This article discusses a spiritual healing system called Bhaktamar Mantra Healing (henceforth referred to as BMH). This system—or as one healer likes to refer to it, this technology—is based on a popular devotional poem called the Bhaktāmar Stotra and combines the hymn’s verses with mantras and yantras to effect this-worldly health and other benefits. BMH is an example of a recently developed practice that combines Tantric elements into a more or less transactional system without being directly rooted in any existing historical Tantric tradition. As such, the article refers to it as a “Tantric reconfiguration.” In the past decade, BMH’s developers and healers have actively instrumentalized digital media to introduce, propagate, and put into practice this form of spiritual healing. The article examines this online presence in order to gain a better understanding of this relatively new mode of spiritual healing, its relation to Jainism, and its use of different narratives and digital media forms to engage with various audiences.

These methods and queries situate this article within the realm of the study of digital religion, which, according to Heidi A. Campbell “does not simply refer to religion as it is performed and articulated online, but points to how digital media and spaces are shaping and being shaped by religious practice” (2013: 1). This simple definition conveys both the mutual influencing of social reality and digital media practicesFootnote 1 and the bifurcation between the Internet as a source of religious information (religion online) and cyberspace as a new space for religious praxis (online religion) (Helland 2000, 2005; Hadden and Cowan 2000: 8–9). The analysis presented here pertains to both online and offline BMH environments and combines digital with more traditional research methods (Campbell 2013; Cheruvallil-Contractor and Shakkour 2016; Snee, Hine, Morey, Roberts, and Watson 2016; Tsuria, Yadlin-Segal, Vitullo, and Campbell 2017). Whereas a functional and discourse analysis of BMH’s digital and digitized sources is at the basis of the analysis presented in this article, this material is supplemented with data drawn from a more-broad analysis of Jain websites and ethnographic fieldwork in Belgium, London, and India between 2015 and 2019, including interviews and participation in offline and online BMH related activities.

The first section of this article presents an elaborate introduction about the tenuous relationship between Jainism and Tantrism and places this tenuousness in contrast with the relative prevalence of multifunctional Tantric elements in Jain religious practice. Section two describes how BMH became a system of spiritual healing and discusses its presence in digital media. It does this by bringing together existing research on different phases of the development of the Bhaktāmar Stotra with new insights derived from an examination of the interconnected network of websites and social media devoted to BMH. In section three, discourse analysis is applied to a selection of born-digital and digitized materials from websites and social media accounts to learn how BMH is presented and discussed using (combinations of) different narratives. The last section focuses on what sets BMH apart from other instances of mantra use in Jain praxis. To this end, Andrea R. Jain’s (2014) work on encounters between religious practices and consumer culture provides a helpful perspective to make sense of BMH, its variety of explanatory narratives, and its prolific digital presence. Relatedly, this last section assesses how and why BMH inhabits the digital space it does.

Jainism and Tantra

The middle of the first millennium saw the emergence of a new set of religious methods in South and East Asian religious traditions. Just like the devotional turn described in Indian traditions from the eighth century onwards, this wave of religious innovation—referred to in Indian religious studies as the Tantric turn—was not limited to any specific tradition. It swept through large parts of the South and East Asian religious sphere, influencing Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, but also Asian Islam, Daoism, and Shinto (White 2000: 6–7). As will become clear in the discussion on Jainism and Tantra below, this Tantric current manifested itself differently depending on the soteriological and philosophical soil it took root in.

Although there is a broad consensus on the historical occurrence of the Tantric turn, the term Tantra continues to defy definition. The earliest etic descriptions of Tantra were informed to a varying extent by British—at times missionary—moral sensibilities, undercurrents of orientalism, and colonial aspirations and emphasized Tantra’s transgressional and sexual character. This dramatization in turn elicited a strong rejection of the term in many Indian traditions and, in recent times, its appropriation by sensationalist spiritual and sexual entrepreneurs (White 2000: 4; Urban 2010: 11). Reiterating an approach proposed by Douglas Renfrew Brooks (1990), recent scholarship tends to forego the sensationalist colonial representations of Tantra and the various monothetic reactions they elicit in favor of a more suitable polythetic approach, which allows for differences in practice and experience—both between traditions and over time—under the Tantric umbrella (White 2000: 4–5; Urban 2001: 7–8). Such a polythetic approach enables a shift of focus from broad theoretical discussions on Tantra to specific contextualized practices involving “Tantric elements”—such as mantras (verbal spells), yantras (diagrams), mudrās (hand movements), specific rituals, body practices, secret esoteric knowledge, etc.—that have a putative impact on either the advancement of the Tantric practitioner on the path to liberation or the mundane circumstances in which the practitioner finds themselves.

Such an approach is better suited to researching Jain religious practices and discourses, as it largely bypasses the term “Tantra”—a term that has been used in a variety of meanings in historical Jain literature (Gough 2020a: 567) but is now so laden with negative connotations it is seldom used. The dislike for the term “Tantra” in emic discussions on Jainism is illustrated by contemporary online discourses: whereas terms denoting Tantric elements, mainly mantra and to a lesser extent yantra, are in frequent use online in both emic and etic discussions on Jainism, the term “Tantra” tends to appear in academic discourse on Jainism,Footnote 2 rather than in emic narratives.Footnote 3

Tantra Without Tantrism Footnote 4

Regardless of the contemporary absence of Tantra in emic discourses, Jainism has developed different practices that make use of Tantric elements between the Tantric turn in the fifth century and today. In fact, comparative textual research has revealed that Jain, Buddhist, and Hindu medieval Tantric manuals largely presented the same range of practices (Sanderson 2015; Slouber 2015).Footnote 5 However, unlike Buddhist and Hindu traditions, Jainism did not recognize Tantric practices as a primary mode of advancement on the path towards mokṣa (liberation). The tradition’s soteriology and focus on individual karma rendered Tantric interventions in a practitioner’s spiritual progress problematic. Some scholars argue that such Tantric shortcuts on the individual’s path to liberation were entirely unacceptable (Cort 2000b: 417; Qvarnström 2000: 597; Bhattacharyya 2009: 241–42).Footnote 6 Others suggest that some sources indicate there is limited room for the use of mantras to advance on the path towards liberation after all (Kapashi 2007: 118–19; Gough 2020b: 582). The tentative consensus is that, in Jainism, Tantric practices are primarily a method to establish a degree of control and power over mundane matters, rather than a vehicle towards mokṣa. Such practices can effectuate a transference of power to the practitioner directly,Footnote 7 or they can benefit the practitioner by summoning a nonliberated deity that intervenes on the practitioner’s behalf.Footnote 8

