The Seed of the Worthy One

Arham is a seed syllable used in Jain contemplative practice, formed from arhat (also arihanta), the worthy one, the title of a soul that has conquered its inner enemies, the passions, and attained omniscience, the enlightened teachers at the summit of the Jain path. Meditation upon Arham, and upon the sacred syllables and diagrams in which it figures, belongs to the Jain tradition of mantra and inward recollection, in which the qualities of the liberated and the enlightened are made the object of concentration.

The syllable is closely bound to the supreme Jain invocation, the Namokar (or Navkar) mantra, which pays homage to the enlightened and liberated beings, the arhats foremost among them. In focusing the mind on Arham, the practitioner contemplates the ideal of the soul purified of passion and freed into omniscience that stands at the centre of Jain aspiration, and the syllable is treated as a concentrated sonic emblem of that ideal.