What is the truth? It is not what you think. It is not what I think. The truth is beyond all that worldly facts which require consensus. None needs to approve it. A truth is ever existent from the beginning of time. It is present all along the existence of the Universe throughout the past, present and future.
The shloka Asatoma Satgamaya belongs to Hindu philosophy. Hindus believe in vedas and also in the Vedanta which is often called the gist of all vedas. Advaita vedanta considers ‘Bramha’ or God as the omnipresent object that is beyond time and place. It is the ‘one’ with everything that exists in this universe and beyond.
The concept of truth is derived from this philosophy in Advaita vedanta. This very concept is used in the Asatoma Satgamaya meaning. The Truth is the everexistant and the only truth is therefore, The ‘Bramha’, the God, or the unspoken truth.
Asatoma Satgamaya spills a deep longing to reach the truth. As the truth is nothing but the God, or the Bramha, the person prays for the ultimate purification. Nevertheless, the impure cannot even think about the Bramha.
The individual who prays like this, expresses the longing to proceed from ‘Asat’ to ‘sat’, he prays to dissolve all the misdeeds, misconceptions etc and attain the state of purity of mind and deeds. This is what the beautiful line ‘ Asatoma Satgamaya’ means.
The second line of the verse are two Sanskrit words, “Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya’ . ‘Tamas’ in Sanskrit means darkness. Here is where the individual prays to ‘Bramha’ to elevate his soul from tamas to ‘Joti’ which means light. There is a saying that a room that was in darkness forever, could be enlightened in a fraction of a second if even a small source of light is seen. Similarly, it is the grace of the almighty only which can enlighten a soul that is in darkness since ages.
Though ‘darkness’ as tamas in the Asatoma Satgamaya song is not the darkness of a room in absence of light, rather it is a metaphor which recalls the fact that human beings are emerged in the darkness of materialistic belongings, wants, desires, attraction to worldly beauty and pleasure which is called ‘maya’.
The next line in the Asatoma Satgamaya lyrics is another beautiful prayer where the person asks for transformation of ‘Mrityu’ or death into ‘Amrit’ or the immortal. So, is the greedy individual saying ‘Mrtyurma Amritamgamaya’ asking for a magic potion that makes him immortal?
The Answer is ‘No’. In Vedanta immortality has nothing to do with going to heaven. A person who asks for heaven from the almighty is a ‘fool’ as he gives away the chance to ask for immortality in his greed for after life pleasures.
In Srimad Bhagavatam, the ultimate holy book for hindus, the Godhead himself says that all creatures who go to Heaven, Hell, or Earth have to take birth again, and they again go through the sorrows of life. Only the soul that urges to meet Him and reaches Him, stays with him and never comes back to the cycle of life and death again.
Asatoma Satgamaya meaning is therefore enough to reveal the significance of the precious prayer. It is the ultimate longing of the soul and most precious one can ever ask for. Om Asatoma Satgamaya is repeated daily and even often repeated during the auspicious moments of sunrise and sunset to reach the state of ultimate satisfaction and pleasure of the soul. Finally the soul gets what it longs for, peace that is. “Om Shanti, Shanti Shanti, Shanti.”