The medieval period saw the development of different types of Tantric methods and actors within Jainism. Ritual complexes developed around goddesses such as Jvālāmālinī, Padmāvatī, and Sarasvatī as Vāgīśvarī (Cort 1987; Wiley 2006: 209) and to a lesser extent around male figures such as Gautama, Ghaṇṭākarṇa Mahāvīra, and Nākoḍā Bhairava (Dundas 1998; Cort 2000b: 417). As these figures do not fit into the Jain soteriological path, Paul Dundas has argued that “they represent through their ability to grant requests and offer protection, an infusion of worldly values and a willingness on the part of Jainism to make some concessions to the more mundane aspirations of lay-followers and potential converts alike” (2002: 213). Tantra manuals such as the tenth century Jvālāmālinī Kalpa describe exactly how to use rituals to harness the power of these deities, for example for the purposes of healing (Granoff 1998: 218; Gough 2020a: 573–74). In addition to Tantric practices involving rituals and mantras, meditative practices using visualization or diagrams (yantra or maṇḍala) were developed which were said to have the power to impact the individual practitioner’s karma (Gough 2020a: 571–72).

The Tantric turn in Jainism was not limited to lay audiences but included the ascetic community in different ways (Qvarnström 2000: 597). Medieval Jain miracle narratives ascribe powers to ascetics’ bodies through direct touch or indirect contact—for example ascribing healing powers to water that was used to wash a monk’s feet (Granoff 1998: 225–30). Although Tantra’s this-worldly aims can seem at odds with the soteriological focus of Jainism, Jain monks are also described as actively participating in mantric culture and their ability to overcome human or divine opponents by using magic spells became an important indicator of their overall status (Dundas 2000: 232). Certain mantras which were believed to encapsulate powers, and the rituals through which these powers could be activated at times became a form of restricted knowledge, passed along exclusively between initiated members within Jain ascetics lineages—for example, sūrimantra (Dundas 1998, 2000: 233; Gough 2017: 273–74) and vardhamānavidyā (Gough 2020b: 582).

Tantric Elements in Contemporary Jainism

It is, of course, difficult to gauge to which extent the methods described in Tantra manuals and narrative literature reflected actual practices of their time. Today, the most salient features and practices we see described in the medieval sources briefly discussed above have disappeared. What is left are Tantric elements; mantras being the most common Tantric element in contemporary Jainism.Footnote 9 However, such Tantric elements are for a large part subjugated and integrated into orthodox, mainstream Jain practices; embedded in devotional rituals and contemplative practices without any overt claims regarding their potential transformative powers. For example, the pañcanamaskāra mantra is most prolifically used in all sorts of settings but is most commonly explained as a prayer to pay homage to teachers on the different levels of the path to liberation or a formula to be repeated in order to help the practitioner concentrate. Mantras are also abundantly used in devotional rituals. When these rituals are focussed on a Tīrthāṅkara, who has obtained liberation and is now no longer present in the world, they cannot affect intervention in worldly affairs on behalf of the worshiper. However, when rituals are directed at nonliberated (protector) deities, it is possible—but by no means certain—that such an intervention is sought by the devotee. Some contemporary Jains indeed seek intervention by nonliberated gods and goddesses through rituals, including mantras and yantras, to ask for a wide range of blessings—success in studies, fertility, robust health, success in business, and so forth. However, few would consider these practices as central to the Jain tradition. These developments are reflected in the digital realm. Whereas historical Tantric practices, such as the ritual complexes surrounding goddesses and their concomitant Tantra manuals discussed above, are absent in emic—and indeed any nonacademic—online discourse on Jainism, Tantric elements such as mantras have very much become a part of Jainism’s digital realm. As in offline religious praxis, these elements are most often integrated into online narratives or practices of a devotional, ritual, or contemplative nature that do not indicate any overt transactionality that would qualify them as Tantric.

Occasionally, however, we find mantras and yantras, but also references to the Tantric body, kuṇḍalinī, and cakra, being used, talked about, and combined in new ways.Footnote 10 Although such narratives or practices are not altogether new, as they make use of terminologies, methods, and practices that have been developed through centuries, they are also not straightforward continuations of an existing Tantric tradition. BMH is one example of such a Tantric reconfiguration.

The Bhaktāmar Stotra and Its Consecutive Functional Transformations

BMH is the newest layer in a complex textual and devotional tradition which grew from a sixth century devotional poem, the Bhaktāmar Stotra. This highly popular text was composed as a devotional hymn to the first tīrthaṅkara Ṛṣabhabadeva (alternatively called Ādinātha) and is attributed to the author Mānatuṅga, who is claimed by both Śvētāmbara and Digambara Jains.Footnote 11 Not much is known for certain regarding the author or the context within which he worked, but a recent study in Hindi by Madhusudan Dhanki and Jitendra Shah (1999) identifies Mānatuṅga as a presumably Śvētāmbara Jain author who lived in the second half of the sixth century CE and propose that the original text probably consisted of forty-four verses, to which four verses were added in a later Digambara version.Footnote 12 The German Indologist Hermann Jacobi was the first to publish a scholarly edition of the text with a translation in 1876, and different editions and translations have since followed.Footnote 13

This devotional hymn spawned a number of commentaries from the fourteenth century onwards.Footnote 14 The earliest surviving commentary by Guṇākara (1370) transposes the figurative language of each of the original verses into longer miracle narratives and adds a mantra to each verse.Footnote 15 The stories relate how the goddess Cakra (or Cakreśvarī) uses her powers to enable devotees who meditate upon the verses of Bhaktāmar Stotra to overcome their problems (Kapashi 2007: 105). These narratives thus translate the aesthetic poem of spiritual devotion into a more mundane transactional process that touches upon the Tantric (Lefeber 1995: 426–27; Granoff 1998: 219). In addition to these miracle narratives found in the commentary texts, each of the śloka became connected to its own mantra and yantra. In a further transformation, the text itself becomes a focus of devotion, with temples being devoted to it (for example, in Sanganer and Bharuch), and a ritual being designed around it.Footnote 16

