In my weekly Yoga classes, my Yoga master starts the class and ends the class with either of the following two Sanskrit Hymns: Asato Ma Sagamaya, and, Om Sahana Vavatu Sahana Bhunattu. I went in search of the meaning for the two hymns and what I found I have given below.
Asato ma satgamaya
tamaso ma jyotirgamaya
mrityorma amritam gamaya
(Brhadaranyaka Upanishad)
Meaning:
Lead me from the untruth/unreal (asat) to the truth/real (sat),
Lead me from darkness to light,
Lead me from death to immortality.
Om sahana vavatu sahana bhunattu
Saha viryam karawavahai
Tejasvinavaditamastu
Ma vidvishavahai
Om shanti shanti shanti
(Kato Upanishad)
Meaning:
Together may we be protected
Together may we be nourished
Together may we work with great energy
May our journey together be brilliant and effective
May there be no bad feelings between us
Peace, peace, peace
The first one is said to have come from Rig Veda. The reason I was reminded of these hymns was this column today in Economic Times by Devdutt Pattanaik (Chief Belief Officer of The Future Group) titled “Management mythos: Who according to Brahma takes credit for success of business?”.
Devdutt writes “In the Rig Veda, the poet wonders what existed before everything else. And after much pondering he concludes, the first to exist, even before breath, is desire – kama. Without kama, there would no movement from formlessness (asat) to form (sat), from darkness (tamas) to light (jyoti), from hopelessness (mrityu) to hope (amrita). The entrepreneur is the seat of kama, without whom culture would not exist.”
Being an entrepreneur myself I couldn’t agree more on this.