Namaskāra-mantra

Sanskrit for ‘homage formula’, the Namaskāra-mantra is the fundamental religious formula of the Jains. A daily prayer always recited in the original Prākrit, it pays homage to the supreme beings or five types of holy being:

  1. arhat – enlightened teacher
  2. siddha – liberated soul
  3. ācārya – mendicant leader
  4. upādhyāya – preceptor or teacher
  5. sādhu – mendicant

Note that chanting the mantra is not praying for something, material or otherwise. Also known as the Pañca-namaskāra-mantra or ‘Fivefold Homage mantra’, it is also called the Navakāra-mantra or Navkār-mantra in modern Indian languages.

Synonyms:
namaskāra-mantra
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