Figure 1 presents the different historical and functional strata of the Bhaktāmar tradition from its inception to present day. They show that the Bhaktāmar Stotra has become both a means and an object of devotion and has developed Tantric associations. Today, this hymn occupies a unique place in stotra literature, and Jainism in general, due to its immense popularity (Kapashi 2007: 3). Perhaps due to the historical emphasis on ascetic and doctrinal aspects of Jainism, this primarily devotional text has long remained relatively understudied in academia. Apart from Hermann Jacobi’s edition, and Rosalind Lefeber’s work on the commentary, John E. Cort (2001, 2005), M. Whitney Kelting (2001), Vinod Kapashi (2007), and Phyllis Granoff (2010) have noted and discussed the importance of this text in contemporary devotional practices in Jainism. Cort (2005), Kapashi (2007), and Nalini BalbirFootnote 17 also mention the ritual reincarnations and Tantric aspects of the text’s multimedial tradition.Footnote 18

Figure 1
figure 1

Layers of the Bhaktāmar Stotra development

Full size image

BMH as a Tantric Reconfiguration

Although the historical context above, as well as the example below, illustrate how the BMH system of today is one layer in a multilayered textual tradition that goes back centuries and incorporates devotional, ritual, and Tantric aspects, it is important to stress that in many ways, BMH is essentially new. I argue that the difference between previous practices that ascribed the power to influence worldly affairs to the verses of the Bhaktāmar Stotra, and BMH as a Tantric reconfiguration, lies in the latter’s systematized, democratized, and—to an extent—commodified nature. These three aspects of BMH are reminiscent of Hugh B. Urban’s three transformations of an esoteric tradition. Urban discusses how part of the Bengali Kartābhajā tradition undergoes a progressive process of exotericization and institutionalization (2001: 204), resulting in a popularized, “deodorized,” and commercialized version (9). As a Tantric reconfiguration rather than a Tantric tradition, BMH is not subject to a process of exotericization. However, as the next sections of this article illustrate, the configuration of the healing system and the way it is presented do reflect the same preoccupations and goals which form the driving force of the process as discussed by Urban—that is, the intention to be inclusive and accessible (namely, popularization); the avoidance of specific references to Tantra, and religion in general, in favor of more general spiritual and scientific discourses (namely, deodorization); and the introduction of an economic perspective of goods and services (namely, commercialization).

First, BMH brings together elements of different functional strata of the textual tradition, reconfigures them, and presents them in a new systematized way. Arguably, the process towards systemization was started early on with the attribution of different mantras and yantras in the commentaries, but it has now come to fruition, with a clear exhaustive list of uses for each verse and succinct instructions for the use of its associated mantra, ṛddhi (shorter version of the mantra), and yantra. Although devotion remains a vital component, the BMH system puts less emphasis on Jain soteriology and instead focusses on practical solutions for this-worldly health and wellbeing.Footnote 19 The publication of instructions in the form of manuals and cards further establishes and to an extent fixates the system. To illustrate some of the different layers of this transformative text and how BMH presents it in a systematized way, we will look at an example in the Table below.

Second, the BMH system is democratic, both in the sense that it is not an elitist movement, but clearly wants to appeal and be accessible to common people, and in the sense that its healers aspire to reach a broad, global audience. BMH does away with any secret knowledge or any prerequisites of higher understanding or spiritual advancement on the part of the prospective patient/devotee. Whereas the Bhaktāmar Stotra as a devotional text is well-known and disseminated by Jain monks and nuns, who may also derive powers from its repeated recitation,Footnote 20 the spiritual healing system that emerged from the text is very much a lay affair. The impetus behind BMH in its current form is a small group of spiritual entrepreneurs—self-proclaimed spiritual healers. This group consists exclusively of lay Jains and is growing as more healers are trained. They cater to a clientele of mainly lay Jains and offer their services at home, in clinics, and healing centers, but also increasingly online. Although the system has been disseminated by a small group of spiritual entrepreneurs and the necessity of guidance by a guru for any first attempt at putting mantra healing into practice is emphasized,Footnote 21 the free availability of downloadable manuals in multiple languages as well as of online and offline chanting courses clearly illustrate the accessible nature of this knowledge.

Millions of people on Mother Earth are suffering from sicknesses in the spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical bodies. Millions of people have limited or no access to healthcare. They want solutions….Footnote 22

This excerpt from bhaktamarmantrahealing.com suggests BMH can be more easily accessible than conventional healthcare. The use of “people on Mother Earth” indicates a potential global audience for this form of spiritual healing. Different sources and practices suggest that BMH’s healers aspire to reach broader audiences worldwide, within and outside the Jain community.Footnote 23

Thirdly, the systematization and democratization discussed above are in a sense both prerequisite to and part of BMH’s commodification and branding. BMH has become a commodified product, integrated in and available on the marketplace of spiritual wellness and healing. This marketplace it made up out of different systems offering similar outcomes and, often, similar services (A. Jain 2014: 91–92). To function in this setting, BMH needs to be visible and enticing to potential consumers. Those that feel attracted to BHM, be it after an encounter with their online sources, a referral by a friend, or an introduction by a spiritual healer, can book services, attend virtual and onsite workshops, and download or buy books, mantra cards, copper yantras, etc. Although not all healers ask for remuneration for their services, some do, whereas others earn money from book and yantra sales. Even when no money seemingly changes hands,Footnote 24 the marketing of their services and products to a wider audience is thus not only a question of compassion, but also of good entrepreneurship. However, for different reasons including language dependence, the commodification and branding of BMH has not reached the levels described in discussions of New Age spiritual practices and modern yoga (Roy 2010; A. Jain 2014). These three traits of BMH also explain why it has developed a considerable digital presence, whereas healing powers and mantras ascribed to other (Jain) hymns are much less visible online.

