Pavamana Mantra

पवमान मन्त्र

pavamāna mantra

Ancient mantra first appearing in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (1.3.28)

ॐ असतोमा सद्गमय ।
तमसोमा ज्योतिर् गमय ।
मृत्योर्मामृतं गमय ॥
ॐ शान्ति शान्ति शान्तिः ॥

Oṁ asato mā śad gamaya ।
Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya ।
mṛtyor mā amṛtaṁ gamaya ।
Oṁ śānti śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ॥

Lead me from the unreal to the Real,
Lead me from darkness to Light,
Lead me from death to Immortality,
Peace in body, Peace in mind, Peace in spirit.

This mantra from the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad encapsulates the fundamental human spiritual aspiration across three existential dimensions:

Ontological: From asat (non-being, the phenomenal world of appearances) to sat (pure Being, ultimate Reality)
Epistemological: From tamas (ignorance, spiritual darkness) to jyoti (the Light of Knowledge, divine illumination)
Eschatological: From mṛtyu (mortality, the cycle of death and rebirth) to amṛta (deathless state, liberation)

The threefold śānti invocation at the end addresses peace across all planes of existence - ādhyātmika (pertaining to the self/body), ādhibhautika (pertaining to other beings/mind), and ādhidaivika (pertaining to divine forces/spirit) - acknowledging that true peace must encompass every level of our being.

This is fundamentally a prayer of spiritual transformation, requesting divine guidance for the soul's journey from the conditioned state to ultimate liberation (mokṣa).