Swayambhustotra

Author(s): Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp

Page 21

As Saint Samantabhadra got cured of his disease, he reinitiated himself into the order of holy Jaina asceticism. King Śivakoti and his brother Śivayana, highly impressed with the Jaina doctrine and the power of true adoration, left their worldly pursuits and became Acārya Samantabhadra's disciples.
In the benedictory verse of Ratnakaraṇḍaka-śrāvakācāra, Ācārya Samantabhadra specifies two essential attributes of the Lord, worthy of our adoration:
नमः श्रीवर्द्धमानाय निर्धूतकलिलात्मने ।
सालोकानां त्रिलोकानां यद्विद्या दर्पणायते ।। 1 ।।
I bow to Lord Vardhamana who has rid His soul of all karmic dirt and whose teachings reflect, as it were in a mirror, the three worlds (universe) and the beyond (non-universe).
Acārya Samantabhadra proclaimed that we worship Lord Vardhamana not because He can bestow on us worldly boons but because He is the Omniscient Supreme Being who has attained, by own effort, the purity of His soul-nature by destroying all karmas. And, being Omniscient, He is endowed with Supreme Effulgence that images, as it were in a mirror, all substances and their infinite modes, extending through the past, the present, and the future. He is the Knower of Truth the true nature of all substances, souls and nonsouls. He only is the worthy promulgator of the path to liberation leading to the state of Supreme Bliss. Acārya Samantabhadra has taught us that the purpose and the ultimate goal behind all our efforts should be to acquire the Three Jewels (ratnatraya) of right faith, right knowledge and right conduct since these three, together, constitute the path to liberation.
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I make obeisance humble at the worshipful feet of Acārya Samantabhadra who had unmatched intellect to discern the right from the wrong and illumined, through profound compositions, the right path that leads to Supreme Bliss.
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