Om Asato Mā Sad Gamaya - A Call to Clear Seeing

Let’s begin with the mantra itself:

Om Asato Mā Sad Gamaya
Tamaso Mā Jyotir Gamaya
Mṛtyor Mā Amṛtaṁ Gamaya
- Brhadaranyaka Upanishad I.3.28

Translation:
Lead me from the unreal to the real.
Lead me from darkness to light.
Lead me from death to immortality.

This ancient prayer is a call to clear seeing - a yearning for satya (truth), for clarity, for waking up.

In the Jivamukti method, every class has a focus: an intention that threads through the breath, the movement, and the teachings. This mantra can serve as that focus - not just as a chant, but as a way of seeing and being.

Because yoga isn’t just about touching your toes.

It’s about changing your lens.

From Untruth to Truth

“Asato mā sad gamaya” – Lead me from untruth to truth.

This isn’t just about misinformation or media. It’s about the stories we carry - the ones we whisper to ourselves: I’m not enough. I’m not ready. I’m not lovable.

These are illusions - deeply embedded, but illusions nonetheless.

Yoga helps us turn the light on.

When we move through āsana, we meet the body as it is — not as we wish it to be.

And if we’re paying attention, that honesty begins to spread. The mat becomes a mirror. Not the kind that judges or compares, but the kind that reflects us back to ourselves - raw, real, and unfiltered.

From Darkness to Light

“Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya” – Lead me from darkness to light.

In Sanskrit, tamas means heaviness, inertia - a kind of fog that keeps us asleep.

The light, jyoti, is consciousness.

Have you ever found yourself moving through life half-awake, repeating patterns that don’t serve you anymore?

Yoga is the act of catching ourselves in that sleepwalking and choosing to wake up.

But waking up isn’t always comfortable. Awareness can feel sharp at first. It reveals what we’ve ignored. Yet that’s where transformation begins — not in the comfort, but in the clarity.

Light doesn’t always soothe; sometimes it startles. But it always shows the way.

From Death to Immortality

“Mṛtyor mā amṛtaṁ gamaya” – Lead me from death to immortality.

This isn’t about becoming gods. It’s about remembering what doesn’t die.

That stillness beneath the chaos.
That quiet awareness within you that isn’t shaken by your reflection in the mirror, by the latest headline, or by someone else’s opinion.

In Jivamukti, the focus is on liberation while living. Not someday. Not if you meditate in a cave for twenty years. But now. In this very breath.

Liberation begins with vision — with clear seeing.

Viveka: The Art of Discernment

The Sanskrit word for clear seeing is viveka - discernment.

It’s the ability to know what’s real and what’s not.
What is sat (eternal, unchanging truth), and what is asat (temporary, illusion).

When we chant this mantra, we’re not asking to be perfect.

We’re not asking to be rescued.
We’re asking to see.

And when we begin to see clearly, we begin to live clearly.

That’s when yoga becomes more than a workout — it becomes a way of remembering who we really are, beneath all the conditioning, the roles, the striving.

A Living Prayer

So in your practice today, feel into that.
Move with your breath.
Let each inhale be an arrival.
Let each exhale be a release.

Let your āsana reveal rather than perform.
Let your drishti (gaze) be not just about focusing your eyes, but about how you choose to look at your life.

What are you ready to see differently?

Let this practice be your prayer — not to escape the world, but to finally see it clearly.
Let it begin now.
Let it begin with you.
Let it begin with the breath.

Om Asato Mā Sad Gamaya.

We chant not just to make sound,
but to open the heart.
Let it open.
Let it rise.
Let it show you the way home.