Asato Ma Sadgamaya: Word-by-Word Meaning
असतो मा सद्गमय
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.28
"Asato mā sadgamaya" is a short prayer of three lines from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.3.28), one of the oldest Upanishads. It asks to be led from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, and from death to immortality. Many Hindu families say it in the morning, and many schools in India use it as an assembly prayer.
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Verse
असतो मा सद्गमयतमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमयमृत्योर्मामृतं गमय
Asato ma sadgamayaTamaso ma jyotirgamayaMrityormamritam gamaya
IAST
asato mā sadgamayatamaso mā jyotirgamayamṛtyormāmṛtaṃ gamaya
Our explanation Word by word: asataḥ, from the unreal (asat, "what is not"); mā, "me"; sat, the real ("what is"); gamaya, "lead"; tamasaḥ, from darkness; jyotiḥ, light; mṛtyoḥ, from death; amṛtam, immortality (amṛta, "the deathless"). The three lines ask: "lead me from the unreal to the real, lead me from darkness to light, lead me from death to immortality". In the Upanishad the person who recites them is the sponsor of a Vedic rite, while the priest sings. The Upanishad explains the first two lines by the third: the unreal and darkness both stand for death, and the real and light both stand for immortality. Later teachers read "death" and "immortality" in their own ways; see the classical readings.
हिंदी अर्थ शब्दार्थ: असतः, असत् से ("जो नहीं है"); मा, "मुझे"; सत्, सत् की ओर ("जो है"); गमय, "ले चलो"; तमसः, अंधकार से; ज्योतिः, प्रकाश की ओर; मृत्योः, मृत्यु से; अमृतम्, अमृत की ओर (अमरता, "जो कभी नहीं मरता")। तीनों पंक्तियाँ प्रार्थना करती हैं: "मुझे असत् से सत् की ओर ले चलो, अंधकार से प्रकाश की ओर ले चलो, मृत्यु से अमृत की ओर ले चलो"। उपनिषद् में इन्हें यज्ञ का यजमान जपता है, जब पुरोहित साम गाता है। उपनिषद् पहली दो पंक्तियों का अर्थ तीसरी से करता है: असत् और अंधकार दोनों मृत्यु हैं, और सत् और प्रकाश दोनों अमृत हैं। बाद के आचार्य "मृत्यु" और "अमृत" को अपने-अपने ढंग से समझाते हैं; नीचे पुराने अर्थ देखें।
Word by word
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Word by word
- असतः asataḥ · from the unreal, from what is not (ablative singular) Dictionary: a-sat, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 118, col. 2 “not being, not existing, unreal”
- मा mā · "me" (pronoun, 1st person, accusative singular (short form)) Dictionary: 3. ma, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 771, col. 1 “base of the 1st pers. pron. in acc. sg. mā́m or mā”; 1. mad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 777, col. 2 “base of the first pers. pron. in the sg. number”
- सत् sat · the real, what is (noun (neuter), accusative singular) Dictionary: sat, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1134, col. 2 “that which really is, entity or existence, essence”
- गमय gamaya · lead (causative imperative, 2nd person singular) Dictionary: 1. gam, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 347, col. 1 “lead or conduct towards”
- तमसः tamasaḥ · from darkness (ablative singular) Dictionary: tamas, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 438, col. 1 “darkness, gloom”
- मा mā · "me" (pronoun, 1st person, accusative singular (short form)) Dictionary: 3. ma, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 771, col. 1 “base of the 1st pers. pron. in acc. sg. mā́m or mā”; 1. mad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 777, col. 2 “base of the first pers. pron. in the sg. number”
- ज्योतिः jyotiḥ · light (noun (neuter), accusative singular) Dictionary: jyotis, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 427, col. 3 “light (of the sun, dawn, fire, lightning, &c.; also pl.)”
- गमय gamaya · lead (causative imperative, 2nd person singular) Dictionary: 1. gam, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 347, col. 1 “lead or conduct towards”
- मृत्योः mṛtyoḥ · from death (ablative singular) Dictionary: mṛtyu, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 827, col. 3 “death, dying”
- मा mā · "me" (pronoun, 1st person, accusative singular (short form)) Dictionary: 3. ma, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 771, col. 1 “base of the 1st pers. pron. in acc. sg. mā́m or mā”; 1. mad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 777, col. 2 “base of the first pers. pron. in the sg. number”
- अमृतम् amṛtam · immortality, the deathless (noun (neuter), accusative singular) Dictionary: a-mṛta, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 82, col. 2 “world of immortality, heaven, eternity”
- गमय gamaya · lead (causative imperative, 2nd person singular) Dictionary: 1. gam, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 347, col. 1 “lead or conduct towards”
2 printings differ
Edition differences. Another printing or text reads this place differently.