Bhaktamar Healing and Its Digital Presence

Jains (in India, but also markedly in the diaspora) have been actively developing a variety of Jainism-related online materials since the mid-1990s (Vekemans 2020). Jain religious websites tend to focus either on practical applications of Jainism (aimed primarily at a Jain audience), or on providing a general introduction to the Jain tradition (aimed at a mixed audience of Jains and non-Jains), and therefore often end up disseminating standard orthodox or neoorthodoxFootnote 25 interpretations of Jainism. In these, mantras and hymns—if discussed at all—are most often presented as prayers and relegated to the devotional or contemplative spheres. Associations with (healing) powers and—more specifically—references to BMH are rare.Footnote 26 However, a more specific search for (re)sources on BMH reveals a network of interconnected digital sources. I will briefly give an outline of the most important exponents within this network below. This outline is not meant to be an exhaustive list but aims to locate BMH in the digital realm. The objective is to give the reader some background on the sources used for the analysis this article presents. Although the list below discusses each form of digital source or material separately, it must be noted that they are of course overlapping and interconnected, linked by hyperlinks, and embedded into each other, with the same content appearing on multiple platforms.

Websites: Manju Jain published the first manual on BMH in 2011, and she is still considered to be the central authority on BMH today. It was this original spiritual entrepreneur who also devoted the first webpages to BMH. Whereas some older websites are now defunct,Footnote 27 her website drmanjujain25.com is one of two likely entry points for anyone looking for information on BMH online. The second website that provides a wealth of information on different aspects of BMH is bhaktamarmantrahealing.com. This website is connected to Annant world, “the world’s first Bhaktamar clinic” in Delhi, run by Pradeep and Prriya Jain. Prriya Jain is the author of a second manual on BMH (Jain 2017), which clearly takes over the system laid out in Manju Jain’s manual but provides a different contextualization. These two websites are at the nexus of BMH’s digital network, guiding visitors to other sources and resources, onlineFootnote 28 as well as offline.Footnote 29 Bhaktamarmantrahealing.com contains significant amounts of information on Bhaktāmar and spiritual healing, Bhaktāmar and faith, the mechanisms behind the putative effects of mantra chanting, the use of copper yantras to increase the efficiency of BMH, etc. Drmanjujain25.com provides less detailed information about the mechanisms behind the healing process on the website itself, but has a large number of embedded videos offering all kinds of information, and links to a very active WhatsApp group, as well as a Bhaktamar app. Both websites also contain a digitized material that can be accessed or downloaded.

Digitized (downloadable) materials: The most elaborate and information rich digitized sources available through these two websites are the two BMH manuals. The first is Manju Jain’s book, the Jaina Method of Curing, available as ebook from drmanjujain25.com in English and Hindi.Footnote 30 The second is Prriya Jain’s rendition as Faith Based Healing: Bhaktamar Stotra, downloadable from bhaktamarmantrahealing.com, in both the English and the Hindi versions. The system described in both books is very similar, as the second one is based upon the first. In addition to the manual, drmanjujain25.com presents an online version of her published decks of mantra and yantra cards,Footnote 31 as well as a downloadable list of audio-files.Footnote 32

Facebook: Both websites discussed above have their own Facebook pages. Annant World, to which bhaktamarmantrahealing.com belongs, manages a page called “Bhaktamar Mantra Healing,”Footnote 33 which had close to 6000 followers at the time of writing. This appears to be their most active page. A second page with the same name,Footnote 34 seemingly run by the same organization (it refers to the same website) has not seen much activity in the past two years. Manju Jain has three pages on Facebook. Her personal account is titled “Manju Jain – Spiritual Healer working on 48 magical tools of Bhaktamar for manifestation.”Footnote 35 Although not all posts pertain to BMH, she often posts multiple updates a day, and a significant number do in fact touch upon spirituality. The second account is titled “Dr. Manju Jain, Director, International School for Jain Studies, Nagpur.”Footnote 36 Most posts here relate to spirituality and BMH, and the introductory paragraph announces that International School for Jain Studies, Delhi signed MOU with Integrated Healing Forum to run courses on Drugless Therapy certified by Kulguru Kalidas University. The last account linked to Manju Jain is labeled “Spiritual healing centre · Community organisation”Footnote 37 and links to a sparse websiteFootnote 38 that seems to be under construction. This page is exclusively used to post content on spirituality and healing.

In addition to these pages linked to the websites discussed above, there is a variety of other pages and groups related to BMH or dedicated to the healing powers of the Bhaktāmar Stotra more generally. Most of these are very limited in size and activity, but some such as Bhaktamar Healing PariwarFootnote 39 are more active. In turn, a scroll through these Facebook pages reveals pages of other healers, located in India, but also in the UK and the US, that offer BMH services, often as one form of healing among others. For example, Pooja Shah at World of Energy Healings (labeled, Alternative & Holistic Health Service) offers a range of paying services, including “Jain Anusthan [ritual], Astrology, Meditation, Shree Navkar Mantra Healing, Chakra Healing, Shree Bhaktamar Mahastotra Healing, and Reiki-Angel-Crystal-Pranic Healing.”Footnote 40

YouTube: The channel connected to bhaktamarmantrahealing.com is aptly called Bhaktamar Mantra Healing,Footnote 41 and had 11,8000 subscribers as of November 19, 2020. Manju Jain has a personal channel titled “Dr. Manju Jain,”Footnote 42 which had 14,100 subscribers as of that same date. The typical content of these channels is chanting, lectures and events, and testimonials by patients. The recent surge in virtual events (see below) has made YouTube a more important repository of BMH-related resources. Whereas the channels discussed in this section already existed before the Covid-19 pandemic, the amount of content made available has risen drastically as recordings of virtual events (conducted on YouTube, Facebook, or ZOOM) are made available for asynchronous viewing.

In addition to the materials on these channels, the websites and Facebook pages discussed above contain many shared or embedded YouTube videos. Drmanjujain25.com contains different recordings of śloka, mantra, and ṛddhi recitation, with varying degrees of elaboration on the meaning and specific area of effect of the śloka. Some videos show the healer chanting, others accompany the audio with animations, while still others show the mantra cards while śloka, mantra, and ṛddhi are chanted in the background.

