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86 : Śramaņa, Vol. 64, No. 4, Oct.-Dec. 2013
times in order to receive the exact merit of one full fast “though he may be eating all along."
Hemacandra brings both the Siddhacakra and Namaskāra mantra up in a chapter dedicated to meditation on mystic syllables or Padastha dhyāna, showing that the two tools are complements of eachother, and that one should think of the Siddhacakra while reciting the mantra and vice versa. Also Jainpedia.org testifies to the associated between the Namokāra mantra and the Siddhacakra yantra. Hemacandra includes a lengthy description of the application of this mantra and yantra in his eighth chapter of the Yogaśāstra, which includes visualizing inside one's body the five figures worthy of worship sitting on a lotus and its petals atop the summit of Mount Meru. From this description, it appears evident the Siddhacakra Yantra and Namokāra mantra both are methodological tools used by the laities to worship all that deserves worship throughout Jainism with the aid of a visual and auditory anchor, which leads us into form.
Due to the importance of the Siddhacakra yantra and Namokāra mantra, they are both used in a variety of kinds of Jain worship and meditation. For example, one of the most popular websites of Jain believers describes the Siddhacakra, also called the Navapada, in a way re-iterating it's use as a meditational yantra, in saying :
“It is absolutely essential to keep the mind concentrated in an auspicious meditation in order to attain the purity and perfection of the soul. There is the need for a prop of something if the mind should acquire concentration and should intensify it. In all the theories and directions in the Jain Dharma relating to meditation, there is a very interesting and beautiful description of the Navapada." This Jain believer goes on to say that while worshipping the figures mentioned in the Namokāra mantra and Navpada/Siddhacakra Yantra one ideally meditates on all their attributes as well. The Arhat has twelve, the Siddha has eight, the Ācārya thirty six, the Upādhyāya
