Asato Ma Sad Gamaya

Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya

Mrityor Ma Amritam Gamaya

From the untrue reach me to the True

From darkness reach me to Light

And from death reach me to Immortality

 

It is a prayer-chant, an invocation, a reaching out.

It implies movement, movement of your heart in prayer to God, to all that which is Light, to all that which is Immortal, to all that which is True in you, in everything: the whole creation, and that which is beyond creation, that which is all – there is none else but what is. So it is a reaching out – gamaya, to That .

Asato Ma Sad Gamaya: Ma implies negation, denial, going away from – therefore ‘going away from the unreal, denial of the untrue. Sad Gamaya: Sat (Sad) means true. The word gamaya in this context is very beautiful; it is a reaching out – that is why I use the words, ‘lead me, reach me’. It is a prayer after all. So: ‘Lead me, lead us, reach me, reach us, from the untrue to that which is the True’.

Ma also means mother, but here this word is different it means negation. Otherwise it may seem as if you are calling out to mother! Ma here is indeclinable, a word which is fixed in form.

Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya: Tamas means darkness, ignorance. Again Ma implying negation, turning away from: denial of darkness, ignorance. Jyoti means light, gamaya again implies reaching, so: ‘reaching to light; and turning away from darkness’.

Mrityor Ma Amritam Gamaya: Mrityor means death, all that which is temporary, finite. Ma again means negation, denial, turning away. Amritam means immortality: ‘Reach me, lead me from death to immortality. Lead me from sleep to wakefulness…’ When we are enlightened, the perception shifts, changes: there is no more viewing of life ending into death, there is viewing of life being eternal, expression of an eternal origin, immortality.

 

Lead me, lead us, reach me, reach us

from the untrue to that which is the True.

Lead me, lead us, reach me, reach us

from darkness, from ignorance to Light.

Reach me to enlightenment in the whole of my being.

Lead me, lead us, reach me, reach us

from death to Immortality.

The feeling is of being lifted, lifted into all that which is the True, all that which is the Light, all that which is Immortal. Being lifted – even so bodily…

As you recite this mantra you can easily visualize, imagine, (it comes so natural to me…), thousands of years ago all these rishis sitting around the fire, or a rishi sitting by himself in wild solitude in a pristine environment like the Himalayas, beautiful waterfalls, streams, rivers, birds chirping, a grass kutir, and a rishi chanting, inspired in himself, inspired in God… Reaching out with each oblation, or quietly in himself.

If you ever feel like taking a little excursion, twenty kilometers from here there is this place where they have hot-water sulfur-springs. They have big tanks where you can take a dip, but it comes also shower-like, mixed with cold water so you can stand underneath. There is a spot called Parashar Kund – Parashar is supposed to be a rishi. Maybe he was chanting this mantra and, while doing his tapas, they say, these sulfur-springs sprang up – because of the heat generated from the tapas! He is father of Vyasa, grandfather of Shukadev, and also the great-grandfather of the people in the Mahabharat – because from Vyasa came the lineage ultimately.

Down the ages along the Ganga there have been these people who spent their time in seeking after the Reality and found meditation, prayer, chanting; very very long ago – and it has continued. They are our ancestors, for they do not belong to a tribe, a clan, or a nation – they belong to the Reality, just as we all do.  They are the ancestors of us all, and when we chant they support us, when we meditate they support us. They have handed down to us the ultimate in legacy: there is no greater legacy than that which they have given us, given unto the world.

It is nice to know because when you move around these mountains you can then feel the vibrations. Knowing these stories somehow inspires you to feel.  That is what has inspired the Indian people for so long; they immediately become full of inspiration when they come to the Himalayas. When they see a sadhu in a kutir, immediately they see in him a rishi… They get inspired, and seek for meditation. And these places have been a haven for the rishis.

This is prayer unto God, prayer unto Light, prayer unto the True, prayer unto the Reality that is yet unfolding in us.

 

Lead me, lead us, reach me, reach us

from that which is untrue to that which is the True.

Lead me, lead us, reach me, reach us

from darkness and ignorance to Light, enlightenment.

Let me be reborn, let us be reborn in Light;

let us die to darkness and ignorance…

– if there has to be a death,

let it be a death to darkness and ignorance –

…and be reborn in Light.

This is the prayer chanted in these mountains for thousands of years. It is a prayer not only for ourselves but for all creation. It is always so for seekers – they seek not only their own emancipation but so also that of the whole universe. For they know that they are not just embodied in this body: they have a larger body, the universal, cosmic body. They are not only individuals embodied in this earth-body; they are also one with the cosmic being.

So lead me, lead us, reach me, reach us from death to immortality. From the relative lead me to the Absolute, where there is no death – and in the Absolute to experience the relative-absolute: to look at death as a phenomenon of life, another movement of life, just as birth is. For in reality there is no birth, no death for that which is beyond, the Absolute, that which is within us, the eternal, the immortal.

Birth is the materialization of the body; death is the returning of the body into its respective elements, while the eternal in you carries on. It can return in light, in knowing, consciously, aware of itself, aware of the truth it is; not, as it is now, in ignorance, not knowing itself, and so therefore identifying with the relative phenomena absolutely.  One would then be situated in the truth while one yet experiences the relative phenomena, in all it’s various stages.

This is a sincere prayer from the heart, from the soul.

 

Lead me, lead us, reach me, reach us

from the untrue to that which is the True.

Lead me, lead us, reach me, reach us

from darkness to Light,

from ignorance to knowing.

Lead me, lead us, reach me, reach us

from death to Immortality,

from the relative to the absolute,

to the relative-in-the-absolute,

to the absolute-in-the-relative.

Lead me to this wisdom, which is myself,

which is the very substance of my soul.

 

 

After chanting the mantra we will remain in silence with the vibration of the chant and its meaning:

 

 

 

From the untrue lead me to the True

From darkness lead me to Light

From ignorance lead me to Wisdom

From death lead me to Immortality.

 

 

From the limited, from the finite,

lead me to the Limitless, to the Infinite, to the Eternal.

In the finite let me perceive Infinity,

In the limited let me perceive the Limitless.

 

In the relative let me perceive the Absolute,

In the mutation let me perceive the Immutable,

In that which has an end let me perceive the Eternal.

 

From the untrue reach me to the True

From darkness reach me to Light

From ignorance reach me to Wisdom

From death reach me to Immortality.

 

Through this prayer we offer,

surrender the whole of our being

to the Reality –

That which is True,

That which is Light,

That which is Immortal.

 

The untrue is unreal:

There is end to darkness – and therefore it is unreal;

There is end to death – but no end to Life.

 

May I be reborn in Eternal Life,

May I be reborn in the joy of Freedom that has no end,

forever in Eternity.

May I manifest the Reality increasingly,

That which is now half-concealed within me.

 

May the Eternal breathe through my breath,

May the Eternal live through my words,

May the Eternal dance through my laughter,

May the Eternal love through my tears.

 

May I be reborn in harmony,

Harmony in myself and harmony with the whole universe.

 

May I be reborn to the Friend,

to the eternal Friend in me,

That which is a Friend to all.

 

May I bring Light where there is darkness,

May I bring the True where there is the untrue

May I bring the breath of the Immortal where there is death –

May death fall away forever

and Eternal Life be born,

Like the Phoenix rising from its ashes.

 

May the Godly manifest in us

And the Godly manifest in all.

 

May I have the courage to descend

into the depth of darkness

to bring Light unto all.

May I have the strength to carry the universe,

the whole universe with me

to the True, to the Light, to the Eternal…

 

And let there be a song on my lips as I carry it through –

and that song be a song unto Eternity.

 

Amen.