Mobile Applications: Compared to websites, mobile applications tend to be focused on a single function and give relatively little context. The website drmanjujain25.com refers to the Bhaktamar Stotra App (Wishcraft Apps 2020Footnote 43). This Android app is relatively simple and straightforward. Visually, it presents a mobile version of the mantra cards, flanked by traditional devotional elements, a temple bell and a conch shell, which make their respective sounds when tapped. The user can choose the number of repetitions of the śloka, mantra, and ṛddhi and can select one of two voices. In the about us section of the app, the developer shares how the return to health of a family member inspired the development of the app, they also briefly present the story of Mānatuṅga. The app does not contain any further contextualization or elaboration on the putative healing powers of the stotra.

To examine whether more mobile applications dedicated to BMH exist, a search using the search term bhaktamar in the Google app store was conducted.Footnote 44 Unsurprisingly for such a popular text, this revealed some twenty apps that deal exclusively with the Bhaktāmar Stotra. Of these, only two mention the potential healing effects of each śloka (Tarun and Paras Jain 2020; NPR 2019) and one makes a general comment that healing effects have been ascribed to each śloka and proceeds to give some examples (Rishabh and Jalpa Parekh 2015). Most other apps engaging with the Bhaktāmar Stotra do so by providing the text—with or without commentary, and/or audio of the stotra being chanted. The mantra and ṛddhi are most often not included. The images of tīrthaṅkara Ādinātha that in many cases appear on screen when the audio plays, together with a temple bell and conch shell, emphasize the devotional usage of the stotra.Footnote 45

Digital events: Whereas digital media such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp have enabled individuals seeking help or advice to contact healers regardless of geographic location for years now, collective endeavors such as workshops, Bhaktāmar pūjā, and lectures remained largely offline affairs, organized at different locations in India and the Jain diaspora, and only occasionally recorded and disseminated online after the event. However, in the past two years, first a trickle and then a flood of digital events has been visible: as the Covid-19 crisis caused a surge of digital competence in both audience and organizers, and a necessity to move events to the virtual realm for safety, the number of virtual events increased exponentially. Drmanjujain25.com provides links to participate in daily chanting session on Zoom (with Indian and US timings), classes for adults and children (using Zoom and a WhatsApp group), and collective healing sessions (Global Bhaktamar Helpline, regional groups on Zoom). A selection of these sessions and other virtual lectures on Bhaktāmar are made available for asynchronous viewing on Facebook and YouTube.

Explaining the Magic Behind the Mantra

The previous section provided a first contextualization of BMH within the broader Bhaktāmar tradition and discussed some of the ways BMH is present in different digital media forms. In this section, a closer look at the digital presence described above enables a more in-depth understanding of the mechanics behind BMH and illustrates how different media platforms present different perspectives on these mechanics. To facilitate this closer look, the sources described in the previous section were examined and some of the most prevalent explanatory narratives were identified and further analyzed. Textual materials were looked at through the lens of critical discourse analysis (Wodak and Meyer 2009), images and videos without (much) text were coded for content, and apps were coded for content and function. This exercise revealed how various seemingly competing explanatory narratives are presented, often in an intricately intertwined way. This section will identify and discuss some of the main discursive strands, connect them to different types of digital platforms and environments, and attempt to explain what can be deduced by the interconnections and distribution of the different discourses within BMH.

Discourses of Magic, Religion, and Spirituality

A first immediately visible layer of discourse on both websites denotes the power of the mantras as magic (using words like miraculous, miracle, magic, magical, and on some of Bhaktamarmantrahealing.com’s Hindi pages, jādū). Drmanjujain25.com refers to the hymn as “48 Magical Mantras.” The Jaina Method of Curing manual also speaks of the “miraculous benefits of chanting” the Bhaktāmar Stotra (M. Jain 2016). Bhaktamarmantrahealing.com presents the system as “48 Magical Solutions for all your problems.” This is followed by a more specific listing of the potential benefits of the healing system:

Experience the delight of Bhaktamar Mantra Healing and enjoy fantastic health, abundant wealth, harmonious relationships and professional success. Bhaktamar Mantra Healing is the magical gateway to cure so-called incurable diseases like cancers, kidney problems, heart and lung diseases, chronic skin problems, mental illness and addictions, and much more. Bhaktamar Mantra Healing solves your financial crisis and legal problems and makes your life peaceful and productive.Footnote 46

Such claims seem to illustrate an approach to the stotra that has moved beyond the purely devotional and hint at the Tantric. However, this discursive layer is superficial. References to magic are mainly found in titles or in introductory paragraphs, indicating that magic may be used as a placeholder for more complex explanatory narratives. Indeed, reading further into the more detailed descriptions of the healing system, these magical powers are explained in a myriad of ways, and the placeholder terms such as “magic” make way for a mélange of religious, devotional, spiritual, and biomedical narratives.

The introductory discussion on Tantra in Jainism offers two possible intradoctrinal explanations for the power of mantras to effect this-worldly change: the mantra invokes a nonliberated deity who will then intervene on the devotee’s behalf, or the mantra effects a change in an individual’s karmic balance which in turn impacts upon any negative karmic effects in the devotees current and future lives. Looking at sources dealing with BMH online, these intradoctrinal explanations are rare. Interventions of nonliberated deities are only present when medieval miracle narratives are referred to. Prriya Jain does refer to Jainism’s soteriological categories and karma theory in the following iteration of mantric power:

God is stated as the state of pure soul in Jainism. Hence the devotion in Jainism is for those who have attained their pure soul state.…By reciting their virtues or meditating upon them, the devotee invokes his own pure soul energies to heal his physical/mental ailments.…However, Arhantas and siddhas in Jainism cannot do anything for the devotee. By their devotion, the result is accumulating a lot of auspicious karmas (punya) by the devotee that helps in healing also (2017: 37–38).

Although the reasoning behind this paragraph is simple, it uses terminology and concepts that are specifically Jain to explain the healing process. Whereas the emphasis placed on devotion as the means with which the healing process is activated is common in all iterations of BMH, the use of tradition-specific concepts is uncommon on websites and in manuals, which tend to use a broader, nonsectarian discourse focused on spirituality (discussed in detail below), and thus eclipse specifically Jain soteriological and philosophical concepts which may be contentiousFootnote 47 or difficult to understand or accept for non-Jains.