- The printed edition reads: जपेदसतो मा सद्गमय तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय मृत्योर्मामृत् । अगमयेति The 1906 printing sets the three formulas inside one prose sentence ('… तदेतानि जपेदसतो मा सद्गमय तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय …'); they are shown one per line, without the word before them (जपेत्, 'let him recite') or the quoting particle इति after them. Printing flaw corrected: the page prints 'मृत्योर्मामृत् । अगमयेति', with the anusvara and the space misplaced and a stray danda. The same page prints the formula three more times in the Upanishad's explanation as 'मृत्योर्मामृतं गमय', and the 1911 Poona printing (p. 29, leaf n44) has 'मृत्योर्माऽमृतं गमयेति'.
- Spelling The 1911 Poona printing reads: असतो मा सद्गमय तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय मृत्योर्माऽमृतं गमयेति p. 29, leaf n44: avagraha in 'मृत्योर्माऽमृतं' (mā + amṛtam). Same words.
Lead me from the unreal to the real! Lead me from darkness to light! Lead me from death to immortality!
Sanskrit text: The Twenty-eight Upanishads (Īsha and others) (अष्टाविंशत्युपनिषदः), the Sanskrit text, edited by Vasudev Laxman Shastri Phansikar, 1906. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. Source and changes
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Asato Ma Sadgamaya
असतो मा सद्गमय
तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय
मृत्योर्मामृतं गमय
Asato ma sadgamaya
Tamaso ma jyotirgamaya
Mrityormamritam gamaya
Word by word: asataḥ, from the unreal (asat, "what is not"); mā, "me"; sat, the real ("what is"); gamaya, "lead"; tamasaḥ, from darkness; jyotiḥ, light; mṛtyoḥ, from death; amṛtam, immortality (amṛta, "the deathless"). The three lines ask: "lead me from the unreal to the real, lead me from darkness to light, lead me from death to immortality". In the Upanishad the person who recites them is the sponsor of a Vedic rite, while the priest sings. The Upanishad explains the first two lines by the third: the unreal and darkness both stand for death, and the real and light both stand for immortality. Later teachers read "death" and "immortality" in their own ways; see the classical readings.
(Meaning written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition.)
Text: Tukaram Javaji, Nirnaya-sagar Press, Bombay, 1906 (public domain).
https://pujadeep.com/prayers/asato-ma-sadgamaya/ Nothing is sent from this site. Your own app sends it, to the chat you choose.
About the Asato Ma Sadgamaya
In the Upanishad the three lines have a place in a Vedic rite. When the prastotṛ priest begins to sing the chant (sāman), the sponsor of the rite quietly recites these three formulas. The Upanishad calls this the "ascent" (abhyāroha). It then explains the lines itself: the unreal is death and the real is immortality; darkness is death and light is immortality. So the first two lines ask the same thing as the third, "lead from death to immortality". The Upanishad says the third line needs no explanation. Later teachers read the lines in their own ways; the classical readings below give two of them.
The text is read from a Bombay printing of 28 Upanishads (1906) and checked against the 1911 Poona edition with Rangaramanuja's commentary. The English translation beside it is Max Müller's (1884). Today the prayer is often said with "Om" before it and "Om shāntiḥ shāntiḥ shāntiḥ" (Om, peace, peace, peace) after it. The Upanishad's text has neither; they are a custom of recitation.
How to say it
The words join by the rules of Sanskrit sound (sandhi). "Sadgamaya" is sat + gamaya ("the real" + "lead"); "jyotirgamaya" is jyotiḥ + gamaya; "mṛtyormāmṛtaṃ" is mṛtyoḥ + mā + amṛtam. Many people say "sadgamaya" and "jyotirgamaya" as one word each, as printed. The 1911 printing writes an avagraha in "मृत्योर्माऽमृतं" to show that the a of amṛtam has merged with mā; the sound is the same. The IAST line writes the anusvara as ṃ, as printed; it is spoken "amṛtam gamaya".
More daily prayers: on waking, before study, before meals and at lamp-lighting
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Questions families ask
Who wrote the Asato Ma Sadgamaya?
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.28.
Which text does this page follow?
Sanskrit text: The Twenty-eight Upanishads (Īsha and others) (अष्टाविंशत्युपनिषदः), the Sanskrit text, edited by Vasudev Laxman Shastri Phansikar, 1906. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. See the source
Source and licence
- Text
- The Twenty-eight Upanishads (Īsha and others) (अष्टाविंशत्युपनिषदः), the Sanskrit text, edited by Vasudev Laxman Shastri Phansikar (Vasudev Laxman Shastri Phansikar, Tukaram Javaji, Nirnaya-sagar Press, Bombay, 1906). Public domain. The Sanskrit on these pages was read from this printing’s page images.
- Our explanation
- Explanation written for this site from the sources listed here, and checked against the cited edition. It is not a translation and not the only way to read the text. Free to quote with credit.
- Checked
- Checked against the cited edition, October 14, 2026.
- Updated
- October 15, 2026