_From unreality lead me to the real, from darkness to the light, from death to immortality._ [Footnote: Asatōmā sadgamaya, tamasōmā jyōtirgamaya, mrityōrma mritangamaya.] But how can one hope to have this prayer granted? For infinite is the distance that lies between truth and untruth, between death and deathlessness. Yet this measureless gulf is bridged in a moment when the self revealing one reveals himself in the soul. There the miracle happens, for there is the meeting-ground of the finite and infinite. _Father, completely sweep away all my sins!_ [Footnote: Vishvānidēva savitar duratāni parāsuva.] For in sin man takes part with the finite against the infinite that is in him. It is the defeat of his soul by his self. It is a perilously losing game, in which man stakes his all to gain a part. Sin is the blurring of truth which clouds the purity of our consciousness. In sin we lust after pleasures, not because they are truly desirable, but because the red light of our passions makes them appear desirable; we long for things not because they are great in themselves, but because our greed exaggerates them and makes them appear great. These exaggerations, these falsifications of the perspective of things, break the harmony of our life at every step; we lose the true standard of values and are distracted by the false claims of the varied interests of life contending with one another. It is this failure to bring all the elements of his nature under the unity and control of the Supreme One that makes man feel the pang of his separation from God and gives rise to the earnest prayer, _O God, O Father, completely sweep away all our sins._ [Footnote: Vishvāni dēva savitar duritāni parāsuva.] _Give unto us that which is good_ [Footnote: Yad bhadram tanna āsuva.], the good which is the daily bread of our souls. In our pleasures we are confined to ourselves, in the good we are freed and we belong to all. As the child in its mother's womb gets its sustenance through the union of its life with the larger life of its mother, so our soul is nourished only through the good which is the recognition of its inner kinship, the channel of its communication with the infinite by which it is surrounded and fed. Hence it is said, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." For righteousness is the divine food of the soul; nothing but this can fill him, can make him live the life of the infinite, can help him in his growth towards the eternal. _We bow to thee from whom come the enjoyments of our life._ [Footnote: Namah sambhavāya.] _We bow also to thee from whom comes the good of our soul._ [Footnote: Namah çankarāyacha.] _We bow to thee who art good, the highest good [Footnote: Namah çivāyacha, çivatarāya cha.], in whom we are united with everything, that is, in peace and harmony, in goodness and love.