This tendency towards a less specific, more universal discourse does not mean Jainism is entirely absent from digital sources on BMH. Firstly, the Jain tradition is recognized as the source of the healing system. The story of the composition of the stotra by Mānatuṅga is often retold,Footnote 48 as are some of the miracle narratives that have been developed in the commentary literature. Within these retellings, religious figures of different soteriological categories are presented. Secondly, at least some of the healers pay explicit homage to Jain teachers that have inspired them, thus including Jain ascetics into the (margins of) BMH.Footnote 49 Lastly, the Jain code of conduct is commonly—though not always explicitly—referred to, as a lifestyle inspired by the Jain rules of conduct is considered to be beneficial for general health and wellbeing, and a healer who limits his or herself to a vegetarian diet with no alcohol is presumed to be able to effect more successful healing.Footnote 50 Although Jain religious influences are thus present in the margins of the BMH discourse—the contextualization, the healer’s background, testimonies, lifestyle requirements—specific categories, figures, and concepts tend to be absent in sources explaining the mechanics behind BMH. Compared to the digitized manuals and websites that informed the analysis above, social media contain more overt references to Jain religious figures and practices, although these seldom amount to a full explanatory narrative. Especially when not only the spiritual entrepreneurs, but also Jain lay devotees who have engaged with BMH are allowed to post content, the number of devotional images and invocations of tīrthaṅkaras and ascetic leaders increases exponentially.

By using general language, rather than specific Jain or Jain sectarian terms, and by emphasizing the importance of “faith” in an unspecified God as well as faith in the healing system itself, rather than explicating any karmic transactions that may be at work in the background, the discourse on different digital media moves from the religious to the spiritual, defined as the common experience behind different religious traditions (M. Jain 2016: 296). This universalization is clearly illustrated by the following short slogan from one of Manju Jain’s websites: “For receiving the Divine Energy[,] Firm faith in God is MUST.”Footnote 51

Whereas the excerpt from Prriya Jain’s manual in the previous subsection linked mantric power to devotion and good karma, this more spiritual discourse replaces the reference to the specific and complicated karmic system with the more general and unspecified divine energy.

This hymn develops spiritual power. But it is absolutely necessary to have reverence or conviction for its practice.…If we have no reverence for the mantra, if there is no attraction to it, no belief, there will be no result, even if it is correctly applied and properly pronounced.Footnote 52

Through this discursive universalization, BMH connects with other spiritual practices, either because they share some methods or because spiritual entrepreneurs tend to offer a range of healing services. Bhaktamarmantrahealing.com refers to practices and concepts such as astrology, kuṇḍalinī, cakras, colors, reiki, and prāṇic healing. The Global Bhaktamar Group WhatsApp group reiterates these connections, by also presenting events and activities pertaining to practices such as numerology and face reading (WhatsApp). The Jaina Method of Curing has six pages devoted to reiki-practices (M. Jain 2016: 302–7). The list of healers on drmanjujain25.com includes references to a large number of spiritual practices and specializations beyond BMH, such as vāstu, fengshui, energy dynamics, Āyurveda, astrology, numerology, aura scanning, and tarot reading using mantra cards.Footnote 53

Through this discourse of spirituality, BMH is profiled less as a part of Jain religious praxis, and more as a spiritual healing system that happens to have roots in Jainism. The explicit references to other spiritual practices discussed above indicate the importance of this embedding for the spiritual entrepreneurs. This embedding in the field of spiritual wellness is reinforced by the participation of BMH’s healers in national and international conferences on holistic, integrated, and spiritual healing, which is prolifically advertised on websites, in manuals, and on social media platforms thus emphasizing the place of BMH in a list of—often better known—spiritual practices.

Discourses Marrying Belief and Science

In line with other spiritual practices, scientific terminology and links with different branches of conventional science are plentiful on BMH’s websites and in its manuals. These discourses connected to science range from references to and supposed quotes from international scientists, over crossovers into physics, to the appropriation of scientific and biomedical discourses. On bhaktamarmantrahealing.com, a page on the power of Bhaktāmar and faith starts with the following statement: “Scientists also accept that it is not possible to achieve success even in a secular work without any religious belief.”Footnote 54 It then proceeds to present the opinions of different American scientists about the power of prayer and belief. While some of the people discussed are said to be (medical) doctors, others are active in other branches of service and science. Such explicit references attributing scientific status to spiritual and religious practices further universalize BMH’s discourse. That most scientists quoted are American or European can be read as an attempt to engage with Western audiences. The excerpt cited above also indicates that science cannot solve everything, positing BMH not in opposition to science, but rather beyond it. This complex stance, that is, accepting science and scientific discourse while at the same time positing that “Western” science with its reductionism and matter-spirit dualism is of limited use in fully explaining spiritual healing, resonates ideas developed by Meera Nanda (2003: 98; 2016).

When the specific therapeutic powers of mantras and yantras are discussed, the discourse often moves between the spiritual/devotional and the scientific. Soundwaves and vibrations provide a link between effective mantra recitation and physics. Although links to sound vibration therapy and emphasis on the importance of correct pronunciation of mantras can be found in both manuals as well as on social media, bhaktamarmantrahealing.com devotes much attention to the power of sound, referring to and occasionally combining both traditional analysis of mantras (mantraśāstra) and modern scientific study of sound.

When we chant a mantra whole heartedly, it unifies us with our mind, body and soul. The vibrations of Mantra reach our nervous system and percolate to the various organs through motor nerves and the whole system give a feed back to the brain through sensory nerves that the body is rejuvenating. Each cell feels the vibration of mantra and thus mantra healing becomes effective.Footnote 55

When discussing the power of yantra, the chemical properties of copper offer a link to biochemistry. Discussing how copper Bhaktāmar yantras help in healing, bhaktamarmantrahealing.com explains:

Copper and gold are considered as good source of positive energy. Using Yantras while chanting and using the sacred water will lead to the absorption of pure water in the pores in the skin as the body consists of 70% water therefore attracting the liquid particles and the bacterial cells will get eliminated putting a halt to their growth and regenration [sic] of active new cells within the body with the help of yantra holy water. Also it results in efficient utilization of iron, proper enzymatic reactions, as well as improved health of connective tissues, hair, and eyes.Footnote 56

