Asatoma sadgamaya

Asato Ma Sad Gamaya
Tamasoma jyotir gamaya
Mrityor ma amritam gamaya
Om shanti shanti shanti


Word-to-word meaning:
Asato(from unreal) ma(me) sat(to the real) gamaya(lead) tamasah(from darkness) ma(me) jyotih(to light) gamaya(lead) mrtyoh(from death) ma(me) amrtam(to immortality) gamaya(lead) om santih santih santih(om peace, peace, peace )


Meaning:
Lead me from the unreal to the real
Lead from the darkness to the light
Lead me from death to immortality
Let there be peace peace and peacefulness


Explanation:
This is true prayer—the seeker’s admission of his sense of limitedness and his heartfelt cry for assistance in transcendence. It is not a prayer for the things of the world. It is not a pray for food, shelter, health, partnership, riches, success, fame, glory or even for heaven1. One who recites these three mantras has realized that such things are full of holes, soaked in pain and, even in abundance, will forever leave him wanting. It is in this full understanding that one turns to this prayer. The essence of each of these three mantras is the same: "O, Guru, help me free myself from my sundry misunderstandings regarding myself, the universe and God and bless me with true knowledge."

It is in this spirit that people throughout the world are regularly chanting these mantras, and in which they are chanted twice daily at Amma’s ashrams—both at the conclusion of the morning arcana and after the evening arati.

The first mantra—asato ma sadgamaya—means, "Lead me from the asat to the sat." In fact, it is best to not translate sat (nor its negative counterpart asat) for, as with many Sanskrit words, sat has many meanings and not only are most of them applicable here, their deliberate combined import provides a depth that no one of them could hold independently. These co-applicable meanings include: existence, reality and truth. (Co-applicable meanings for asat being: non-existence, non-reality and untruth.)

The second mantra—tamaso ma jyotirgamaya—means "Lead me from darkness to light." When the Vedas refer to darkness and light, they mean ignorance and knowledge, respectfully. This is so because ignorance, like darkness, obscures true understanding. And in the same way that the only remedy for darkness is light, the only remedy for ignorance is knowledge. The knowledge spoken of here is again the knowledge of one’s true nature.

The final mantra—mrtyorma amrtam gamaya—means: "Lead me from death to immortality." This should not be taken as a prayer to live endless years in heaven or on earth. It is a prayer to the Guru for assistance in realizing the truth that "I was never born, nor can ever die, as I am not the body, mind and intellect, but the eternal, blissful consciousness that serves as the substratum of all creation."