Nav Smarana

Author(s): Vinod Kapashi
Publisher: Vinod Kapashi

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Books and References Available now
Translation and Commentary
Composition- The meter (Chhanda) explained
Stories Associated with the Bhaktämara Stotra
Two more versions of translations reproduced here
(Mantras and Yantras dealt with separately.
2/1.0
Introduction
The Seventh recitation: the Bhaktämara Stotra- has a unique place in Jain stotra literature. This has been considered a devotional poem par excellence. We have seen that the first smarana Namaskara mantra is very important for every Jain and that is why every Jain knows or recites the Namaskära Mantra with utmost devotion. The Bhaktämara Stotra is somewhat different and we cannot compare the two. The Namaskära Mantra is a small smarana consisting of only nine short sentences whereas the Bhaktämara Stotra is a long poem composed in Sanskrit, which is quite difficult for many Jains. The Namaskära Mantra is a simple composition of devotion and obeisance. However, the importance of the Bhaktämara Stotra in the Jain literary field cannot be ignored or overlooked. There are people both in India and outside who can recite this stotra with ease and precision of pronunciation. In fact, there are small children, even outside India, whose mother tongue is not Gujarati, Hindi or Sanskrit, but they have remembered the Bhaktämara Stotra by heart and can recite all the verses of this stotra faultlessly without hesitation. There are people who would recite this day and night. There are people who think that the Bhaktämara Stotra has immense powers and can free man from all sorts of worries and difficulties.
This is the only recitation on which the maximum numbers of books, audiocassettes and videocassettes are to be found. This has been translated into more than a dozen languages. Various writers who either explain or interpret the stotra in different ways have composed dozens or perhaps hundreds of poems. The stotra's importance also lies in the fact that there are at least three beautiful temples in India totally devoted to this stotra. In each temple all the verses of this stotra with their yantras have been carved in marble, and the statues of the first Tirthankara Rishabhadeva, and the poet of this stotra have been erected in these temples.
There is no doubt that anyone who loves good poetry will be touched by the beauty of the composition. Anyone who has no faith but wants to examine or evaluate the poem from a literary angle will no doubt praise its beautiful masterly composition. Therefore it is hardly surprising that those who have an unwavering faith in the Tirthankaras regard this as a 'gem of devotional literature capable of making a devotee immortal!
Shrimad Rajyash 2-pu in Bnaktłuapa Darshan, Shri jain Dharma Pedhi, Bharuch.
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