The combination of biomedical and religio-spiritual terminology illustrated by both excerpts is typical for manuals and websites on BMH. However, some sources aspire to a closer connection to conventional medicine than others. Such aspiration is most obvious in the work of Manju Jain and comes to the fore mostly in her healing manual and website. The Jaina Method of Curing (2016) and the website drmanjujain25.com include material describing the author’s experimental research in palliative care, with cancer patients, and with schoolchildren. The healer’s scientific credentials are further emphasized by mention of her work with different medical clinics and practitioners (from skincare to cancer),Footnote 57 her presence at psycho-oncology conferences, and her doctorate (in alternative medicine) from Zoroastrian College. The webpages and chapters that present this material not only use scientific terminology, but also a degree of scientific methodology, which places BMH in a closer relation to conventional biomedicine. Within this framework, the putative effects of BMH are explained in a different, more subdued way, echoing academic medical literature on the potential salutogenic effects of spiritual healing,Footnote 58 but stopping short of overtly equating BMH’s power with a placebo effect. This approach is illustrated by Sonia Jain and Manju Jain in their paper, “Mantra Chanting”: “It is expected that the positive approach through mantra chanting will reduce anxiety and tension in breast cancer patients, thereby enhancing the effects of the prescribed treatment” (2016: 178). References to divine energy here make way to references to relaxation and mindset. Other explanations of the potential therapeutic effect of BMH furthered in this context include a positive psychological impact by mobilizing the patients’ positive mindset, sense of agency, and social support system (M. Jain 2016: 283).

Distribution of Discourses Across Platforms

When one looks closely at any of the digital and digitalized sources discussed previously, the different discourses described above tend to alternate, converge, and mingle within one page, website, manual, or channel. References to magic, religion, spirituality, and science seem to exist quite comfortably within the same source. However, not all types of discourse are equally prevalent in different types of media. Whereas social media and apps tend to include more specific religious elements—imagery, invocations of the tīrthaṅkaras, connections to devotional practices, rituals, and holy places, etc.—websites and manuals tend to foreground more general, spiritual, and (pseudo)scientific discourses. True to its genre, the Bhaktamar Stotra App has very little room for any discourse and just provides access to BMH core practice: chanting of the hymn’s verses, mantras, and ṛddhis.

The differences in focus between different sources can in part be explained by differences in preferences and background of the authors. For example, whereas Manju Jain is keen to engage and experiment with biomedicine, the Annant World spiritual healing center behind bhaktamarmantrahealing.com seems to put more emphasis on integrating BMH within the broader field of spiritual wellness practices. However, the difference in function between different digital media and digital platforms also impact the content. In this way, the content in manuals and websites is to a large extent fixed and tends to have an informative and introductory function. Although the potential for inclusion of audio-visual elements on websites has greatly increased since the beginnings of the Internet, the content is mainly textual. Such longer texts of a somewhat fixed nature are usually premeditated and edited before appearing online. Social media platforms such as Facebook and to a lesser extent YouTube are updated and added to much more frequently. Audio-visual elements are much more important, and the amount of textual information is decreased. As posts on Facebook or on WhatsApp and comments on YouTube and Facebook are shorter and often constitute part of an ongoing conversation, these texts are much less premeditated and quasi unedited. Lastly, mobile applications tend to focus on providing a specific functionality to already informed users and as a rule provide the least elaborate contextual information (Campbell, Altenhofen, Bellar, and Cho 2014).

Arguably, this functional differentiation has its bearing on how the difference in prevailing discourses in different media should be interpreted. The dominant discourses on websites and in manuals illustrate the aspirations of the authors, how they want the healing system to be seen, and from this, we can extrapolate the prospective audiences with which they wish to engage. Social media, on the other hand, are more illustrative of the daily applications of BMH, the profile of its current users, and their interpretations of the stotra’s powers.

BMH Between Jainism and the Spiritual Marketplace

In Section two of this article two BMH was conceptualized as a Tantric reconfiguration which stands out from other stotras with related Tantric elements which are said to be able to affect health outcomes by its systematization, democratization, and commodification. Section three revealed how different explanatory discourses co-occur on websites and in manuals, indicating that spiritual and scientific narratives were consistently stronger than Jain religious ones. Whereas the use of scientific discourse can be interpreted as indicative of a preoccupation with science as a locus of authority and at the same time a limited explanatory system that can be transcended (Nanda 2003), the emphasis on broader, less religion-specific narratives also evidences the intent of healer-authors to profile BMH as a spiritual practice that can be engaged with by a broad global audience. To further a better understanding of the forces which might be influencing the course BMH has charted and the processes it needs to navigate, A. Jain’s (2014) discussion of modern yoga and consumer culture provides an interesting comparison. Even more so because it includes a discussion of a Jain Yoga system—prekṣā dhyāna, which Jain describes as an “attempt to join the newly emerging competitive yoga market where yoga had become a transnational product for improving everyday life and sometimes for soteriological aims” (2014: 57). Jain further describes how “postural yoga proponents…market postural yoga as a universal and scientific system that anyone can adopt as part of his or her larger worldview and practice” (2014: 75). These universal and scientific aspirations of postural yoga proponents were in part realized by removing any (overly) esoteric or religion-specific elements. Rather than deodorizing practices by removing practices considered uncouth, the yoga schools she discusses remove practices or theories that are difficult to grasp for lay, non-Hindu, or non-Indian, audiences. Rather than deodorization, this implies a degree of deterritorialization, detraditionalization (Heelas 1996), or even deculturalization (Roy 2010). Although BMH has not been separated from its cultural and textual roots to the same extent as some of the modern brands of yoga described by A. Jain (2014), the emphasis on general devotional and spiritual elements as opposed to specific Jain religious elements that emerges from the discourse analysis discussed above can be seen as indicative of the same processes. By placing the emphasis on the importance of spirituality and devotion, rather than on Jain soteriology and phrasing the prerequisites for the system to be effective in a general way, that is, placing one’s faith in an unspecified god and in the healing system itself, it can appeal to Jains of any tradition and to spiritually inclined non-Jains, provided they believe in a divine force that can fit the role of “God.”

