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The Siddhacakra and Namokāra Mantra : 91
Now that a back-round of the Siddhacakra and Namokāra mantra has been laid out, let us look into their roles played in esoteric and arguably tantric exercises. There is much to be explored regarding the role the Siddhacakra and associated Namokāra mantra play throughout Jain yoga/tantra treatises written by authors in the Medieval era such as Somadeva, Hemacandra, and Subhacandra. Specifically I would like to argue that the prescribed program of meditation within these author's writings represents a trend which when analyzed and compared to saiva, sākta and Vajrayāna contexts can clearly seen to be definable as tantric. Somadeva, Hemacandra, and Subhacandra all describe four kinds of meditation, Piņdastha, Padastha, Rūpastha, and Rupātīta, or meditation based on objects, mantras, form, and formlessness respectively. In the 8th chapter of Hemacandra's Yogaśāstra and the 38th chapter of Subhacandra's Jñānāraṇava one finds two nearly identical descriptions of a Siddhacakra padastha practice. This practice involves one conceptualizing oneself as the arihant himself seated on his throne in the center of an eight petal lotus which. I identify as the Siddhacakra, otherwise known as the Navapada in reference to its nine/nava positions (eight petals surrounding the ninth position in the center) where the Arihant is seated. Next the practitioner installs
the five letter vidyā/spell ASIAAUSAA, an acronym for the five worshipful beings figured in the Namokāra mantra, onto five separate "lotuses," or cakras, in the body.
