The Satyameva Dialogues (4)

These conversations, spread over many months, reflect many moods and thoughts. We have tried to retain, as far as editorially possible, the original bhava and flavor of the conversations as originally recorded. — Editors.  

Dialogue 4: Nimitta

M: It seems nimitta bhava is the key to the karmayoga of the Gita. We have to become instruments of the Divine…

AN: In a deeper sense, Sir, we are all already instruments of the Divine, in one way or another. The kartabhava is an illusion; the ego, in the final analysis, is unreal; but, under the influence of the gunas, we believe that we are the doers. So the objective of the Gita’s sadhana is to become increasingly conscious of the fact that we are not the doers, not independent agents of our action, but instruments in Sri Krishna's hands, it is His divine will that shapes and moves us. That is the essence, Sir. Instruments we all are — but to become conscious of that, that is the whole point.

M: In other words, to become conscious instruments. But w here does one start, Sir?

AN: Good question! (Smiling.) What do you think?

M: I would say that we first become conscious of the unreality of the kartabhava, of the ego!

AN: Exactly! We become conscious of the forces and circumstances that move us and the conditionings that determine all our intentions and actions. We are puppets of prakriti and her forces and we must become conscious of that. 

M: We must become conscious puppets first?

AN: Precisely: conscious puppets, or conscious of being puppets.

M: That will make us aware of the fact that we have no independent will – 

AN: Yes, and you will see, with growing clarity, the play of forces and circumstances and the complex interplay of the gunas of prakriti that make us what we are. The illusion that we are the doers and that we are in control will slowly fade, and we will grow increasingly conscious of ourselves as mere patterns of conditionings and habits repeating endlessly… nothing very creative or interesting!

M: That will be a slow death of the ego!

AN: Slow or quick – when you see illusion as illusion, the bubble bursts, and that doesn't take time. Unless, of course, you are so hopelessly attached to your ignorance and illusions that you refuse to see.

M: Most of us are, aren’t we?

AN: But there is no reason to be. The right understanding is all that is required of the disciple. 

M: And that ‘right understanding’ is enlightenment? 

AN: You may call it that. Enlightenment is not a single event, it is a progressive unfolding. I don’t think one ever stops growing in realization and understanding — enlightenment is a continuous unfolding of what the Vedantins call prajna. 

M: I understand, Acharyaji. 

(Silence)

M: What then is the next step? 

AN: Next step?

M: As one grows conscious of the play of the gunas, conscious of being a puppet – what then?

AN: Gunebhyashch param vetti, ^[1]  as Sri Krishna tells Arjuna – to become conscious of that which transcends the gunas, which is behind, and upholding, all prakriti.

M: The Divine? 

AN: Yes, Vasudeva himself — and he who comes to know the Divine as the transcendent truth upholding all prakriti, moving the gunas, shaping and directing the forces and circumstances of our cosmic existence, attains to His divine movement and status – gunebhyashch param vetti mad-bhavam so’dhigacchati

M: And such a one would have passed beyond all sense of doership, would have become conscious of being a nimitta, and nothing else would remain for such a person to do or attain? 

AN: Would there still a person?

M: No, not really. No ego, no karta, no person. Then all is Krishna’s will and action, and all is done and attained by Krishna himself through His instrument.

(Acharya nods in agreement.)

M: But what of the instrument, the nimitta? I understand that there is no ego, no doership — but there is certainly a consciousness within, right? Else, how does one live as a conscious nimitta? Krishna's will does not act through a vacuum, an emptiness, right?

AN: Yes, of course, there is a consciousness within, but an impersonal consciousness, a consciousness no longer identified with a person or a personality. Let's say it is an impersonality, not a personality. You get that? 

M: So the inner state of the nimitta is completely impersonal, no kartabhava, no personal will or action but a constant awareness of the divine will?

AN: Yes, a consciousness quiet and passive to the workings of Krishna's will, not questioning or interfering, not initiating any action, not willing any outcome, simply allowing everything to move according to Krishna's will – nirapeksha, sarvarambha parityagi.

M: The purna sakshi?

AN: Yes, purna sakshi. That which once used to be a person, an ego, is now only the sakshi and the nimitta — impersonal, detached, impartial, simply aware of the divine leela, aware of this whole existence as a manifestation and expression of the Divine, aware even of itself as one of the infinite expressions of the Divine…

M: That would indeed be a blessed state!

AN: That would be Brahmisthiti, Sir. The status of the realized yogi, the sthitaprajna.

M: Nanyam gunebhyah kartaram yada drashtanupashyati gunebhyash ca param vetti mad-bhavam so’dhigacchati… now I understand this sloka, Sir. 

AN: (Smiling). Hold on to this sloka… it is a powerful mantra of the Gita’s yoga, it opens the way to the final moksha.

M: And moksha is liberation from the bondage of existence?

AN: Bondage? There is no bondage — there is only ignorance. Ignorance of Truth, that is all. 

M: Then moksha would be liberation from ignorance?

AN: Moksha is not a negative thing, SIr. It is liberation that comes with perfect knowledge, with the fullness of prajna; and that fullness of prajna is Brahmajnana. And Brahmajnana alone is perfect moksha. Only the one who knows Sri Krishna is liberated from samsara and karma: this is the Gita's highest rahasya. Moksha in the Divine consciousness – there is nothing else to be attained. 

M: So, moksha would apply to the sakshi?

AN: Meaning?

M: I meant the nimitta, Sir. The nimitta is in sakshibhava but the action in the world continues through the will of Krishna. Krishna wills and acts through the nimitta. But the nimitta itself, what you called the Impersonality within, the sakshi, is liberated. Is it not so?

AN: Ah, I see what you mean. There is a central consciousness within which is liberated, which lives in the consciousness of the Divine. Yes, that is so. And there is the outer being, the self-in-the-world, let's say, the nimitta in action, the instrument – the mind, the vital, the body.

M: Yes, that's what I meant.

AN: That nimitta continues to act in the world, for the highest good of the world, jagat kalyana. There is no other possible motivation for action for one who is a conscious nimitta, everything is the Divine's will, the Divine's expression, vasudevah sarvam iti. But this nimitta is conscious, so it knows itself as a conscious portion, ansha, of the Divine. Knowing thus, and resting in that knowing, it acts in the world and upon the world. That is the secret of karma, the karma of a liberated being, the karma of a jivanmukta, karma that does not bind, karma that is divinely willed and executed. And that, indeed, is the siddhi of karmayoga. 

1  The Gita 14.19: नान्यं गुणेभ्यः कर्तारं यदा द्रष्टानुपश्यति। गुणेभ्यश्च परं वेत्ति मद्भावं सोऽधिगच्छति।। — When a person, with his eye of wisdom, sees that all the drama of life is only a performance of the three gunas, and only the three gunas do anything anywhere, and knows, at the same time, that there is something above the three gunas—such a person attains to the ‘movement and status of the Divine’ (madbhavam).↑