The universal and scientific aspirations of the yoga entrepreneurs in A. Jain’s (2014) discussion are further advanced by the appropriation of dominant fitness and biomedical discourses. A similar process of appropriation of scientific and biomedical discourses is also clearly visible in the discourses about BMH on websites and in digitized materials, reinforcing a view of Jainism as a scientific religion has taken root in the preceding decades.Footnote 59 Together with the deterritorializing and detraditionalizing process discussed above, this appropriation supported an interpretation of yoga as a therapeutic practice that was not exclusively linked to any one religion and did not require indepth study or initiation on the part of the practitioner, making it consistent with the “consumer-oriented approach to worldviews and practices as individuals chose from a variety of such to construct individual lifestyles. Postural yoga became one choice among many” (A. Jain 2014: 44). I argue that the spiritual entrepreneurs behind BMH are relying on the same techniques to work towards a similar goal, that is, turning a devotional/Tantric reconfiguration with deep and complex roots in Jainism into a standardized system of spiritual healing that can vie with other spiritual practices on offer in the spiritual marketplace and appeal to and be practiced by people from very different places and backgrounds—including lay Jains, Jains in the diaspora, and perhaps even non-Jains. The way different explanatory discourses exist side-by-side in manuals and on websites even indicates that the consumer in the spiritual marketplace can not only choose BMH as an item from a menu, but that they can than proceed in choosing what interpretative focus works best for them within BMH itself.

Compared to postural yoga and different brands of meditation, BMH’s fundamental reliance on “untranslatable” textual materials of which the linguistic, territorial, and cultural roots are more immediately visible has limited the extent to which the system can be generalized and universalized. As such the universalization and scientization (Aukland 2016: 192) of BMH is incomplete at best. This is for example illustrated by the return to religious discourse seen on social media.

BMH and Digital Media

Although still territorialized to an extent by language use, time zones, and differences in digital practices, the digital realm has been described as the ultimate deterritorialization. A well-established digital presence thus reinforces the universalizing processes described above, helps validate BMH’s claims to a place in the spiritual marketplace, and enables engagement with broader global audiences. The way this digital presence is designed, the languages and imagery that are used, the (re)sources and other actors that are presented, hyperlinked, or referred to, all illustrate a degree of universalization—exemplified by a clear embedding within the spiritual marketplace rather than within Jain religious realm. This is reflected by BMH’s position online: BMH is at best liminal—but mostly absent—on websites on Jainism, but has its own separate digital presence, partly overlapping with other forms of spiritual practices.

The global audiences BMH’s spiritual entrepreneurs aspire to have to an extent emerged—though mostly in the form of Jains living in the diaspora: non-Jain practitioners remain exceptional. Different forms of social media have been vital to stay connected and organize. As the world incorporated Zoom in its regular activities during the Covid-19 crisis from 2020 onwards, healing practices came to the digital realm in a new and big way. The combination of conference calls and social media (WhatsApp groups, Facebook) have made things like distance healing, the Bhaktamar helpline, and virtual training for children and adults possible. These virtual events, often retrievable on YouTube after being conducted through Zoom or YouTube Live, further enhance the visibility of BMH, and make it accessible to new audiences.

Concluding Thoughts

As indicated in the description of the Bhaktāmar Stotra tradition, Bhaktamar Mantra Healing has received very little scholarly attention. This article has been an attempt to break new ground and add BMH as a new element to ongoing discussions on Jainism, spiritual healing, contemporary mantric practices, etc. It has put forward the concepts of Tantric reconfiguration and spiritual consumer culture (after A. Jain 2014), suggesting they can be helpful in conceptualizing and understanding BMH as both an exponent of a centuries old living tradition and an essentially new technology; both a devotional practice and an entrepreneurial one.

A discourse analysis of a selection of digital materials on BMH revealed a juxtaposition of very different explanatory narratives, which is especially striking within BMH’s main websites and manuals. This multiplicity raises questions on the precise nature of this mantric practice. However confusing it may seem, this multiplicity also serves a purpose, underscoring this relatively new practice’s connections to other, more established institutions, practices, and fields, on the one hand, and offering different perspectives for a wide variety of potential practitioners to connect to, on the other.

Research into transformations and motivations in other relatively recent developments in Tantric traditionsFootnote 60 and Tantric reconfigurationsFootnote 61 has revealed processes of popularization and a preoccupation with accessibility. In an attempt to reach broader audiences, actions are taken to remove elements that may be considered objectionable (deodorization), potentially divisive, or too specific (deterritorialization, detraditionalization, deculturalization). In the case of BMH, the emphasis on general spirituality rather than Jain soteriology illustrates such a process of universalization, as well as its limits: the importance of Sanskrit and the popularity of Bhaktāmar Stotra as a Jain devotional poem. The cooptation of scientific and biomedical discourses serves a similar goal.

Once the goal of reaching out to global audiences has been set, a degree of commercialization or commodification follows. Although many healers and teachers are not out to make a profit, the development of resources,Footnote 62 the organization of classes and events, and the offering of services on a large scale requires funds and an entrepreneurial spirit and indicates that practices such as BMH, but also, for example, prekṣā dhyāna, have entered the spiritual marketplace. Such commercialization brings with it its own logic, which requires entrepreneurs to profile their system as one among many similar practices (as illustrated by the myriad of references to other spiritual practices on BMH websites discussed above), while at the same time trying to stand out as unique, and necessitates offline, but increasingly also online visibility, engagement, and communication.

That is why this article used digital media as primary source of data, rather than conducting a traditional ethnography of BMH’s spiritual entrepreneurs and (prospective) devotees/patients or analyzing BMH’s published texts. This is a methodologically well-considered choice, informed by the importance of digital media for the dissemination and practice of BMH discussed above, the diversity of information and activity on different media platforms which allows for a sensitive analysis including both the aspirations of the spiritual entrepreneurs and the lived experience of patients/devotees, and the subsumption of digitized versions of not born-digital publications in BMH’s digital sphere. Arguably, a Tantric reconfiguration with a global appeal such as BMH cannot be understood without taking into account its digital presence.

Further research using different methods and approaches may reveal diverging interpretations and yet other aspects of BMH than the ones identified here. Whereas this article touched upon many aspects of BMH, it is clear that this form of spiritual healing rooted in one of the most popular textual/devotional traditions in Jainism deserves considerably more scholarly attention as aspects of the locus of authority, the role of the diaspora, the experience of BMH patients, etc., are yet to be fully explored.

Table 1 Bhaktamar Mantra Healing, Śloka 23
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