretended religiousity and Dhanagupta fell for it. Consequently Buddhapriya married and brought Śrīmati home.
The moment Srimati stepped in her husband's house she got a jolt. She observed that her husband and his parents were against Jain religion. They were also against her religious activities and ņamokāra mantra. They stared hatefully whenever she meditated or chanted ņamokāra and sāmāyika. But Srimati was not disturbed, she had full faith in her strong devotion.
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