Verse 1 was the bow. Verse 2 is the astonishing decision to stand up afterward and sing anyway.
The Verse
दुद्भूत-बुद्धि-पटुभिः सुर-लोक-नाथैः ।
स्तोत्रैर्जगत्-त्रितय-चित्त-हरैरुदारैः
स्तोष्ये किलाहमपि तं प्रथमं जिनेन्द्रम् ॥२॥
Transliteration:
yaḥ saṁstutaḥ sakala-vāṅmaya-tattva-bodhād
udbhūta-buddhi-paṭubhiḥ sura-loka-nāthaiḥ |
stotrair jagat-tritaya-citta-harair udāraiḥ
stoṣye kilāham api taṁ prathamaṁ jinendram ||2||
Meaning (community translation): He who has been praised by the lords of the worlds of gods, whose intellects shine with the understanding of all the scriptures, in lofty hymns that captivate the minds of the three worlds — that first Lord of the Jinas, I too, indeed, shall now praise.
That “kilāham api”: even I, if you can believe it. The whole verse turns on it.
What to Notice
Humility as a load-bearing structure. Manatunga states plainly that beings infinitely more qualified have already done this better. Then he proceeds anyway. This is not false modesty; it is the Jain understanding of devotion: the value of praise lies in what it does to the one praising, so the smallness of the voice is no disqualification. A reader who has ever hesitated to begin something because others do it better owns this verse.
Knowledge acknowledged, not worshipped. The gods’ qualification is buddhi born of scripture (sakala-vāṅmaya). Manatunga’s qualification is only willingness. The hymn quietly ranks them, and willingness wins.
Traditional Use
The practice tradition assigns verse 2 to relief from headaches and mental heaviness, and to clarity of thought: the verse of the overloaded mind that needs to begin anyway. The riddhi attached in the modern manuals is:
As throughout this series: this is one documented modern tradition (the mantra-yantra manuals differ), quoted for completeness, never sold as scripture. No verse replaces a doctor; the tradition itself used these practices alongside medicine, not instead of it.
Practicing It the Jain Way
- When a task feels beyond you, recite this verse before beginning: it is, literally, the verse of beginning anyway.
- Pair it with mauna, a short deliberate silence, which the Jain tradition prescribes for the noisy mind.
- No fee, no ritual object, no intermediary. The verse is the practice.
Previous: Verse 1 · Next: Verse 3, the child who reaches for the moon.
Text verified across jinvani.in, DigJainWiki, and bhaktamarmantrahealing.com editions (the reading स्तोत्रैः ... उदारैः is confirmed by all transliterations); background from Jainpedia.