174. Nimitta-maatra is not Inaction.

Arjuna sees that all the warriors are getting crushed by the teeth of Krishna’s Vishwaroop. Krishna says that warriors have been killed by Me and you are merely nimitta-maatra (an instrument) (11.33) and hence, fight without feeling distressed (11.34).

Incidentally, Krishna didn’t ask Arjuna to leave the battle even though Arjuna’s enemies are already killed by Him. Instead, He tells him to fight without stress. The clear indication is that nimitta-maatra doesn’t mean inaction. Inaction is another suppression that builds internal stress. Even if Arjuna leaves the battle physically, the war wouldn’t have stopped and instead, he would have carried the burden of war mentally wherever he went. On the other hand, Krishna indicates to drop the mental burden and perform the karma (action) in hand as an instrument of Paramatma. This active acceptance is the best way to reduce our ahankaar and never-ending stresses of day-to-day life.

For example, an electric wire conducts electricity to energise a bulb which gives light. The wire can have two ways of thinking. One is that it gets filled with ahankaar as it is energising the bulb. Secondly, it can also think that it’s just a nimitta-maatra where electricity is generated by a turbine and the bulb is the one giving light. It is a fact that when there is a voltage difference, the wire doesn’t have any option except to let electricity flow. Similarly, gunas, like a difference in voltage, drive our actions. Recognising that gunas are the real karta (doer) allows us to see ourselves as merely a nimitta-maatra.

Instead of realising our status as nimitta-maatra, our usual tendency is to make Paramatma a nimitta-maatra or an instrument that works for us to fulfill our desires. The key is to trust that we are one of the billions of instruments of this mighty existence.